Pag* b
Portland/Observer
Thursday February 15, 1973
PORTLAND d? OBSERVER^
Oam»
S.X—I *•
ST. ANOCIW S CATHOtIC CHUtCH
The Parson’s Pen
Religion in the News
Kum
The Burden of Black Religion
lEditor's note; The Burden
Black Religion will he
written in two part*.
Be
•ir e and read next week'«
issue to get the conclusion.)
Matt 27:32
“And as they came out,
the found a man of Cyrene,
Simon by name, him they
«impelled to bear the cross."
I am very sure that we
will get into an argument
about Simon's alleged Black
w ss with most of my while
friends and some of my Black
friends too. Whether or not
Simon was physically Black
like me is a question on
critical, historical and exege-
tical study. However, for all
practical purposes. S i m o n
represented Black humanity.
Simon was identified with a
despised segment of human
ly: He was isolated; he was
The AME Z ion Church was organized in 1862 by a s m a l l group of Oregon blacks. The f i r s t (jven no freedom of choice
church building was occupied in I8t>9 and was located on 3rd Avenue. A new church was b u ilt in whether or not to bear the
1883, located on S.W. 13th and M ain. P ictured above is the church building located on W illia m s cross; his personhood was
Avenue and San Rafael, which was occupied in 1917.
not honored; his manhood
was not respected; his free
dom to decide was not con
ceded, for they compelled
him to bear the cross.
The first Black church in
James Cone, in his book
home of Phillip Jenkins. Bis
Schyler.
entitled. Black Theology and
Portland »'as the People's
hop B. F. Lee admitted this
Shiloh Baptist was organ
Church which w a s esta group and appointed Rev
ized in 1915 to serve the Black Power, has this to say:
“God's work of reconcilia
blished in 1862. In 1874 it erend S. Freeman of Fasa-
growing numbers of Black
became the First A.M.E. dena, California, to be pas
people in t h e Montavilla lion means that we can only
Zion Church and was located
tor.
The church has had
area. It was located at 76th he justified by becoming
Back. Reconciliation makes
on Third Street between several locations over a per
and N.E. Everett.
Burnside and Couch. In 1883 iod of time:
us all Black. Through this
S.W. Sixth
St. Philip's Episcopal Mis
it moved to Williams Ave
Avenue and Stark Street;
sion was organized in 1907 radical change, we become
N. W. 10th Avenue a n d
nue.
and became a mission to identified totally with the
B la c k
The
People’s A .M .E .
Davis; and in 1915 at North
Blacks in 1912, with a white suffering of the
Church was located at 126 Larabee and McMillin.
minister. Before 1912, Black masses.” Then he goes on to
18th Street in 1894. In 1897
Mt. Olivet Church was the
Episcopalians attended Ca darify this for white people:
first Black Baptist Church in
it moved to 68 Tenth Street.
“It is to be expected that
thedrals. The mission moved
Oregon. It was established
Bethel A.M.E. Church was
to 242 Russell Street in May many white people will ask:
How can I, a white man,
established in 1889 by a in 1876 and moved to 85
of 1919.
Seventh Street in 1900. In
small g r o u p of Portland
become Black? My skin is
1907 it moved to First and
Christians who met in the
white and there is nothing I
can do."
(Being Black in
America is not exclusively a
matter of skin color. I "To be
Hack means that your heart,
your mind, and your body
are where the dispossesed
are. In this sense, not just
Simon, but Jesus also, were
Hack."
Simon was compelled to be
At Vann's no gimmicks are
where Jesus was because
used. We refuse to insultyour
Jesus had decided to he
intelligence. We know the buy
where Simon was. Jesus had
ing public can recognize qual
already decided to identify
ity. We make certain the fam
himself and his kingdom with
ilies we serve have a wide
Simon. Jesus had already
variety to choose fro m . They
counted himself among the
Black churches organize early
Attend
church
this
Sunday
select the price category that
is best suited to them.
Smile - God loves you
V A N N ’S
MORTUARY
5211 N. Williams Avenue
281-2836
Portland, Oregon
Rev. T. N . Noffo
Welcomes you to
Sunday School
Church Service
Evening Service
9:45 aan.
11:00 aan.
7:30 pan.
6401 N.E. 10th Avenue
by R everend
V . Brown
A statement, issued by
President Nixon that pro
claims an end to the Vietnam
war that has plagued our
nation for almost a decade.
