FAITH
Friday, June 3, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
No food on irst convoy to Syrian town in 4 years
By PHILIP ISSA
Associated Press
BEIRUT — A human-
itarian convoy reached a
starved suburb of Syria’s
capital for the irst time
since 2012 on Wednesday
but did not bring any food,
as the opposition called for
a countrywide cease-ire for
the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan and aid access for
all Syrians.
In the north, Kurdish-led
ighters aided by U.S.-led
airstrikes launched a new
advance on the town of
Manbij, an Islamic State
stronghold on a key supply
route linking the Turkish
border to Raqqa, the
extremist group’s de facto
capital.
The U.N. estimates that
4,000 to 8,000 people live
in the Damascus suburb
of Daraya, which has
been subject to a crippling
government blockade since
residents expelled security
forces in the early stages of
the 2011 uprising against
President Bashar Assad.
The joint U.N., Interna-
ICRC via AP
This image released by the International Committee
for the Red Cross shows the irst humanitarian aid
convoy in Daraya, Syria on Wednesday, June 1, 2016.
tional Committee of the Red
Cross, and Syrian Arab Red
Crescent convoy that reached
Daraya Wednesday contained
medicines, vaccines, baby
formula, and “nutritional
items for children,” the ICRC
said, but no food.
“Clearly, what we brought
today will not meet the needs
of people in Daraya — and
a one-off delivery of food
will not either,” Krista
Armstrong of the ICRC told
the AP via email, saying the
organization hopes to return
with food Friday. “We need
to have repeated and regular
access to all people living in
besieged places in Syria.”
It was not immediately
clear why the shipment
contained no food. A
36-truck aid convoy entered
neighboring Moadamiyeh,
which is also under govern-
ment siege, at around the
same time, carrying food.
The suburb last received aid
in February, residents said.
The U.S.- and Russia-led
International Syria Support
Group last month called on
the U.N. to “immediately
carry out a program for air
bridges and air drops for all
areas in need” starting June 1
if it was denied humanitarian
access to designated areas,
including Daraya.
The United Nations
Security Council is set to
meet Friday to discuss the
possibility of starting human-
itarian air drops to besieged
areas.
Britain’s ambassador to
the U.N. Matthew Rycroft
said the aid going to Daraya
Wednesday was “too little,
too late,” and his country’s
delegation would raise
the possibility of air drops
at the meeting. Russian
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin,
however, said he believed
air drops were impractical
and that the land deliveries
should be given a chance.
The ofice of the U.N.
envoy to Syria said it was
looking into “every possible
means” to reach 592,700
people in besieged areas
and millions more in hard-
to-reach areas facing severe
food shortages.
The opposition’s High
Negotiations
Committee
withdrew from indirect peace
talks with the government
last month after violence
lared and the government
stalled on allowing sustained
humanitarian access to
besieged areas and releasing
detainees.
In a letter sent to the
U.N. secretary-general on
Wednesday, HNC chief
Riad Hijab called for a
“comprehensive” Ramadan
cease-ire as a precondition
for resuming talks in July.
The holy month in which
Muslims fast from dawn to
dusk begins next week.
An earlier cease-ire
that went into effect in late
February brought relief to
some opposition areas but
frayed by late April.
The worsening violence
has
strained
relations
between rebel ighters and
the largely-exiled HNC, and
earlier this week Mohammad
Alloush, who represents the
powerful Islam Army in the
opposition coalition, with-
drew from his post as chief
negotiator.
HNC oficial Bassma
Kodmani said the armed
factions would nevertheless
abide by a cease-ire if the
government does as well,
saying the opposition group
consults the rebels before
making decisions.
The Syrian Democratic
Forces, a Kurdish-led militia
that includes Arab ighters,
have meanwhile approached
to within 14 kilometers (nine
miles) of Manbij. The SDF
announced a campaign to
advance on areas around
Raqqa, the de facto capital
of the IS group’s self-styled
caliphate, last week.
“There are tens of casu-
alties among ighters and
evacuating civilians,” said
Nasser Haj Mansour, an
adviser to the SDF. “Daesh is
using its entire means to stop
the forces,” he told the AP
by telephone from near the
front line, referring to IS by
its Arabic acronym.
BOARDMAN’S LIMEY PASTOR
Baccalaureate for Boardman Worship
I
classes and the next few days, became
dazzlingly detailed and precise.
