Thanksgiving Sets the Tone for Services and Celebrations
With the Thanksgiving holiday next week, many organizations will be offering special services, help for those less fortunate and thanks for blessings bestowed. Here is a small sampling:
* The Congregational Church of the Messiah, 7300 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, will offer a reenactment of a typical worship service held by the Pilgrims on Sunday at 10 a.m. Children will dress in costumes, psalms sung by the Pilgrims will be sung and the Rev. David Gray will read a portion of a sermon preached to the Pilgrims in the 1600s. (310) 670-2242.
* The Hollywood Church for Today, 7677 Sunset Blvd., will hold its annual Thanksgiving celebration at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. A Gratitude Meditation will precede the service at 10 a.m. (323) 876-2260.
* For more than 20 years, volunteers from the Bel-Air Presbyterian Church, 16221 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, have assembled Thanksgiving food baskets to donate to Los Angeles’ needy families and individuals. This year the church estimates that more than 1,200 baskets will be distributed to a wide range of groups, ranging from runaway teenagers in Hollywood to people living with HIV and AIDS in the San Fernando Valley and the homeless on skid row. Church volunteers will start the task of unloading donated food and assembling the baskets on Tuesday. (818) 788-4200.
* The San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council will host a series of Thanksgiving celebrations at various sites in the Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday for seniors age 60 and over. A donation of $1.50 for the meal is requested. Reservations must be made with the individual centers.
Tuesday:
* Bernardi Multipurpose Center, 6514 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, (818) 901-0111.
* Casa Panorama, 14550 Osborne St., Panorama City, (818) 892-5570.
* Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Senior Center, 5040 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 756-9146.
* Northeast Valley Senior Center, 11300 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 834-6100.
* Sunland Senior Center, 8640 Fenwick St., Sunland, (818) 353-1413.
Wednesday:
* Nikkei Village, 9557 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 896-1955.
* Sylmar Recreation Center, 13109 Borden Ave., Sylmar, (818) 362-9175.
EVENTS
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The labyrinth has been used throughout history as a tool for spiritual understanding. Today Georgiana Lofty will facilitate a labyrinth event, “Walking to Let Go and Let God,” at Christ the King Church, 2706 W. 182nd St., Torrance, from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. (562) 439-6595.
MUSIC
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The St. Eugene Adult Choir, one of the oldest black Catholic Gospel choirs in Southern California, will hold its sixth annual Songfest on Sunday at St. Eugene Church, 9505 Haas Ave., Los Angeles, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Gospel songs ranging from spiritual to contemporary styles will be presented. The St. Eugene Youth Choir will also sing. (323) 757-3121.
* Kehillat Israel and Chamber Music Palisades will present a family concert featuring Susan Greenberg Norman and Friends performing a woodwind quintet and piano recital on Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Kehillat Israel Sanctuary, 16019 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades. Instrumental demonstrations for children ages 5 and up will be given. (310) 459-2328.
SPEAKERS
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Michael Berenbaum, one the nation’s leading authorities on the Holocaust and its aftermath, will discuss “The Roman Catholic Church and the Jews” at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel-Air, on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. His talk will be preceded by a light breakfast at 10 a.m. Cost is $6 for University Women, $7 for nonmembers. For reservations call (310) 476-9777, Ext. 283. Information, (310) 440-1282.
* Lama Ole Nydahl will bring his Tibetan “Diamond Way” Buddhism to Los Angeles at 8 p.m. Tuesday with a teaching presentation on “The Art of Living and Dying” at the Olympic Collection, on the northwest corner of Olympic and Sawtelle boulevards, Los Angeles.
* The Skeptics Society will host a lecture by author Margaret Wertheim, one of the nation’s leading authorities on the science-religion debate, on “Heaven: The Search for a Higher Plane From Dante to Cyberspace,” at Caltech’s Baxter Lecture Hall, Pasadena, on Sunday at 2 p.m. Members $5, nonmembers $8. (626) 794-3119.
* “The Anxiety of Assimilation” will be discussed by author Riv-Ellen Prell, professor at the University of Minnesota, on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Tickets are $8 for Skirball members, $10 for nonmembers. To order tickets call (323) 655-8587. For information, (310) 440-4500.
Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, faxed to Southern California File at (213) 237-4712, or e-mailed to religion@latimes.com. Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time. Because of the volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee publication.