History Rising

Voices were raised in unison this evening in shouts of praise as Christians from all sides of the divide got together in the Dubai Tennis Stadium for an evening of soul stirring worship led by messianic singer Paul Wilbur. This was history in the making, as he became the first singer to ever perform in a public arena in the Middle East. HSI didn't organize the event (although I very much wish we had), but we did our best to help those who did — a group named Voice — make it a success, understanding that in events like these lie opportunities to end the divide that separates Christians from each other.


We, unfortunately, couldn't help much. We got the approval of Church elders, as regulations required, to involve ourselves in this project. Bishop Paul Hinder, who is a wise man and understands all too well the need for ecumenical endeavours, said he had no problem with this event, or of our own involvement with it. Fr. Tomasito Venaracion, parish priest of St. Mary's Church, is a wise man too. Although he knew that there could be repurcussions working with us (it is public knowledge that certain people in positions of power are allergic to us), he gave us the go ahead as well, showing himself to be a courageous man too. But that is as far as it went.

The details of what happened can be found, for whenever history finds the need for it, in the records of my correspondence with the Bishop, but for now there is no need to go public with the rather disgusting sequence of events that took place. What is important for the public record is the concert itself that took place tonight (November 24). It was an event that will live on in the memories of all those who attended as evidence of what God does when his children come together as one family. Something in the very atmosphere of the city changed, and by the end of it, when Paul Wilbur declared that Dubai had become a city of praise, everybody said, Amen.