Homeless Sing Thanks to Salvation Army
Millions of Americans each Thanksgiving thank heaven for their blessings great and small, and a number of them add the Salvation Army to their list because of its long dedication to social service.
Some people who are doubly thankful will take part in a two-hour Thanksgiving musical program Sunday at the Army’s Congress Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
Among those singing in the 4 p.m. program will be the Haven Gospel Choir, formed by homeless male and female veterans from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Also to perform is a praise-and-worship team from a skid row program run by the Salvation Army.
Thanksgiving 1996, which falls on Nov. 28, is also being celebrated by many churches and synagogues with interfaith observances and special programs.
On Sunday, a 1,000-voice choir--drawn from 19 other churches around the state--will sing in a 7 p.m. concert at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. A 100-member hand bell choir will perform in a 6:45 p.m. prelude. Free. (818) 795-7221.
On Monday night, interfaith services will be held in La Mirada and Panorama City. The Rev. Kenneth Kalina will speak at the La Mirada Thanksgiving service, which starts at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 15700 Rosecrans Ave., with Catholic and Jewish participation. In Panorama City, Valley Beth Israel Synagogue, 13060 Roscoe Blvd., will host clergy and members from St. Genevieve Catholic Church and Panorama City Presbyterian Church at a 7 p.m. service.
On Wednesday, the 10 congregations of North Hollywood’s Interfaith Food Pantry will hold a Thanksgiving eve celebration at 7:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 6020 Radford Ave. Community interfaith services will also be held at 7 p.m. at the Lancaster and Garden Grove United Methodist churches for the Antelope Valley and Garden Grove areas.
The new Metropolitan Community Church sanctuary at 8714 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, will be the site for a 7:30 p.m. Thanksgiving eve service led by the Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Interfaith Clergy Assn. At 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving, two black United Methodist groups will hold a service at St. Marks United Methodist Church, 8305 S. Gramercy Place, Los Angeles.
Some churches will offer turkey dinners to their communities. Los Angeles’ Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., will serve dinner at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday for $5, but reservations are required. (213) 389-8547. On Thanksgiving Day, Brookins Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, 4831 Gramercy Place, will serve a free dinner following the 10 a.m. worship service led by the Rev. Frederick O. Murph, the church’s new pastor. (213) 296-5610. At 1 p.m., a brief service will precede a meal at United University Church on the north side of the USC campus. (213) 748-0209.
CONFERENCES
An academic symposium on Pure Land Buddhism, the centuries-old form of Japanese Buddhism promising salvation to the ordinary person, will draw panelists next Saturday from Stanford University, Duke University, UCLA and UC Berkeley.
Free and open to the public, the Nov. 30 symposium, starting at 1 p.m., will be at the Los Angeles extension site of Bukkyo University, 442 E. 3rd St. (213) 346-9678.
Pure Land, or Jodo Shu, Buddhism was founded by Honen (1133-1212), who taught that the recital of the name of Amida Buddha, Namu Amida Butsu, would allow anyone to attain bliss after death. That basic teaching is followed also in Jodo Shinshu temples, which cite allegiance to Shinran (1173-1262), the disciple of Honen. Alfred Bloom, professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii, will describe the relationship of Honen and Shinran.
* A two-day Muslim conference on Muhammad, the prophet-messenger of Islam, will begin Thursday at 9 a.m. in Buena Park at the Sequoia Conference Center, 7530 Orangethorpe Ave. The eighth International Sirah (life and actions of Muhammad) Conference, organized by the Islamic Society of Orange County, will feature lectures by prominent U.S. scholars and workshops on conflict-resolution, business opportunities, political awareness and media relations, among other matters. Registration is $15 to $35. (714) 739-4141.
* Orange County’s burgeoning Religious Diversity Faire will hold its third annual conference featuring workshops and exhibits at the UC Irvine Student Center today. Designed by a multi-faith planning committee to promote understanding, the event is expected to draw nearly 1,000 people. Episcopal Bishop William Swing of San Francisco, who has sought to form a new international interfaith organization, will speak at 7:30 p.m. The conference will start at noon. Registration is $12.
POSTSCRIPT
Evangelist Greg Laurie of Riverside drew an average of 4,450 people to five rallies during his four-day crusade at the 6,100-seat Universal Amphitheatre this week. Designed as his first, cautious venture into Los Angeles County after big-crowd crusades in Anaheim and San Diego in recent years, the Laurie crusade drew its biggest crowd--5,500 people--on Tuesday night, which was a music-filled Youth Night. About 5,300 attended the final rally Wednesday. Crusade officials said 1,973 people “came forward,” signaling new or renewed commitments. Though crusade leaders had talked earlier of a possible Dodger Stadium event next year, spokesman Bryan St. Peters said that may be premature. Laurie, who also pastors a 14,000-member church, next will take his Harvest Crusade to Philadelphia’s Spectrum Arena in June.
* “The Spitfire Grill,” starring Alison Elliot and Ellen Burstyn, was given the first Lloyd C. Douglas Spiritual Quest Award by First Congregational Church of Los Angeles last week. The movie, produced by Gregory Productions and distributed by Castle Rock, was described by First Congregational Pastor Steven Berry as “a startling story about healing and the renewal of a community which depicts the spiritual process of turning pain into joy.”
FINALLY
Though religious Jews as well as Christian believers will give thanks this Thanksgiving week, Judaism has a tradition of daring to question God and even challenges the fairness of the Almighty.
“A History of Hutzpah,” discussing the religious aspect of the popular term for impudence or audacity, will be the subject of a lecture Sunday by Rabbi Edward M. Feinstein to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jewish Community Library.
Feinstein is a rabbi at Encino’s Valley Beth Shalom. His talk, at 1:30 p.m., will be in the board room of the Jewish Federation Building, 6505 Wilshire Blvd. Donation $5. (213) 852-3272.
Hutzpah, according to the Jewish Community Library’s flier on the lecture, is: “The most defining quality of Jewish existence. We wrestle with G-d, and we win.”
Notices may be mailed to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385. Items should arrive about three weeks before the event, except for late news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and times.
CONFERENCES
Several Southern Californians were among 50 American evangelical Christians named by Christianity Today magazine as outstanding leaders who are 40 and younger. Editors of the magazine, published in Carol Stream, Ill., said they chose the 50 from nominations by nearly 1,000 evangelical leaders.
Included were Miroslav Volf, 40, who teaches theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena; Michael Teague, 37, chief operating officer at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles; Michael Horton, 32, president of the Anaheim-based Christians United for Reformation, and two couples who form the Harambee Christian Family Center, a black youth mentoring group in Pasadena--Kafi and Rudy Carrasco, 23 and 29, and Karyn Farrar-Perkins and Derek Perkins, 36 and 38.
The national list includes figures such as Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition; DC Talk, a popular Christian rap trio, and ex-Oklahoma quarterback J.C. Watts Jr., now a Republican congressman.
* Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, just back from Chicago where he presided at Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s funeral Mass, will return to his boyhood parish Sunday to mark the 75th anniversary of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in North Hollywood, now a 3,500-family parish. Mahony will celebrate an anniversary Mass at 1 p.m. at the church, 10828 Moorpark St.
* Episcopal Bishop Frederick Borsch will speak as an author at 10:15 a.m. Sunday between services at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. His recent “Outrage and Hope: A Bishop’s Reflections on Times of Change and Challenge” is a collection of essays written over eight years about Southern California’s traumatic events and the spiritual questions they raised.
