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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1998)
« « » . -z' » .** * r.Vt C>- i “Rocky Road" (Pa ving-Schedu/edby Request) A lew years ago, before my re build. I found myself seated, at the bar o f a n e ig h b o rh o o d , local wateringhole (During those days. I spent most of my time in bars While sitting there I heard two men talking about their families and lives They shared with each other. how their life patterns seemed almost identical The two men had known each other since school days. They had similar hob bies and interests, and both were complaining about their home lives while sucking down drink after drink... They talked about leaving their families in search of their visions of happiness They complained about the unreasonable demands they felt their mates were imposing upon them, and just knew, there had to be people, in the world more compatible with them. They even went on a search ami thought they had found their longed-for. happiness. They even talked about how happy they thought they were! They poured all of their energies into their new found visions-of-hap- piness. They neglected their respon sibilities to what they felt were doomed, dull and taxing lives. The results or nature of their new lifestyles manifested so much grief for those around them that they couldn’t enjoy their new lives due to guilt. Soon, their outlook on life became bitter, because they still weren't truly happy. The new visions-of-friends in their lives didn't want to deal with their complex feelings and issues and they left creating a deep Void! The two men started thin king com paring and talking. They came to the conclusion that. .. no matter what life sucks. So do what you want when you want and when its over its over! Both men went into deep depres sions and more self destructive be haviors. They had placed All their faith in other people and the quest to find them. In other words, they went looking in the wrong sources. Finally, one of them ran into a long-time old-friend. He told theold- Iriend "My life is so screwed- up and miserable, I feel like I’m losing my mind!” At that point, he began weeping uneomtorlably. The old-friend put his arms around him and told him without hesitation,” you need God in your life. Y ou’re gonna be O.K.! W e’ve been buddies a long time and w e’ve been through a lot together and I’m gonna help you get through this! You need to go to church and I’m coming by in the morning to take you. Be ready! You know I’ll drag you outta bed, if I have to!” The next morning, the old friend came by just as he said he would and they went to church. As he sat and listened to the sermon he felt like the minister had custom prepared it just for him. His spirit was still troubled. But for the first time in a long time he could feel hope. He called his friend he had known since school days and told him what he had experienced. They both started looking towards God for shelter from their Rocky Roads o f sin and destruction. After some nourishment from The Healer. They began to show signs of renewed strength, vigor and true spiri tual maturity. They started rebuild ing their home lives according to The Healer’s instructions. They had some difficulties. But, each could see a new d ay . T hey a lso noticed...someone had come along and started cleaning and paving and landscaping the rest of what was their Rocky Road. In other words, they began to receive additional Bless ings. Soon, one of them found out that The Healer also gave him a gift. A Spiritual Gift, to be exact. In fact you could call it, “Super Power!” The two men had finally learned. They had to make the changes in themselves, in order to understand the secrets of acquiring peace within one’s self. They learned about the Evil-one that lurks in and around the hearts ol mankind. But most important they learned they had the power to rule their lives. Now. the one that learned to tap into his Spiritual Gift, or Super power to this day is under the careful mentorship of The Healer, and is being transformed into another pow erful warrior against Satan. The w arrior’s only and favorite weapon is Prayer! All of us are eligible to possess a Spiritual Gift, or Super Power if you will. All we have to do is accept and believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, Our Father who art in Heaven! When your life seems out of sorts and your road is rocky, remember this: Satan - drains whats left of you and then abandons you -- to the side! God - takes w hat’s left of you and rebuilds you — from the inside! A. H. Bradford S u p p o rt G ro u p for W ell-Spouses A new su p p o rt g ro u p for p e r sons c arin g for c h ro n ic a lly ill spou ses or p artn ers w ill begin February 4, 1998. The g ro u p w ill m eet at F irst U nited M eth o d ist C hurch, at 1838 SW Je ffe rso n in P o rtlan d , on the first and th ird W ednesdays o f each m onth, from 1:()0-2:30 PM. C a re g iv e rs are u nsung h ero es, so m e tim e s c a rin