Sunday, 20 Jan-08: 3rd of Epiphany.

Well, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity continues here. Clarkston Churches Together had organised a round of events to cover both the week and the visit of Doris Abbass, Assistant Head of Al Shurooq Christian School for the Visually Impaired, Bethlehem. This school in Bethlehem of Judea is supported by the Church of Scotland in Jerusalem, and back home here. The Israeli Government stopped payiong the government salaries of alkl Palestinian Civil Servants many months ago and of course erected that high 'Apartheid Wall' as Doris calls it, cutting off homes from the school. They then erected a wire fence around the school with a locked gate. Only if an Israeli soldier comes can the gate be unlocked in the morning to admit these blind children. If he doesn't come again in the afternoon, the children are trapped one side of the fence and cannot get home again. The school was originally based at the Library in Jerusalem but the Israeli's cut off contact roads into ~Jerusalem so that staff could not get to school. Everyone has to have passes to allow them anywhere near Bethlehem or Jerusalem. 37% of the Palestinian population was Christian. Now it is 1.5% as most Christians found it impossible to get to church and so left.
Al Shurooq School is a Christian school and all its pupils except one are Muslim. As Doris answered when asked why they stay there, 'Well, it's what we Christians do, isn't it? It's our Sacrament of Christian love and care. Don't forget we Christian Palestinians exported
Christianity.' Well, that's true. There was first a ceilidh at the Clarkston Halls, then a Dinner at Netherlee C of S Parish Church when Doris spoke to us and showed some slides of their work and of the plight under Isaeli restrictions and curfews. For example, When Bush visited the Middle East for the first time in his presidency a few days ago all Palestinians were ejected from their homes along the route from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and a complete curfew was imposed so that no citizens were allowed anywhere on the streets. 45 cars, all identical conveyed the president along that route from the meeting with his cohorts, the Israeli government to the Church of the Nativity ( minus of course, any evidence of Christians ) and it cost $20,000 an hour for 3 hours of his visit, to cover all the hundreds of security staff, etc. Bush's visit was carefully orchestrated and he never saw the plight of Palestinian folk at all. He was taken to meet Mr Abass and I'm sure the president was told of the plight of locked in and trapped Palestinians but he probably thought 'I never saw anything of this' and dismissed Abass's claims. The Dinner was a great success with representative churches from Arbroath, the NE coast, to the south coast, e.g., Ayr and Dumfries, the Central Belt, and even 'that other place' ( i.e., Edinburgh!). All denominations were there too. The local Derby Café did the food. Laird & MacMillan, local Undertakers donated wine and the BB, Scouts, Rangers and Women's Guild did the catering along with the café staff. Doris then addressed our church before the Family Eucharist and then was driven quickly to St Joe's RC Church before their 10am Mass to address them. This afternoon we all gathered at Giffnock United Reform Church to hear Fr Jim Duggan from St Joey's talk about the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer, reminding us that it was brainwave of an Episcopal priest and then the RC Church took it up. This evening everyone gathered at Greenbank C of S Parish Church to hear Doris talk again and to present her slideshow and for us to view a video of the children performing for us - even singing a Scots hymn in English, accompanied by the blind Head Teacher sho set the school up initially. I spoke briefly to the busy Doris and said the Episcopal Church supports the Christian school in nearby Ramala on the West Bank, which of course she knew about. Our retiring collection today for Al Shurooq brought in a tidy amount which our Treasurer will send off to Jerusalem tomorrow. Phew! A very busy week indeed.