During the course of the war
the most lethal, devastating,
and sophisticated killing ma
chines the world has ever
known were produced.
It is only appropriate that
we as Christians should unite
our hearts in a spirit of
thankfulness and praise for
the peace that has come.
However in our praise and
prayer let us not forget to
pray for those whose lives
will feel the deep and bitter
scars for many years to come.
It is also appropriate that
we as Christians should pray
for our cities that are becom
ing hotbeds of vice. Every
where are enticements to-
sensuaiity and disipation. On
every hand are the sights and
sounds of evil. The tide of
corruption and crime is con
tinually swelling. Every day
brings the record of violence -
murders, robberies, suicides,
and crimes unnamable
MARANATHA CHURCH
1222 NE Skidmore
Church school and Bible class:
Sunday morning worship:
Sunday Evening worship:
Wednesday Evening prayer:
Friday Worship Service:
Bob Harrison - Pastor
9:15 aan.
JO;45 a an.
7:00 pan.
7:00 pan.
7:30 pan.
ISl ««!•
roensNO oooonvrrn
ik
H W » Cl—
I I » « I« a—i
d
about
price?
»
» 00 —
by A. L. Henderson
What
u
■sv Manu« oae«N
288-7241
It seems to me that life in
the cities is becoming false
and artificial. The intense
passion for money, the whirl
of excitement and pleasure,
all are forces that are turning
the minds of the great masses
of mankind from life's true
purpose. Holidays are numer
ous, games and horse racing
draw thousands, and the whirl
of excitement and pleasure
attracts them away from the
sober duties of life.
And in this moment let us
not forget to pray for the
physical surroundings in the
cities that are often a peril to
health. The prevalence of our
air, impure water, impure
food, and the constant liability
of contact with disease.
Prayer is man's attempt to
become consciously aware of
the presence of God. Prayer
may be “uttered or unex
pressed." It may be mingled
with intellectually or aesthetic
or emotional expressed. Thus
out of the experience of pray
er comes peace of mind in the
midst of sorrow. From prayer
comes a sense of sin and
challenge to new effort. From
it comes a renewal and in
tensification of love and grati
tude. From it comes new hope
and a sense of confidence in a
cosmic order. In prayer we
strive to become conscious of
a Presence that is already
part of our very nature. The
essence of prayer is a quest
for “the
beyond that is
within."
WELCOME TO
ST. MARK'S BAPTIST
CHURCH
119 N , E . M o rris
Sunday Service 9:15/ll:00aan.
<fc*spised. rejected, hated, ex
pioited, and excluded chil
<frvn of his father. His heart
was with Simon, because as
the Great physician he knew
that if he could heal the
extreme case, all other rases
would automatically be heal
«1. The privileged classes
are included in the benefits
that fall to the dispossessed;
hut the dispossessed are not
included in the power struc
ture of their oppressors.
There are no restrictions
against lying down in a
manger. There is no lock on
the stable door. There is no
luck on the door of dis
possession; but there are
numerous locks and bars and
balustrades, conventions, cus
toms, and convenants of re
striction to keep the poor
from moving among the rich.
Simon was Black due to his
identity.
Jesus was Black
dut‘ to his resolve to be one
in heart with the fellow
farthest down on the social
ladder.
The Black church is Simon:
Not Simon Peter but Simon
of Cyrene. It was compelled
into existence.
It is a
voluntary institution p r o
duced under the conditions of
involuntary servitude. The
Hack church was compelled
to be.
When in the 18th
<entury (175;! I believe* the
Bishop of Ixmdon declared
that one's conversion and
hnptism was entirely an in-
■vr experience and an indi
vidual matter, such that it
had no effect whatsoever
upon one's external status or
condition - when he took
from Black, slave Christians
even the right to hope for
freedom hased upon mem
bership in Christ
he was
promulgating
t h e
prim ary
heresy of Western Christ
unity and compelling the
Black church into existence
to combat that heresy.
It
was forced to be in order to
repudiate the heresy that
one's relationship to Christ
does not alert his relation
ship to others
especially
those who are of the house
hold of faith. Conversion is a
radical change that affects a
man's total life. Things can
never be the same as before
"If any man be in Christ He
is a new creature, old things
are passed away; behold all
things are become new."