This, I understood, was real
t may be hard for you to believe. It
wakefulness — not just tumbling from
is especially hard for me to believe,
the sleep in bed into the anxieties and
but I was once a young man myself
imaginations of daydreams in waking
once. I was like you once, ending the
sleep, this was being awake,
great chasm of life called
really awake! Being really awake
childhood, preparing for an
may truly rescue us from the
unknown future in a world of
tangle of dreams. This is much
dubious merit ... a world that I
of my life as I approach my
had no conception of.
sixtieth year. I try not to miss any
This year I will be turning
adventure, or moment for the
60 years old and my body
real to be seen and appreciated
has parts that click when
and for Christ’s presence to be
they move. You’ll get there
Colin
manifest within it.
too, one day. It is interesting
Brown
So, from that day on I have
that the body, which once
Comment
worked to be the disciple that the
seemed such a solid fact of
Lord wants me to be, the disciple
permanence, now seems to
indicate that it is much more temporary attentive to the beauty, the subtlety and
the teaching of life. Because at any
than we expected it to be. Please pay
moment Jesus may speak, and we may
attention to it and treat your bodies
miss his teaching. We
well.
may miss his own self,
As people leaving childhood and
appearing in our lives.
entering a larger world, you need to
A life awake is a
know that you are guarded by a God
stream of moments that
who takes great pride in you, whose
scintillate and lash in
son Jesus Christ regards you as family
a cloudless night sky.
and who the Holy Spirit companions
I made a list of some
every day. You are on the watch list!
moments of mine in no
The Lord is your shepherd and this
particular order. I would
mission of his is to continually enlarge
advise you to do this
your world and make you more and
as you go along. Your
more like himself every day. This fact
bucket list is already appearing before
will occasionally blow your mind.
I called this message “Time to Wake your eyes.
I was chased by a tornado driving
Up” because if you haven’t done this
between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
by now you should be waking up very
I’ve lown aloft in a glider and
soon.
went into a dive, hurtling straight down
When I was 14 years old I was
towards the earth before pulling out and
sitting in the back of drama class and I
back up.
was staring down at my notebook with
I nearly drowned on the Great
my eyes crossed, my eyes fuzzed out
Barrier Reef in Australia, in 100 feet of
with inattention.
water, being circled by sharks.
I had been reading earlier about
I had the American Space Shuttle
people living their lives in daydreams
land in front of me at Edwards Air
as a way of avoiding reality, and how
Force Base, and I took photos of the
once awakened from one’s own sleep
you could walk along the sidewalk and astronauts when they posed for a
number of us.
see the daydreams in people’s eyes
In Minnesota, I went inside a cage
crossing their eyes as they slumber-
with a tiger in it; it was very playful
walked along.
and bit me.
Something in my brain clicked, and
I was a newspaper restaurant critic
suddenly I could see my teacher and
in California for about three years and
the class switch on, into Technicolor
ate at the inest restaurants — for free.
and 3-D, so to speak. I was aware of
I saw Mount Saint Helens erupt
my hands resting on the desk, aware
from my ofice in Portland.
of my feet on the loor, and the languid
My car caught ire when I was
heat and light coming from between
sitting in it, after I had just illed it with
the window blinds, warming my face.
gasoline. After I broke down, going
My own change of state, this new and
uphill to visit my mechanic.
thrilling awakeness, experienced in the
I sailed around the shores of the
classroom and for the remainder of the
Delivered to graduating students:
Apostle islands in the great Lake
Superior in a beautiful sailboat, at
night, with the islands craggy with
skull-shaped rocks that made a loud
gurgling noise. The moon rose above
the waves with a blood-red color, and
the northern lights switched on like
cold neon ire, sheets of green, yellow
and blue that lit the sky.
I went to Bethlehem and kneeled
in the stable building that had a star
marking where Jesus was born. I
touched the golden star on the loor
with both hands and prayed.
I went to Jordan and went to the
baptismal spring on the Jordan where
Jesus was baptized, and put my feet in
that same river.
I sat next to Bill Murray at a movie
— and pretended to be cool and not
recognize him (this was a stupid thing
to do).
I played in an Easter
Play “The Witness” at
the Schnitzer in Portland
where I was the narrator.
I sat in the pub in
England, called the
Eagle and Child, in
Oxford, where C.S.
Lewis and J.R.R.
Tolkien wrote and read
to each other “The
Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe” and “The Hobbit” and
“Lord of the Rings,” respectively.
I nearly blew a hole in myself when
a pistol I was shooting misired.
I met the Dalai Lama at Los Angeles
party and shook his hand.
I went to Petra, in Jordan, the Lost
City that featured in Raiders of the Lost
Ark — and lost the party of folks I was
with. I wandered around for a while
before I found them.
I had a camera inserted into my
thigh and poked up into my heart
and saw my heart beat on a giant TV
screen.
First and foremost, I had an
encounter with the living Christ that
changed everything. After that life has
had a movement forward into brighter
and brighter amazement.
You are alive, you are called to
awaken and follow the same Bright
Star of Christ from the stable to the
empty tomb. Go forth and get busy. It’s
a heck of a ride!
■
Colin Brown is pastor of the
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
Boardman.
Your bucket
list is already
appearing
before your
eyes.
Methodist church sets
Sunday barbecue
PENDLETON — The First United
Methodist Church is iring up the
barbecue this weekend.
