Shabbat Service
Weekly Shabbat, A Time to Fellowship, and Rest with Delight!
Our weekly shabbat service is a rendition of Judaic and a blend of evangelical worship. We offer a blend of traditional melodies, texts, and symbols commonly found in synagogues, infused with innovative elements exclusive to the Messianic Jewish tradition.
Our services encompass music, reverence for sacred texts and prayers, reflective contemplation, and expressions of faith, hope, and reverence, all designed to facilitate a deep connection with our Messiah, Yeshua in worship.
We eagerly anticipate your visit to our unique Congregation, anticipating that it will bring you joy. We look forward to welcoming you soon!
As a Messianic Congregation, we meet regularly to Pray, Worship the G-d of Israel, Study the Scriptures, and Fellowship with one another weekly. Our Shabbat Service holds at 11:00 A.M. every Saturday, the traditional day that Jews celebrate Shabbat, at the Beth Yeshua Messianic Congregation (BYMC). Our service comprises of three parts, Weekly Shabbat Worship Service, Lunch and Bible Study
Our congregation was formed by those who came out of the former Soviet Union but boast of membership from a diverse culture which has richly enhanced our communal experience. Since we are predominately made up of Russian Messianic Jews, we continue to hold our services in English, Russian, and Hebrew.
We hold our services on Shabbat and have a mixture of traditional Jewish Liturgy, Messianic songs, Davidic dancing, and teaching from both the Old and New Testaments (Tanakh and Brit Chadasha).
The Shabbat service starts with a call to worship which is sounded by the blowing of the Shofar and typically follows the schedule below:
Liturgy
We begin with a beautiful song, Ma Tovu followed by the prayer Baruch Sh’amar. Then, more singing and even dance.
After we complete our songs of praise (p’sukei d’zimra), we transition into the blessings of the shema through praying the half-kaddish and Barekhu (the traditional call to prayer).
This leads naturally to the “Shema” section of the liturgy which reaches its high point with the familiar “Hear O Israel, The Lord is our God, The Lord alone!”
For us Messianic Jews, Yeshua the Messiah’s role as God’s agent of creation, revelation, and redemption is the climactic focus of this section. We offer a prayer which exalts him called Ha Elohim Asher.
Once we have declared our intention to commit ourselves to God’s purposes for His people Israel through Messiah, we move into deeper, more intimate space – the Amidah.
Seven blessings, including an opportunity for spontaneous prayer offered by members of the congregation, make this a moment of deep connection with the Holy One.
We have poured our hearts out to God and next, we listen to what he has to say to us through the readings of the Torah, Haftarah and Besorah (New Testament Scriptures), which are all read in both Hebrew and English. It is during this part of the service that we invite all the children to gather around the Torah. We raise a tallit (prayer shawl) over their heads and pray the traditional blessings over our little ones before sending them off to Shabbat School.
A sermon follows, delivered by Ruach Israel’s rabbis and qualified community members, who bring teaching and inspiration to us all.
The two-hour service ends in a traditional way with the Aleinu, Mourner’s Kaddish, the song Adon Olam and blessings over wine – the Kiddush – and challah.
Oneg Shabbat
Now it’s time to do what we Jews love to do – eat! The whole congregation is encouraged to bring non-meat items – veggies, herring, tuna, cheeses, veggie soups, yummy desserts, etc. for our afternoon feast. It is a delightful time after the shabbat service to break bread with one another.
What a delightful time!
The kitchen Ministry never fails to treat us to delightful meals at the conclusion of shabbat service by 1:00pm. We invite you to stay, don’t rush home after the service. Stay and feast with us.