Claire

My husband James and I are both from Orthodox Jewish homes. Our families took their faith very seriously, going back many generations; my great great grandfather was a chief rabbi.

For many years James and I were involved at our local Progressive synagogue, where for a time James was chairman. About eight years ago, however, we both found ourselves drifting away from the faith. I had had to watch my mother, who I adored, die a painful death from cancer. I felt disappointed with God and let down by the rabbi, who did little to help me when I was feeling low. I felt unable to relate to the rabbi in any way and we had virtually no relationship with him, despite our years of commitment to the synagogue. I stopped attending the services; for his part James backed away because serving there had burnt him out.

For the next three to four years we followed no religion at all; sometimes we’d go to the synagogue at New Year, with James only coming very reluctantly.

We didn’t know that our Christian friend and neighbour, Rosemary, had been faithfully praying for us since she had known us. Occasionally, when we were finding life tough for whatever reason she would pray with us – I always liked that, but I didn’t really understand what was going on. On the whole our time with her was spent walking our dogs together and talking generally; she has always been a very close friend.

Part of James’s work is training people. He often stays up later than me, watching television, and one night as he was flicking through the channels his interest was held by the way a man on one programme was addressing his audience. This man obviously knew how to deliver his material so that people would listen and understand. James kept watching, hoping to learn something from his technique. After a while, he also began taking in what was being said. It was the God Channel, and James was hearing some things about Jesus that he had never heard before.

I had no idea about this, nor that when James and Rosemary chatted together, James was increasingly turning the conversation to God. I only had an inkling of what was happening when he started to read the New Testament that Rosemary had given him for his birthday every night in bed.

At that point I freaked. Here I was, a nice Jewish girl, next to my husband in bed while he read the New Testament! What did he think he was doing?

I’m not very good at disguising my feelings, and James soon picked up on my not-so-silent outrage.

‘I’m interested,’ he said. ‘I don’t expect you to be. But I am.’

This answer did not reassure me at all.

Over the next two to three months, I noticed a change in James. He’s always been a nice, easygoing person, but there was a striking difference in him emotionally. I can only describe it as being more peaceful, and maybe less driven.

‘Right,’ I thought. ‘I’m going to defeat this thing. I’m going to prove him wrong.’

‘Give me that Bible,’ I said.

The New Testament which Rosemary gave James is ‘The Message’ version, written in a very up-to-date punchy style, but faithful to the original. I started reading, and I was captivated. I started at Matthew’s gospel, the first book, and read all the way through to Revelation, in about six weeks. There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament altogether - I was reading them at the rate of almost one book a night. Romans, in particular, I couldn’t put down. It was – wow.

However, at the end of all this reading, I was still freaking out.

‘I’m a nice Jewish girl,’ I thought, ‘I can’t do this. Let’s stop it in its tracks.’

So I suggested to James that he go to Rosemary’s church with her, perhaps to put the whole thing to rest.

James came home after the service at St Barnabas, and I knew that my plan had misfired. He only told me much later that he had given his life to the Lord in that service, but I could see just by looking at him that he was not losing interest in the subject.

‘He’ll grow out of it,’ I thought.

Then I decided that I needed to get the whole thing out of my system, so I announced to James and Rosemary that I would come with them to church that Sunday. Their faces were a picture. If I had told them that I believed God was green, they couldn’t have looked more shocked.

When I walked into St Barnabas church my first thought was, ‘What’s a nice Jewish girl doing in church?’

And then I fell in love.

I can’t remember what the speaker actually said, but I remember it made me both laugh and cry. At the end of the service we were told to come to the front if we wanted to receive prayer for anything. I felt as if something was pulling me up to the front of the church and I had little choice but to go. Someone stood and prayed with me, and I cried and cried – I couldn’t stop. I didn’t even know why I was crying. Afterwards, though, it felt as if I had been wrapped in something warm and soft; I felt so safe, and very peaceful. I still have that experience in church now, of being in a haven of peace.

Rosemary is involved in a church plant of St Barnabas’s called Oakleigh Community Church, so we went along with her on Sunday mornings. We were made very welcome. The pastor, Mike Pavlou, suggested that I did an Alpha Course* at St Barnabas. By the end of the 10 week course I was convinced, and at that point I fully gave my life to the Lord.

This process took six months for me; it was quicker for James. The wonderful thing was that we did that journey together, and we continue it together. James reads to me from the Bible every morning. He leads worship at Oakleigh now and is one of the Alpha Course leaders. I head the welcome team, and do whatever else I’m asked to do.

The Judaism I knew for all those years was all about deeds, about proving your godliness by what you do, attempting to obey the 613 commandments of Jewish law. I had no relationship with God. I never felt any connection with him at the synagogue in any way, and neither did I expect to. Now, however, there is a peace in my life, a centeredness, which comes from my experience of knowing God. I am in a relationship now. I am God’s daughter; I am his child.

* Alpha is a course run by churches nationwide which aims to give people an introduction to the Christian faith.