And this radical change of
relationships
this trans
valuation of values begins in
the Church which generated
the change in the first place.
That's why Paul said to the
Church in Galatia. "Let us do
good to all men, but es
penally unto them who are
of the household of faith."
The Black church is pre
dirated on the union that
exists between the spiritual
and the physical, the body
and the soul
the indi
vidual and the communal.
To be in Christ is to he free
in a free church. Either a
Black man is a member of
the Black church or he is not
fully a m e m b e r of any
church. Either I can join the
church with my complete
self, my history, my self
hood, my Black masses, my
family, my talents, my ex
pressions. my a r t ,
my
strength and my zeal or 1
can only pretend to have
joined. If I cannot bring all
of this with me when I join
your church. I'm not really
.ill there. If I face the same
restrictions and prejudices in
the church as I confront in
the world
if I am limited
(Please rum to p. 8 col. 2)
Gospel Choir organizes
Sidney Thomas announced
the organization of the Al
bina Community G o s p e l
Choir.
The Choir, with
membership open to anyone
who wishes to sing gospel
music, will meet for its first
rehearsal on March 3rd at
12:00 noon at the Highland
Community Center, 4635 N.
E. 9th Avenue.
Officers of the choir are:
Sidney Thomas, President;
George Fitz. Vice President*
Bobby Boyd. Choir Director;
and Ronnie Right, Assistant
Director.
The objectives of the choir
are to bring about unity
through glorifying God in
song: to develop a program
to involve the youth; and to
create respect, pride, and
unity and self awareness.
Persons who are interested
may call Sidney Thomas at
281 5969.
M e tho d ist
2859 N .E . RODNEY
287-7998
Sunday School
9:43 aan. Y I’WW
Morning Worship 12:00 noon Weekly Services
6:30 pan.
8:00 pan.
Bishop J.C. Foster, Pastor
lue** 'y 4 Frld*y
ALLEN TEMPLE CME CHURCH
Corner of 8th and Skxlmoie
Sunday School 9:30 aan.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a jn .
Christian Youth Fellowship 6:00 pan.
(Second and Fourth Sundays)
Reverend Thomas L . Strsyhand, M inister
^ highlands
KJ/
M AV
4635 N. E. 9th Avenue
Sunday School
10:00 »an.
Morning Service 11:00 aan.
Breakfast 9:00 - 10:00 aan.
Reverend Samuel Johnson
Telephone: Evenings 287-5341
'Come Alive'
'Come to Jesus'
Church of
Com" A,iv*
the Living God
P.G. of T. Temple # 3
90 0 NE Ainsworth Portland, Oregon
Sunday School 9:45 aan.
T .U .
6:00 pan.
P ra ye r Service
JuntorChurch
Morning Service 11:00 aan.
Evening Service 7:30 pan.
Wednesdays 7:30 pan.
Friday 7:30 pan.
Pastor Rev. S. Green 111
COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF GOD
.o*1
2 0 2 N. E. Skidmore
2 8 1 -5 6 7 8
5828 N.E. 8th
A. Loo Henderson, Minister
2 8 8 -5 4 2 9
Ellis Coston, Associate Minister
Church School
Morning Worship
Wed. Noon — The Hour of Power
Wed Prayer & Clast M e e tin g
Nursery Core Provided
11:00 am
12:00 noon
7:30 pm
W e ere making our Neighborhood A Brotherhood'
Vancouver Ave. First Baptist Church
3138 N. Vancouver Ave.
Phone 282-9496
Sunday School
Morning Worship
SUNDAY SERVICES:
9:45 Sunday School
11:00 Morning Worship
7:00 Evening Worship
9:45 am
9:00 A.M.
11:00 A.M.
Evening Service 7:30 pan.
Reverend Edward W ilder
St. Paul
Church of God in Christ
Pastor V. R. Brown
You are invited to come and
worship with us
Hom o-
ccco
The „\UwMf Olivet baptist Church
Rev John H Jackson
Minister
N f . First ond Schuyler
Portland, O r*.
Phone 264-1954
Sunday School
Morn.og Worship
Vesper
Dr. O. B. Williams, Pastor
"T he church with a heart-felt welcome"
aaY
"
t t t n » r so i v o n / u p a n d d + a n to " r u t
9 am
lla m .
3 pm