Page B5 0II|c Portland (ßbseruer lune 25. 2003 R eligion $$SAVE$$SAVE$$SAVE PBS Special Shines Light on Faith S u m m e r S p e c ia l Religion’s role in the African- American experience (A P) — An am bitious goal: To shine light on the religious faith o f black Americans, while exploring w hat sealed their devotion across three centuries o f history. That is what "This Far By Faith" sets out to do. Airing June 24-26 on PBS (check local listings), the six one-hour segments add up to a sweeping portrait o f the black expe rience - from the arrival o f the early African slaves through the Civil War, Reconstruction, J im Crow, the Depression, the civil rights era and the advent o f the 21st century. This becomes a sobering jo u r ney as it revisits innumerable hard ships and indignities. But it is up lifting, too, with one point repeat edly brought home: Black A m eri cans’ spiritual focus has been more than a survival mechanism; it is a natural state o f being. “There is no w ord for religion in many African languages,” explains the narrator in the series’ first mo ments, “for in a traditional African view o f the world, there is no place where God is not.” In countless versions, such a world view has served black Ameri cans to the present day. “To grossly oversimplify: They don’t separate their Sunday m orn ing ritual from the rest oftheir lives,” PRO Residential Single Family Dwellings Specializing in: Gutter Cleaning • Tree, Lawn & Shrub Removal Fast Quality Work • Reasonable Rates *7 Days A Week Call For Estimate: (503)358-911.3 Portland Business License #649362 $$SAVE$$SAVE$$SAVE Geneva-Paul Knauls 505-285-1159 Owner GENEVA’S SHOESHINE Mon-Fri: 9-6 Sat; 8-6 5601 N.E.M LKBlvd. Portland, OR 97211 We Do All lÿpes of Hail and Braids Church of the Living God Members o f the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco surround Rev. Cecil Williams. The religious faith o f black Americans is examined this week in the PBS ’ series “This Far By Faith." (AP photo) says June Cross, a producer o f the series. (Just consider black Ameri cans’ claim on the word “sotil” to signify their shared ethnic aw are ness and pride.) Cross cites a Harris Poll con ducted in January that found higher levels o f religious b elief among blacks than among whites and His panics. “O ur faith is constant,” says executive producer Dante James, "and it’s not at anyone else's whim or influence. It’s something that we own and we control.” As a result, the series is “an affirm ation that spirituality has been and probably will continue to be the backbone o f the African- American fight for justice in this country,” James says. The first hour invokes two very different 19th-century black lead ers, both o f whom were sustained by their faith: a freed slave in New York w ho renamed hersel fSojoumer Truth and becam e a nationally known advocate for equality and j ustice; and Denmark Vesey, a car penter and would-be insurrection ist w ho plotted an uprising to kill white oppressors in Charleston, S.C., but was found out, tried and executed. Later in the series, viewers meet contemporary figures including the Rev. Cecil Williams, who nearly 40 years ago took over a dying church in San Francisco’s blighted Ten derloin district and gave it new vi tality through wide-open com m u nity involvement. “The church," he declares, "had a comm itment to help us become free.” Christian workers fo r fellowship 6401 N.E. 10th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97211 Services Pastor and First Ladv Rov G. Moxie Sunday School Morning Worship Evening Worship Weds Bible Study 9:45 A.M. 11:30 A.M. 7:00 P.M. 7:00P.M. “Where there is no vision, The People perish. ” For more information please call (503) 284-5171 E veryone's W elcom e..... Why be Accountable? B y E thei . J. B ates F o r the P ortland O bserver Some things taught in Scripture makes us uncomfortable, and the idea o f being personally account able to someone else for our ac tions is certainly one o f them. Yet, the passage quoted above could not be any clearer about our re sponsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ. W hen fellow be lievers drift o ff into sin, it is our responsibility to confront them. M any believers mistakenly be lieve that the personal nature o f our relationship with God excludes our need for mutual accountability. Although it is true that our relation ship with God is personal, it is not true that it is private. The Bible teaches that we are accountable to one another for our conduct and character. In (Matt. 17:18, & Mark 1:25) Jesus took the disciples by sur prise when he