g for a p artn er w ith m u ltip le sc le ro sis, d e m e n tia, p a rk in s o n ’s, stroke c o m p li c a tio n s, or A ID S, for y e a r after year. It can be an isolating, frig h t en in g . and stre ssfu l ex p erien ce. T h e W e ll-S p o u s e C a r e g iv e r s S u p p o rt G roup w ill p ro v id e a n o n -ju d g m en tal e n v iro n m e n t to sh are the e x p e rie n c e w ith people who are in sim ilar situ atio n s. P ar tic ip a n ts w ill gain k n o w led g e from each other, and guest sp eak ers will be sch e d u le d on relev an t topics. T he group is open to anyone in the co m m u n ity , and there is no charge. For m ore info rm atio n , c o n ta c t C h ery l L uce, at (503) 228-3195. Masonic Lodges Making History Brothers meet after a unity agreement was made between their Grand Lodges. The Prince Hall Masons F & AM from Portland and Masons from Keizer Lodge 219 AF & AM from the Salem area have met together on two occasions. These two historical events took place when members of Keizer Lodge visited Acacia Lodge #6 in Portland and members o f the Prince Hall Lodge visited the Keizer Lodge located in Salem. These meetings were the first time in the history o f Masonry in Oregon where these two Masonic groups met together during their regular stated communications. Sincere friendship and brotherly love during these events was certainly a reflection o f Dr. Martin Luther King’s dreams. Concordia University Theatre To Present Godspell G odspell, the story of the G os pel according to St. Mark set in the 20th century could not be presented at a b e tte r tim e . T h is y e a r Concordia University ’s spring pro duction appropriately opens on the third day of lent running through the next weekend with the final matinee being held on M arch 8 com plem enting what prom ises to be another inspiring musical event, President National Urban League If one wants to reduce the inci dence of juvenile crime, does it make sense to put young people convicted of - or merely charged with - wrong doing in jails and prisons with adult offenders? Children in adult jails are 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than those in juvenile facilities. Chil dren in adult jails are 2 times more I ikely to be assaulted by stal I. and are 1.5 times more likely to be attacked with a weapon than children in juve nile facilities. Children in adult jails are 8 times more likely to commit suicide. And we can add that children in adult jails are far more likely to gel from their adult jail mates the kind ol “schooling" and "counseling" that will produce more, not less, crime. Yet. some in Congress want to increase this pernicious practice. They are supporting a bill in the Senate— S. 10. The Violent and Re peal Juvenile Offender Act - that would expand the number of chil dren put in jails and prisons with adults with little or no protection form the adult population. The mea sure has already passed the House ol Representatives, so the danger it pre sents is real and looming. Two stalwart advocates for chil dren. Marian Wright Edelman, the fo u n d e r and p re sid e n t o f the Children’s Defense Fund, and Bar bara Kelley-Sease. director ol the Black Community Crusade for Chil dren, are leading an effort to defeat this ominous measure. They have set Tuesday, January 28 as the day for a concentrated, visible lobbying effort on Capitol Hill against the bill. Everyone who is concerned about the peace and safety of American society should oppose this bill, either by going to W ashing ton. if possible, or writing their sena tors. The danger the bill presents is most starkly apparent in the stunning racial disparities of who goes to jail in America - disparities within the nation's 1.7 million inmate popula tion which this bill would inexorable increase. According to federal data, the number of white inmates in jails more than doubled between 1978 and 1994, rising from more than 89,000 to nearly 184,(XX). But even that worrisome increase was far outstripped in percentage terms by the increases in the jails' Hispanic and black populations: The number of Hispanics shot up from about 16.(XX) to more than 75,000 and the number of blacks skyrock eted from just over 65.(XX) to more than 206,000. These increases have been largely driven, first, by the draconian drug laws of the '70 and '8 0 - which many criminaljustice experts contend have merely filled up the jails and prisons without denting the trafficking and use of illegal drugs. And, secondly, they have been driven by the racial bias throughout the criminal justice system that re sults in blacks and Hispanics getting jail time for the same offenses for which whites arc given probation or lesser sentences. The racial disparity in incarcera tion of adults is present in the juve nile system, too. African-American and Hispanic-American children are far more likely than white children to be arrested, convicted, and turned over to the adult criminal system. Although black children consti tuted abut 14 percent of