A Community Sunday Dinner
Barbecue is planned at noon at the
church, 352 S.E. Second St., Pendleton.
Chicken will be provided. Those
attending are asked to bring a side dish,
salad or dessert to share.
Lay leader Kip Morgan said many
encounters with Jesus in the gospels
indicate food is involved. Preparing
a good meal to share with others is a
way for the church to demonstrate what
Rev. Jim Pierce calls Christ’s “radical
hospitality.”
For more information, contact
541-276-2616 or kit@morganpost.net.
Program highlights
missionary pioneer
PENDLETON — A presentation
about Jason Lee, a pioneer missionary in
the 1800s, will take place in Pendleton.
Aaron Auer of Portland will share
Mormon temple statue
replaced
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The
gold statue on top of the Mormon
temple in Bountiful that was struck by
lightning last month has been replaced.
The Deseret News reports that crews
removed the angel Moroni statue on
Wednesday.
The statue lost part of its head and
back during the lightning strike.
Spires topped with sculptures
depicting the angel Moroni with a
555 SW 11th, Hermiston • 567-9497
Nursery provided for all services
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:45 AM
6:00 pm
Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM
“Proclaiming God’s word,
growing in God’s grace”
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
trumpet are a signature of temples
built by The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints around the world.
Most of these statues are constructed
of iberglass covered in gold leaf, and
weigh about 300 pounds.
The angel Moroni statues are built
with lightning rods, meant to draw
lightning strikes away from other areas
of the temples.
Meeting focuses on
prayer, healing
WALLA WALLA — Esther
Flesland, director of the Spokane
Healing Rooms, will host a special
healing meeting.
The free event, which includes
prayer for healing, is Friday, June 10
from 7-9 p.m. at Whitman Court, 305
Ash St., Walla Walla. In addition,
Flesland will teach about Biblical
healing.
The gathering is sponsored by Walla
Walla Aglow Community Lighthouse.
For more information, call Lora Sykes
at 509-540-0212 or Darya Tucker at
509-876-1668.
Pastor David Dever
Sun. Bible Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00am
Sun. Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . 11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship . . . . . . . . . . 6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study . . . 6:00pm
www.hermistonlmbc.com
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
Sunday School........10:00 am
Worship...................11:00 am
Evening Service........7:00 pm
Wednesday Service..7:00 pm
"Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you."
1 Pet. 5:7
First United
Methodist
Church Of
Hermiston
Rev. Dr. James T. Pierce, Pastor
Open Hearts, Open minds,
Open doors
191 E. Gladys Ave.
Sunday Worship at 11am
(541) 567-3002
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
All People
Are Welcome
1255 Hwy. 395 S. • 567-5834
oasisvineyard.us
Worship 10:00 AM
"come as you are"
Echo
Community Church
21 N. Bonanza Street, Echo OR
Phone: (541) 376-8108
Sunday School • 9:30am
Worship • 10:45am
Children’s Church • 11:15am
Potluck & Communion ~
First Sunday of the Month
NEW HOPE
COMMUNITY CHURCH
BRIEFLY
about Lee, who was sent by the
Methodist Church to Oregon in 1834
to bring the “Book of Heaven” to
the Salish people. The free event is
Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Roy Raley Park,
1205 S.W. Court Ave., Pendleton.
In 2009, to commemorate Oregon’s
150 years of statehood, Auer, along
with John Sutton, toured all 36 county
courthouses, giving a presentation to
judges, commissioners, sheriffs, and
other public oficials.
For more information, visit www.
roaroregon.org.
Grace Baptist Church
1350 S. Highway 395, Hermiston
Sunday Worship Services
English- Pastor Dave Andrus
9:00 & 10:45 am
Spanish- Pastor Genaro Loredo
9:00 & 10:15 am
Classes for kids during all services
For more information call
541-567-8441
NEW BEGINNINGS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Worship Service 10:30 AM
Sunday School 9:00 AM
Pastor J.C. Barnett
Children's Church
& Nursery Available
700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
541-289-4774
Scripture, Tradition
and Reason
Family service 9am Sunday
Gladys Ave & 7th Hermiston
Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
Saturdays
Sabbath School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:30 a.m.
Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 a.m.
567-8241
855 W. Highland • Hermiston
Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 7:00 am
THURSDAY . . . . . . . . . Spanish 6:00 pm
SATURDAY: . . . . . . . . . English 5:00 pm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 7:00 pm
SUNDAY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 9:00 am
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bilingual 11:00 am
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 1:00 pm
OFFICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567-5812
First Christian
Church
"Proclaiming the Message of
Hope, Living the Gospel of Love"
SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 AM
SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:30 AM
CHILDREN'S CHURCH 11:00 AM
Nursery Provided
567-3013
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
To share your worship times call
Terri Briggs
541-278-2678
