Churches to Show Unity at Easter Service

To symbolize the spirit of Christian unity while accommodating their growing congregations, two African American pastors will conduct a joint Easter morning service April 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The pastors are Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, whose Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church in Inglewood has grown tenfold during his 12-year pastorate to 3,500 members, and Bishop Noel Jones, whose Greater Bethany Community Church in Los Angeles has doubled in membership to 8,000 in the two years he has been pastor.

More than convenience was on the pastors’ minds, Ulmer said.

“If the church can get together and make a commitment to symbolize the unity we have in Christ, I think the community will see that it too can get together,” Ulmer said. The worship service will begin at 9 a.m.

The ministers said they decided on the joint service last summer in New Orleans, where Ulmer was attending the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship convention and Jones was an invited speaker. In 1994, Jones succeeded the late Bishop Robert W. McMurray as pastor of Greater Bethany, a church aligned with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

To offset the cost of renting the Convention Center’s Hall G for a whole day, the pastors added a gospel concert, which will start at 5 p.m. Among artists scheduled to perform are Vanessa Bell Armstrong, O’Landa Draper and the Associates, Daryl Coley and Kim Stratton. Concert tickets are $10.

“The budget is getting close to $60,000 for the whole thing,” Jones said. “We don’t mind spending the money because we wanted the churches to share in the Easter celebration.” Both churches are also collecting nonperishable foods at Sunday services to be given to needy families. (800) 883-3675.

PEOPLE

Jacob Milgrom, a biblical expert who founded the Jewish Studies Program at UC Berkeley, is scholar-in-residence this weekend at Temple Beth Am in West Los Angeles and will assume the same role next weekend at Stephen S. Wise Temple atop the Sepulveda Pass. Milgrom, now living in Jerusalem, will speak at Temple Beth Am’s family workshop on Passover at 11 a.m. Sunday. Among his topics at Stephen S. Wise Temple will be “Keeping Kosher: Higher Than the Ten Commandments” at the 8 p.m. Friday service and a “biblical explanation of evil” at 2 p.m. next Saturday.

PASSOVER

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Looking ahead to the Jewish holiday that starts on the night of April 3, free lectures on Passover will be offered Sunday at the Yeshiva of Los Angeles Community Beit Midrash, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, coordinator of the Jewish Studies Institute, will speak at 9:30 a.m. and Rabbi Aron Tendler of Congregation Shaarei Zedek of North Hollywood will discuss Seder laws and lore at 10:45 a.m. (310) 553-4478, Ext. 285.

In addition, a feminist Seder will be conducted at 6 p.m. Thursday at Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot, 3652 Michelson Drive, Irvine, sponsored by the Orange County Jewish Feminist Institute. The ritual’s narrative will highlight the role of significant women during the Exodus. (310) 425-3355.

MUSIC

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The fifth annual Passion Play at Porter Ranch’s Shepherd of the Hills--now a merged congregation with Hillcrest Christian Church and so far using both names--will give eight performances, starting Thursday at 8 p.m. and ending on April 6. Said to be the largest Easter musical drama in Los Angeles County, the production uses an elaborate set and original music. Tickets range from $6 to $10. (818) 831-9333.

* An Easter musical with orchestra and a 100-voice choir will be presented twice Sunday at the newly built sanctuary of South Shores Church overlooking the ocean at Monarch Beach in Orange County. The musical drama, which begins with the Crucifixion, combines the choirs of the host church and Santa Ana First Baptist Church. Performances at the church, 32712 Crown Valley Parkway, will be at 5 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5.

* “Herstory, The Mother’s Tale,” which tells the story of Jesus through his mother and other women in the Gospel accounts, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 877 W. 7th St., San Pedro. The drama, which was also presented Friday at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, stars playwright Sheila O’Connell-Roussell and her sister, singer-actress Elinore O’Connell. Donation $10. (310) 833-3541.

DATES

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Hoping to galvanize liberal and moderate social-religious sentiment, an American Jewish Congress forum Sunday in Los Angeles will discuss the impact of the religious right. Speakers in the four-hour forum, starting at 10 a.m., will include ex-Congressman Robert Edgar, president of the School of Theology at Claremont; Rabbi Allen Freehling, who helped bring about the newly formed Coalition of Religious Voices; Jean Hessburg, California director of People for the American Way; and USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky. The meeting will be at the Jewish Community Building, 6505 Wilshire Blvd. (213) 651-4601.

* William Donohue, the New York-based president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, will be the keynote speaker at 2 p.m. today at the annual Cardinal Mindszenty Conference, a conservative Catholic gathering, at the Sheraton Anaheim Hotel. The outspoken Donohue has objected to film, television and news media portrayals that he says are anti-Catholic, including the 1995 movie “The Priest” from Miramax, a Walt Disney Co. affiliate.

* J. C. High Eagle, a scientist on the NASA flight control team for the Apollo 11 and 13 flights to the moon, will talk on “A Pathway to American Indian Wisdom” at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 663-2167.

* New Testament scholar Burton L. Mack of the Claremont Graduate School will talk about how the idea of the “Kingdom of God” became popular in early Christianity in a free lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 831 N. Dartmouth Ave., Claremont. (909) 621-8066.

* Prayer in the context of process theology, a metaphysical philosophy developed this century, will be discussed in a two-hour seminar Thursday by theologian Marjorie Suchocki of the School of Theology at Claremont. The free seminar at the seminary, sponsored by the Center for Process Studies on campus, will begin at 4 p.m. (909) 621-5330.

EASTER NEWS

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A roundup of community Easter sunrise services held off church grounds will be published April 6. On April 13, a listing of major Eastern Orthodox Easter liturgies will be published. Please send pertinent information on the programs, major participants and traditions to the address or fax number below.

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CONFERENCES

About 250 religion scholars and students are expected to gather at UC San Diego from Thursday through Saturday for the annual Western regional meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. Academy President Alan Padgett of Azusa Pacific University will speak about religious historians and the historical Jesus. Society President David Noel Freedman of UC San Diego will discuss his 50 years in biblical studies.

Maria Pilar Aquino of the University of San Diego will speak about “Economic Violence Against Women: Current Theological Implications.” Registration at Warren Lecture Hall will cost $20 to $30. For information, call (818) 885-3392.

* James “the Amazing” Randi, a debunker of religious flimflam, and comedian-author-composer Steve Allen will be featured speakers at the Skeptics Society Conference on Evolutionary Psychology and Humanistic Ethics next Saturday and Sunday in Pasadena.

The March 31 workshops, starting at 9 a.m. in Caltech’s Baxter Lecture Hall, deal with the “challenge to skeptics and humanists about ethics and morality” from scientist participants and Michael Shermer, publisher of the locally edited Skeptic magazine and a professor at Occidental College. The cost ranges from $55 to $130 for nonmembers. (818) 794-3119.