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http://www.thecharlottepost.com CI)arlotte ^osit THURSDAY DECEMBER 11,2003 8B RELIGION Forerunner of Jesus .His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Traise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from jour enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the that he swore to our father Abra ham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holi ness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to pre pare the way for him, to give his people the knowl edge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the ten der mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine n those living dark ness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feed into the path of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared pub licly to Israel. 1. Ifell how Zechariah saw that John’s birth initiated the fulfillment of mes sianic prophecy. 2. List the various rea sons for Zechariah’s joy and praise to God. 3. Express praise and thanksgiving to God for the salvation that is ours through Jesus Christ. Black teens much more likely to attend church than whites jt ■ ^ PHOTO/MONICA A, MORGAN The Chevrolet-Stellar Youth Choir performed during the Stellar Awards Nominations Dinner. By Donald Bradley SPEAKIN’OUT NEWS KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No matter how late Nick Johnson stays out on Saturday nights, the Rockhurst High School senior drags himself out of bed the next morning and heads to church. Nobody makes him go. Johnson is like many black teenagers. They like church. They see it as a second home; the people there an extension of family. White teens, researchers have found, are more apt to sleep in on Sunday morning. When they do arise, it’s probably to grab the remote, not their Sunday shoes. According to the new National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project being conducted at UNC-Chapel HiU under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, Professor in the Department of Soci ology, Black youth are far more likely to attend religious services reg ularly than their white peers. The gap is largest among high school seniors, with black students nearly 50 percent more likely to go to church at least once a week. Among seniors, 45 percent of blacks reported weekly church atten dance, compared to 31 percent of whites. The survey showed the attendance rate for black youth has climbed since 1995. The white rate has held steady. T think we always suspected the disparity, but I was surprised by the margin and quite surprised that the trend was still growing,” said Kristin Moore, president of Washington-based Child Trends, the non profit, nonpartisan research organization that released the study. Please see BLACK TEENS/7B Many Christmas folkways have pre-Christian origins By Richard N. Ostling THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Nativity scenes of Jesus’ birth as depicted in Matthew or Luke are vis ible this month — though rarely on government property, because of fed eral court rulings. But many other much-beloved Christmas folkways have secular or pre-Christian origins rather than biblical ones. Consider the date itself The Bible doesn’t give Jesus’ actual birthday and implies it was in the springtime. In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I arbitrarily set Dec. 25 and the Emperor Con stantine, a recent convert, soon made the feast permanent. Their idea was to imitate and com pete with Rome’s orgiastic Saturna lia, which celebrated the passing of the year’s shortest day and the promise that spring would eventual ly follow winter. Pagan origins were one reason New England’s strict Puritan founders outlawed Christmas observances. Also, the Christmases they knew back in "merrie” 17th-centuiy Eng land were a drunken, somewhat sin ister combination of Mardi Gras and Halloween trick-or-treating. Roving beggars would visit wealthy homes, demanding goodies with thin ly veiled threats. The carolers ("we won’t go until we get some”) weren’t good-naturedly seeking pudding or eggnog. In some ways, Christmas has grad ually become more Christian, accord ing to the book “Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas” (Zon- dervan) by Ace Collins, which might make a nice little gift. Some of Collins’other observations: Trees, logs, plants. Pagan Europeans burned what ■became "Yule logs” to defy the dead of winter, and found hope and even miraculous powers in evergreen trees, as well as holly and mistletoe that not only smwived the harsh cold but bravely sprouted colorful berries. Martin Luther supposedly Chris tianized Germany’s tree tradition. with evergreens representing God’s eternal love shown in Jesus and can dles to signify Jesus as the light of the world. The red-leafed poinsettia was a 19th-century addition, brought back from Mexico by U.S. Ambassador Joel Poinsett, an amateur botanist who reaped handsome profits from the plants. Colors. Because of pagans’ fascination with wintertime trees, green was probably the oldest color later associated with Christ’s advent. Red represented blood and the salvation offered to all who accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Gold stood for the Wise Men’s Bethlehem gift designating Jesus as king. Candy canes. Supposedly, a 17th-century choir master in Cologne, Germany, placat ed his restless young singers with candy. To make eating during wor ship acceptable, he bent white candy sticks (the color representing Jesus’ sinlessness) into the shape of Bethle hem shepherds’ crooks (or maybe "-F for Jesus). Red was added later to symbolize Jesus’ blood. Mass produc tion devices in the 20th-century made the canes ubiquitous. Christmas cards. This is also a modem custom, by definition, because it requires postal service and cheap four-color printing. Secular year-end greeting cards spread from 19th-century Engird to Germany to the United States, where immigrant publisher Louis Prang of Roxbury, Mass., produced the first commercial cards in the 1870s. But not until the 20th century did print ers begin wide use of Christmas imagery on holiday cards. Gifts. New Year’s gifts are a far older tra dition than Christmas gifts, even though the latter nicely echo the Wise Men’s gift-giving and Jesus as the gift of God. One major inspiration was the legends surrounding St. Please see MANY/5B South Wire: Baptist’s summer Bible school curriculum offends some By Karin Miller THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NASHVILLE, Tenn. - “Rickshaw Rally,” the South ern Baptist curriculum for next summer’s Bible school, features a race through Japan with children running through Tbkyo streets, climb ing Mount Fuji and diving for pearls. But its use of stereotypical images - including rickshaws, kimonos and chopsticks — has upset some Asian-Americans, who say the Vacation Bible ' School material is “grossly misguided and inappropri ate.” At least one group of South ern Baptists in New England voted last month not to use the curriculum from the Life- Way Christian Resources publishing house in Nashville. ‘We just determined that it was insensitive to Asian cul- ■ ture, and we didn’t feel we could stay sensitive to our cul ture and context in New Eng land and promote this mater ial,” said Jim Wideman, exec utive director of the Boston- based convention, which includes 240 Southern Bap tist churches in Massachu setts, Maine, New Hamp shire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. ‘We felt that this material, however unintentionally offensive, could prove to be a huge stumbling block for us as we attempted to reach and minister to Asian-Americans.” Wideman said the New England convention will use alternate material from Life- Way. Vacation Bible Schools vaiy from church to church, but they are typically three-hour, five-day courses in the sum mer for children grades 1-6. More than 1 million chil dren are expected to attend Vacation Bible Schools next summer in churches that belong to the Southern Bap tist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomina tion. The main complaint about the “Far-Out Far East Rick shaw Rally - Racing to the Son” material is the promi nent image of the rickshaw, a two-wheeled passenger cart pulled by a person. The Rev. Paul Kim of Berk- land Baptist Church in Cam bridge, Mass., and a trustee on the Southern Baptist Con vention’s international mis sions board, said the rickshaw is “an image of poverty in Asia,” outlawed in many coun tries. ‘We want to have children of future generations to have the right understanding of who Asians are,” Kim said. He wrote LifeWay President Jimmy Draper, a friend for three decades, and was disap pointed at his response, which was simply that the materials were not meant to offend. Please see BAPTIST/7B Church News Pastor John P. Kee received his seventh Grammy nomi nation last week for his CD “Blessed by Association.” This CD has also received five Stellar Awards nomina tions. December 11-14 Faith Memorial Baptist Church at 211 Lakewood Ave. will celebrate Pastor Billy Casey’s anniversary at 7 p.m. Night celebrations will be held at 7 p.m. and conclude Sunday at the 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. services. December 12 The Bible Factory Outlet’s Concord Mills store. New Life 91.9 WRCM and Con cord Mills Mall will host a free mini-concert and album signing with singer-song- writer Warren Barfield at 1 p.m. at Food Court Stage. December 14 Greater Mount Moriah Primitive Baptist Church at 747 West Trade Street will hold a Christmas Cantata: “Joy! A Soulful Celebration of the Season” at 6 pm. • Mount Prospect Baptist Church and Saint Mary’s Catholic Church will present “A Celebration in Song of Christmas Past” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Baptist Church, 1067 Oakland Ave., Rock Hill, S.C. Admission is free. December 19-20 Alive nativity performance will be held at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 pm at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church at 8600 Potter Road, Weddington. December 20 The United Men and Women of Faith Seminars Ministry will host an after noon and evening of Christ ian fellowship, worship, praise and fun. The event will be held at Joseph Grier Academy 7740 Grier Road at 3 p.m. o t
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