Pew Sheet – 9th July 2023

The Rector writes ‘In our first reading today, we hear about Sarah, her son Isaac and his wife-to-be Rebekah. A few weeks ago, I visited the Mosque and Synagogue of the Cave of the Patriarchs, one of the holiest sites for both Jews and Muslims.  

  The Cave of the Patriarchs is the second holiest place for Jews (after Jerusalem) and the fourth for Muslims (after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem). It is a very tense place, each side separated by bulletproof glass, in fact the entire city of Hebron is probably the most troubled city in Palestine (although Jenin has been topmost in the news in the last week).   Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank, and is located south of Jerusalem.   As I was explaining over the last few weeks,  Palestine is divided into two regions: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, both separated by the state of Israel.  The city of Hebron has one peculiarity, which is that it is the only city in Palestine where Jewish settlements are within the city centre itself leading to almost daily clashes between Settlers and Palestinians. 

As Hebron is  the place where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried, the Tomb site is hotly contested,  Abraham being the most important ancestor figure for Judaism and Islam and is also considered to be a Prophet by Muslims. 

We went first to the Mosque and looked at the tombs and then we had to leave the building, go down the street and through a heavily armed checkpoint to enter the Synagogue side where the tombs were only on view through screen windows ‘

Random Notes CDXXX

I was talking with a fellow horticulturist friend recently about taking cuttings of shrubs in July. I mentioned “Rooting Hormone Compound” and she told me that an alternative was Cinnamon powder. I didn’t know this.

Softwood cuttings should be cut at a 45 degree angle to encourage maximum rooting potential.

Cut off any flowers and excess foliage as you need the cutting to concentrate on developing roots and not to draw its energies in to the leaves. Pour a teaspoon of cinnamon powder on to a saucer and dip the end of the cutting in to the powder.

Plant at the edge of a small pot in compost. The edge of the pot is warmer than the centre and will encourage roots to develop downwards.  You could use 5 or 6 cuttings per small pot. After about a week, hopefully they will have formed tiny baby leaves. You can check to see if they have “taken” by very gently wiggling them and hopefully the cutting will feel firmish, if they have started to develop roots.

Once the cuttings have become established, you can gently transfer them in to a larger pot, again keeping them at the warmest edge of the pot. This process can be repeated three or four times, until you are happy that the young plant can now move in to it’s “own home”!! The reason that you need to transfer them a few times, has been compared to changing gear in a car…..If you try to go from first gear to fifth, the car will stall. It’s as simple as that.

Isn’t July just wonderful??!!

RCE

BRING & SHARE lunch

in the Parish Hall next Sunday 16th after the 11am Service. 

Please bring enough for yourself and for one other person  —  in that way, all of our visitors will manage to be well-fed! Think Sandwiches, Quiche, Finger food etc as there is only limited availability of oven/microwave space in the kitchen.

We are also looking for people to donate cakes etc. for the weekend of the Flower Festival as refreshments will be available in the Parish Hall throughout the weekend.

Please talk to Hilary Warren-Perry or Lesley Roberts if you can donate a cake or traybake.

Thank you!