Preface: Pastor Henley (Bob) and his wife Jane led us on this multifaith study program to Israel. During the past two years, I came to know Bob seeing him at Ocean Reef functions from time to time. My first introduction to Bob was when I attended a multifaith Bible class that he held on the Old Testament on behalf of a friend. I then started seeing Bob and Jane at dinners, social events, and the annual Blessing of the Animals where he presided. Never once did he not offer me his hand to shake along with a few kind words. However, my earnest opinion of Bob and Jane came out of our new Ocean Reef Syngouge dedication ceremony where he talked about how the Ocean Reef Christain members should welcome its Jewish community with open hearts and minds. His speech was extremely impressive and full of warmth, generosity, and integrity. He spoke over and over that the Jewish members at Ocean Reef should have a place of their own to worship and that they should never feel unwelcomed by anyone here at the club. Bob and Jane have supported our community and were instrumental in the planning for our new Multifaith Chapel. I cannot thank Bob and Jane enough for allowing me the opportunity to accompany them on this trip as we both explore Israel from different religious perspectives.
Michael L Weiss
My wife and I first visited the land of Israel fifty-one years ago, in 1971. The organization we worked for invited us to make a plenary presentation at a major conference in Jerusalem. The presentation we made is long forgotten. But looking back, we now see that invitation as marking the beginning of an enriching lifelong journey with the Jewish people and love for the land.
As we arrived on the first trip, I watched an elderly Jewish man reach the bottom of the boarding stairs. Kneeling down, he kissed the tarmac. I was stunned. I knew in that moment that I understood little of the nature of the relationship that exists between the Jewish people and the land promised to them by God through the three patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
We have now returned to Israel many times. On each trip, we bring friends from the churches I have served as a pastor. We understand the power of studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament here in the land. It is here that you encounter God’s story in a way that brings it to life. In the words of Bruce Feiler, being immersed in the story in the land is “the first step…a feeling that I actually inhabit the story.”
In my years as a Presbyterian pastor, through the influence of both Jewish and Christian scholars and friends, and the study of the Scriptures, the conviction formed that the land of Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people. The covenant promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob create an unbreakable tie between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
A necessary corollary to that understanding has been the recognition of the reality of the deeply-rooted anti-Semitism that has existed in the Christian church since the second century. The view that the church has replaced Israel as the people of God, has been the cause of great suffering to the Jewish people. A Christian cannot enter into constructive inter-faith relationships apart from acknowledging that tragic reality.
For the past several years, it has been my privilege to lead Jewish-Christian interfaith Bible studies. As a Christian, if Jesus is removed from his Jewish life setting in the Second Temple Period, he may as well be an alien from outer space. His life, teaching, and claims make no sense otherwise.
This trip is unique because of the presence and participation of our Jewish friends from Congregation Ocean Reef. As you can see from the blog, we have visited many sites, Jewish and Christian, where God’s story has unfolded through history.
What you cannot see from the blog is a growing understanding, mutual respect, and deepening friendship that is happening while we travel together in the land. Each of our lives will be shaped by what is taking place. We have discovered that we are partners in waiting. The fifteenth petition of the Amidah is a prayer for the Messianic King.
Speedily cause the offspring of your servant David to flourish, and let him be exalted by your saving power, for we wait all day long for your salvation. Blessed are you, O Lord, who causes salvation to flourish. Amen.