commanded them to “rebuke” a sinning brother. It is a strong term. To ask them to rebuke a brother was a stringent thing to do. Yet Jesus did n 't hesitate. The same idea is echoed in what Paul told the believers in Galatia (Gal.6:1- 3). Paul said that if a believer was caught in sin the strong members were to help shoulder responsibil ity o f that person’s sin. Notice, Jesus, nor Paul instructed the be- I ievers to cover the sin, or deny that ‘Take heed to yourselves. I f your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him (Luke 17:3). ’ it existed. But rather, to confront it, that the offending believer may be restored to fellowship with Christ! Perhaps one reason we Chris tians are reluctant to hold each other accountable, or confront our broth ers and sisters, is because instead o f being the leaders on such issues as life values, morality, and integ rity, we have al lowed society to set the perimeters. We have lost our understanding o f what sin really is. Let’s look at the definition o f sin. In biblical thinking, we can un derstand neither shalom nor sin apart from reference to God. Sin is a religious concept, not just an oral one. Sin is not only the breaking o f law, but also the breaking o f cov enant with o n e’s savior. Sin is the smearing o f a relationship, the griev ing o f one’sdi vine parent and bene factor, a betrayal o f the partner to whom one isjoined by a holy bond. It is the result o f corruption in the mind, and heart. The filmmaker Woody Allen said in 1993, trying to explain his controversial affair with the young daughter o f Mia Farrow, “the heart wants what it wants,” Without accountability. Without conscience. But why doesn’t the heart want God, trust God, look childlike to God for life’s joys and securities? Why doesn 't the heart seek final good where it can actually be found? Why turn again and again, in small matters and large, to satisfactions that are mutable, damaging, and imperiled? Reformation documents offer a num berofim agesforcorruption: it is a despoiled nature, a diseased root, a contaminated spring, a foul heart. According to these docu ments, we are wrong to the core. A bad strain has gotten into the stock so that we now sin with the ease and readiness o f people bom to the task After the fall we sin by second nature: we are “bom sin ners" as some folk are bom ath letes. This fact, empirical as well as biblical, lies behind a broad con sensus on original sin. All sinners subscribe to the doctrine o f corrup tion, the centerpiece o f which is the claim that even when they are good in important ways, human beings are not sound. Without a childlike spirit o f submission; trust and hu mility, which is required o f all true believers, accountability is not possible. W hether we know it or not, agree with it or not, like it or not, practice it or not, we are account able to one another! Protect your faith! Walk in accountability! Ethel J. Bates is a minister fo r the Allen Temple CME Church in Portland. (T3) b i t u a r i e s Mother of 13 Remembered Reverend Dies at 82 A funeral was held last Friday, June 20, 2003, in M aranatha Church o f G od in Portland for Ethel Mae Moore, who died June 17 at age 79. Ethel M ae Blanson was bom Jan. 6, 1924, in W innsboro, La. A homemaker, she moved to Port land in 1965. In 1943, she married Sam L. Sr.; hedied in 2002. Survivors include her sons, Roy B. Thomas, Sam L. M oore Jr., Demarcus R. Moore, W illie D. Moore and Dallas Dennis; daughters, Brenda K. Coleman, G wendolyn J. Robinson, Deborah L. Warren, Ollie A. Banks, Mona L. Jiminez, Constance D. McCool. Algia R. M oore-Thomas and Margo L. Taylor; sis ters, Georgine Tumer and MaxineGrimble; 23 grand children; and 46 great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held Thursday, June 19, 2003, in Walker Temple Church o f God in Christ in Portland for the Rev. Lonnie D. Dotsey Sr., who died June 13 at age 82. The Rev. Dotsey Sr. was bom March 15, 1921, in Cameron, Texas. During World War II, he served in the Army. He moved to Portland in 1946, where he was a supervisor for Linden Farms. He was a pastor at Nazarene Church o f God in Christ. About 1957, he married Audrey Brown; she died in 1996. Survivors include his sons, Lawrence and Lonnie Jr.; daughters, Lydia D Lewis and Audrey Muhammad; stepsons. Tom Moore and Lee Moore; sister, Celestine Jackson; 17 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchil dren. r President: 1 Mr. Edward Kent Treasurer: Rev. James Colemen B ookkeeper: Mr. Edward Kent Manager-Director: Secretary: Rev. 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