U.S. Day of Prayer to Be Observed

The National Day of Prayer, established by Congress in 1952 and falling on May 2 this year, continues to be influenced in its recent annual observances by evangelical Protestants with Southern California roots.

Shirley Dobson has headed the event’s national task force from Colorado Springs, Colo., since 1993. She and her husband, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, are both ex-Southern Californians.

On Wednesday afternoon at Washington’s Lafayette Park across from the White House, singer Pat Boone, Baptist pastor E.V. Hill of Los Angeles and U.S. Senate Chaplain Lloyd Ogilvie, ex-pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church, are among speakers in an event called “Prayer for the President.”

Boone and USC professor Dallas Willard, a popular speaker in evangelical circles, will join in the national observance Thursday at the House Office Building in the nation’s capital along with Baltimore Cardinal William Keeler, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops; evangelical author Charles Colson, president of Prison Fellowship; and others.

Although President Ronald Reagan in 1988 designated the first Thursday in May the National Day of Prayer, the day has been recognized by Democratic and Republican administrations alike.

In his proclamation April 2, President Clinton noted, in part, that “though our citizens come from every nation on Earth and observe an extraordinary variety of religious faith and traditions, prayer remains at the heart of the American spirit.”

Among observances in Southern California will be the following:

* The Revs. Jack Hayford of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, William Broadous of Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima and David Miller of the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth will speak at the San Fernando Valley Prayer Breakfast and Brunch. The two prayer meals, at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., are being held at Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills, and are sponsored by the Valley Pastors Fellowship. Tickets are $15. (818) 779-8000.

* Christian ethicist Lewis Smedes, who taught for many years at Fuller Theological Seminary before retiring, will speak Thursday at the

33rd annual Glendale Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in the 7 a.m. program at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N. Verdugo Road. Tickets for the 6:15 a.m. breakfast are $7.50. (818) 956-7001.

* At the Orange County Hall of Administration in Santa Ana, Pastor Chuck Smith Sr., founder of the international network of Calvary Chapels, will be the host minister Thursday for a prayer and music rally from noon to 1 p.m. A 75-voice choir assembled from several churches will sing. (714) 830-4819.

* Nine Palos Verdes Peninsula churches will participate in a joint prayer meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Rolling Hills Covenant Church, 2222 Palos Verdes Drive North, Rolling Hills Estates. Host Pastor Byron MacDonald and the Rev. Tony Beckham of Trinity Christian Church will lead the event.

* Evangelist Sammy Tippit of San Antonio will preach and Maureen Reagan will accept a “golden leadership” award on behalf of ex-President Reagan on Thursday night in a two-hour program starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles County Fairplex grandstands in Pomona. Parking is free. (909) 987-3537.

RIOTS ANNIVERSARY

The African American-Korean American Christian Alliance, formed six months before the 1992 rioting erupted in Los Angeles and heavily damaged Korean and black neighborhoods, will hold its fourth annual service Sunday to mark the urban crisis spawned by police acquittals in the first Rodney King beating trial. Seeking to heal wounds and nourish friendships, the 3 p.m. service at the Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, 3412 W. 4th St., will include a sermon by the host pastor, the Rev. Chun Il Cho, with the Rev. Robert Habersham, pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, presiding. Habersham and the Rev. Seog Whan Cho, another United Methodist pastor, are co-chairmen of the alliance.

BLACK CHURCHES

A daylong African American Convocation of Seventh-day Adventists on May 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center will hear Elder Calvin B. Rock, an African American who is a vice president of the denomination’s international General Conference. The meeting brings together some of the members of predominantly black Adventist churches in Southern California as well as African American churchgoers from racially mixed congregations. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. (818) 546-8445.

* Pastor Douglas Fitch of Oakland and United Methodist Global Ministries executive Debra Bass of New York City will address a “Summit on the Black” in Los Angeles on May 4 sponsored in part by Black Methodists for Church Renewal. The six-hour meeting, starting at 9 a.m., will be at Hamilton United Methodist Church, 6330 S. Figueroa St. A youth and young adult service will be held at 4 p.m. May 5 at Hollypark United Methodist Church, 13000 S. Van Ness Ave., Gardena. (213) 754-8453.

DATES

A scholarly monopoly on access to photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their many fragments was broken in late 1991 by the Huntington Library and other agencies possessing images of the 2,000-year-old Jewish sectarian writings. The result, still unfolding, was a spurt of new analyses and publishing.

Four public lectures on the Scrolls “revisited” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Barnsdall Park’s Gallery Theater in Hollywood with an overview by Edward Cook of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Ita Shere of San Diego State University will present her innovative theories on “Sex and Ritual in the Dead Sea Scrolls” on May 6, spokesman Jay Berman said. Other lectures will be May 20 and June 4. Registration for the series is $48; separate talks are $12. For information, call the California Museum of Ancient Art: (818) 762-5500.

* The Cambridge Singers and Little Symphony of Pasadena will present Handel’s “Acis and Galatea,” the love story of a sea nymph and a shepherd, at 3 p.m. Sunday at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, 550 E. Colorado Blvd. The all-Handel program will also include the composer’s “O Praise the Lord With One Consent.” Tickets are $15.50 general admission. (818) 584-0088.

* Adam Warcup, a former president of the Theosophical Society in Britain, will launch a series of talks on Helena Blavatsky, who co-founded the society more than a century ago, at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. Warcup will lead a workshop at 2 p.m. Sunday, and continue with lectures on Wednesday, Friday and May 5, the latter talk on Blavatsky’s work “The Secret Doctrine.” (213) 663-2167.

* Matriarchs of the Sephardic Jewish community will be honored at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel, 300 N. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. Cantor Nathan Lam of Stephen S. Wise Temple will sing traditional Ladino songs, and author/radio commentator Dennis Prager will speak. The minimum gift for the United Jewish Fund is $180. (213) 852-7848.

* All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena will celebrate Earth Day on Sunday in sermons, a forum and exhibits on the church lawn at 132 N. Euclid Ave. Joe Kane, author of “Savages,” will speak at the rector’s forum at 10:15 a.m. (818) 796-1172.

* Organist Gerre Hancock of St. Thomas Catholic Church in New York City will perform in Loyola Marymount University’s Sacred Heart Chapel at 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12 and $10 general admission. (310) 338-7588.

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Notices may be sent by mail to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or by fax to Religion Editor (213) 237-4712. Items should arrive at least three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.