It really says a great deal about a nation when two very different religious faiths share something beautiful in common.
In this case, it’s Ocean City’s beachfront.
Monday evening, I attended the Jesus on the Beach Music and Ministry Festival to talk to some of the vacationers who were perhaps exchanging a walk on the boards or a game of miniature golf to sit in beach chairs and listen to the faith-based music and testimony coming from stage.
Only a few days later and several blocks away on Friday, the beachfront will be the gathering point for Temple Bat Yam (Daughter of the Sea), the Berlin-based Jewish congregation.
Like their Christian worshippers, they are coming to their third annual beachfront summer services. What adds to the significance is that Israel, the spiritual homeland to the world’s three religions, finds itself at war with Hamas, a terrorist organization.
But there’s another irony to the Friday night as well, it falls during the Jewish period known as the Nine Days. These are the days that lead into sundown, Monday, August 4, or in the Hebrew calendar Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av.
Many consider Tisha B’av the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Some Jewish people fast for a day and read the prayers known as Lamentations. The ninth day of Av historically for the Jewish people has been a time of sadness and despair. It is on that date when both historic Temples were destroyed.
So here we are, Israel is defending itself from brutal rocket attacks and the attack tunnels of Hamas. And we’re in the time of the Nine Days. For those who believe, it’s a difficult time.
On Monday, Randy Hofman, whose sand sculptures of a Biblical theme on the Ocean City beach are known all over, and I talked about how Israel can be a common focus of prayer for both Christians and Jews. Certainly the national membership of the group Christians United For Israel (CUFI) is growing.
It was nice to hear the singing, the music coming from the Jesus at the Beach stage, and to also see so many with eyes closed reaching heavenward. For a moment there, I was able to block out the din from the Boardwalk and feel a positive spirit.
Dick Sands and Gary Steger of The Son Spot Christian Ministry, coordinated this 20th year of Jesus at the Beach.
“A lot of people come down to the beach for a vacation,” said Sands. “We give them time to worship the Lord. It’s nice to be outside and to enjoy the world. It was a beautiful night.”
For Rabbi Susan Warshaw, Friday evening, the beginning of the Sabbath, will also give over 100 worshippers at the Ocean Pines Beach Club at 49th Street Oceanside, a chance to feel the ocean’s spirituality, beginning 7: 30 p.m. Rabbi Warshaw will be leading services with cantorial soloists Cheryl Taustin and Phyllis Alpern with guitarist Phil Kane.
“We started this at the beach to do something different,” said Rabbi Warshaw.
There’s something magical about being by the ocean, and Rabbi Warshaw acknowledged that she will be taking the early part of the service and asking her congregants to close their eyes and to just listen to the sounds of the waves, and “that we really need the peace of Shabbat.”
One of the prayers to be verses can be shared by everyone who found spirituality at the beach this week:
“I pray that these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart.”
In this case, it’s Ocean City’s beachfront.
Monday evening, I attended the Jesus on the Beach Music and Ministry Festival to talk to some of the vacationers who were perhaps exchanging a walk on the boards or a game of miniature golf to sit in beach chairs and listen to the faith-based music and testimony coming from stage.
Only a few days later and several blocks away on Friday, the beachfront will be the gathering point for Temple Bat Yam (Daughter of the Sea), the Berlin-based Jewish congregation.
Like their Christian worshippers, they are coming to their third annual beachfront summer services. What adds to the significance is that Israel, the spiritual homeland to the world’s three religions, finds itself at war with Hamas, a terrorist organization.
But there’s another irony to the Friday night as well, it falls during the Jewish period known as the Nine Days. These are the days that lead into sundown, Monday, August 4, or in the Hebrew calendar Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av.
Many consider Tisha B’av the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Some Jewish people fast for a day and read the prayers known as Lamentations. The ninth day of Av historically for the Jewish people has been a time of sadness and despair. It is on that date when both historic Temples were destroyed.
So here we are, Israel is defending itself from brutal rocket attacks and the attack tunnels of Hamas. And we’re in the time of the Nine Days. For those who believe, it’s a difficult time.
On Monday, Randy Hofman, whose sand sculptures of a Biblical theme on the Ocean City beach are known all over, and I talked about how Israel can be a common focus of prayer for both Christians and Jews. Certainly the national membership of the group Christians United For Israel (CUFI) is growing.
It was nice to hear the singing, the music coming from the Jesus at the Beach stage, and to also see so many with eyes closed reaching heavenward. For a moment there, I was able to block out the din from the Boardwalk and feel a positive spirit.
Dick Sands and Gary Steger of The Son Spot Christian Ministry, coordinated this 20th year of Jesus at the Beach.
“A lot of people come down to the beach for a vacation,” said Sands. “We give them time to worship the Lord. It’s nice to be outside and to enjoy the world. It was a beautiful night.”
For Rabbi Susan Warshaw, Friday evening, the beginning of the Sabbath, will also give over 100 worshippers at the Ocean Pines Beach Club at 49th Street Oceanside, a chance to feel the ocean’s spirituality, beginning 7: 30 p.m. Rabbi Warshaw will be leading services with cantorial soloists Cheryl Taustin and Phyllis Alpern with guitarist Phil Kane.
“We started this at the beach to do something different,” said Rabbi Warshaw.
There’s something magical about being by the ocean, and Rabbi Warshaw acknowledged that she will be taking the early part of the service and asking her congregants to close their eyes and to just listen to the sounds of the waves, and “that we really need the peace of Shabbat.”
One of the prayers to be verses can be shared by everyone who found spirituality at the beach this week:
“I pray that these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart.”