all American children, they make up 50 percent of all children arrested for violent crime, more than 50 percent of those trans ferred to adult court, and 40 percent of children in custody. As a group, minority children make up 68 per cent of the children in public custody facilities, where they outnumber white children 2 to I . Thus, African Americans have a special incentive to protest this bill. But, in fact, all of society will suffer from it America cannot afford-spiri tually, socially, and economically - to pretend the crime problem will C o n c o rd ia U n iv e rsity C h o ir and H andbells will be h o stin g their annual Lenten co n cert. The C o n c e r t w ill f e a tu r e m u s ic aro u n d the th em e "S in g , My T ongue, The glo rio u s B a ttle ." The C hoir and H andbell e n s e m b le s w ill o f f e r b e lo v e d just go away if it locks up millions of it citizei s. We know that the tough-talk pos turing of politicians afraid of seem ing “soft” on crime w on’t solve the revolving-door crime problem. Nor will the self-interested exhortations of the prison lobby to build more and more prisons. By c o n tra s t, w e know th at sch o o ls that engage the in te lle c ts o f th e ir stu dents do help reduce ju v e n ile crim e. So, too, do a fte r school program s that put y o u n g sters in touch w ith c a rin g a d u lts w ho can help them d isc o v e r their p o sitiv e in te re sts and ta le n ts. T hat is a m essage we at the N a tional U rban L eague have been p ro m o tin g th ro u g h su c h p r o gram s as our “T im e to B eat the S tre e t” cam paign. A nd we know that intensive, m ulti-faceted p u b lic agen cy -p riv ate agency effo rts , such as the one B o s to n ’s civic- lead ers fashioned sev eral years ago, have w orked to dram atic effo rt. A ll o f these e ffo rts have one c e n tra l m essage: T hey say that we w ill m ake every e ffo rt to do our best by every c h ild . N o c h il dren w ill be left behind in h a rm 's way. That is why Senate bill S. 10 must be defeated. For Am erica’s sake, we must leave no child behind Mighty Clouds of Joy - Vickie Winans Grammy Nominees NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts A Sciences) has an nounced its nominations for the 40th annual telecast CGI Records Fhc Mighty Clouds O f Joy and Vickie Winans are nominated in the cat egory. Traditional Soul Gospel Al bum The Mighty Clouds Of Joy have re ceived lOGrammy nominations in their 40yearcareeras Vickie Winans reeci ves her fourth nomination. The Clouds will receive their ft ,urth Grammy Award with a win this year as Vickie Winans will receive her first. Both have been per formers on the show. The Mighty Clouds O f Joy's Live In Charleston was released in No vember. 1996 and had a top-ten de but on Billboard's Gospel charts. Vickie's Live In Detroit was released in June. 1997 and has also been a top- ten seller The Clouds and Vickie are nomi The performances will be held February 28, March 6,7 ,8 , under the direction of Carmela Lanza Weil, the set design is by Gary Cotter, music under the direction of Randy Hodson and ch oreography by K athleen Weisbecker. The Concordia University The atre is in Concordia University Fine Arts Building, NE 28th and High land, for tickets call 280-8512. Free Lenten Concert to be held a t St. Michael's Leave No Child Behind Bv H ugh B. P rice the C oncordia Choir and Handbells 2nd annual L enten C o n c e rt at 7:00pm. Godspell has become a classic in musical theatre tradition because of its memorable tunes like “Day by Day", "Prepare ye the W ay", and “All for the Best.” The production will include community and student performers including a 4 piece live band. nated against Shirley Caesar, T.D. Jakes, and the Fairfield Four at the 40th Grammy Awards from New York City ’s Radio City Music Hall- - Wednesday, February 25. 1998 at 8:00 p m c.s.t. The show will be shown live on CBS-TV to 1.5 billion viewers. L enten H ym ns and sp iritu a ls e n h a n c e d w ith r e a d in g s fro m L enten S c rip tu re s. T his C o ncert p resen tatio n will also a ffo rd the o p p o rtu n ity for the co n g re g a tio n to join in sin g ing fav o rite L enten hym ns along w ith the c h o ir voices and tra d i tional m usical a c co m p an im en t. T here is plenty o f lighted p a rk ing and there w ill be a freew ill offering. The free c o n cert w ill be held at St. M ich ael's L utheran C hurch, NE D ekum , at 29th on M arch 8, at 7:30. G ood GTusiera/ GTome STnc. 2736 NE Rodney Portland OR 97212 503-251-4591 Ô This is your community based funeral home supported byyou. We matte the loss o f your loved ones easier to bear. Letusyuidc you through our facility and explain about pre arrangements with you. C. Cox Tanner Owner Jerome Cox Tanner Funeral Director (Community CCTifixrcJtf nf (Snò '54 friendly Church" V .^ . •Brown •Pastor and Counselor We Extend Our Hand To Everyone Services Sunday 11 A.M. and 6 P.M. Sunday School 9:45 A.M. Community Church of God 202 N.E. Skidmore 281-5678 Church I
