Guest Contributors

Forum people have faces!

By Bill Beyer  | Comments (2) | Posted on June 12, 2008

I just returned home from the First Fruits of Zion National Conference entitled "Shabbat Shalom." Although, having met people from Canada, Sweden and Australia I think we can easily say it was an "international" conference. It was a great blessing to be able to be there and I had the opportunity to learn a lot. One of the things I learned was...forum people have faces!

As one of the moderators on the Torah Club Online Forum I get the opportunity to interact with a lot of people who have been blessed by First Fruits over the miles. While at the conference people would come up to me and say, "Hi Bill, I am ______" and share their screen name. At one point in the conference we also had an opportunity to gather together and greet each other...face to face.

The internet is a great way to connect with people, but it is limited in its scope to be a real community. "Real community" requires personal intereaction. Now that many of us have had the opportunity to see each other face to face we have a stronger connection than we did before. But, I also learned at this conference that there is another way in which we become connected with each other, and that is through liturgical prayer.

There are many people who are put off by the term "liturgy". Liturgy means "the work of the people." Every worshipping community is liturgical in once sense of the word or another. Even if you gather just for prayer, reading of scripture, and singing you have engaged in some form of liturgy. Liturgy is the way in which we worship HaShem.

At the conference we had the opportunity to learn more about the liturgical prayers of the Jewish and early Christian tradition. Many of these prayers date back to the times of the Master and I was moved by the connection that created for me. We were given a taste of the First Fruits of Zion siddur that will be made available in months to come. Conference attendees gathered at least three times a day to enter into prayer - prayers that connected us face to face and still connect us now that we are separated by the miles.

At our last gathering our Cantor, Chris Moberg, said, "Let us gather for what some might think is our last time of prayer together, but it is not." He went on to teach that every time we engage in the set times of prayer we are connecting with each other again. HaShem draws us together in Spirit when we engage him in prayer.

Just like our personal relationships are enhanced when we connect with each other in print or face to face, so our relationship to God is enhanced when we meet HaShem at his appointed times. The prayers we learned this weekend not only will keep us connected to God, but to each other.

To learn more about Torah Club and the Torah Club Online Forum click here.

About the Author: Bill Beyer is a friend of FFOZ and a volunteer moderator for the Online Torah Club Forums. He is also the pastor of a Lutheran church.

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