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THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2004
8B
RELIGION
Randle tries hard, but Jackson ‘Tribute’ doesn’t cut it
Lynda Randle
Tribute To Mahalla
Jackson
Barry Beckett, producer
Gaither Music Group
Doing a tribute to a leg
endary artist is a risky thing.
Many will feel the person
Bible
Lesson'
doing the tribute has to emu
late the artist, or at least do
the music with the same kind
of fervor.
Mahalia Jackson has no
equal in gospel. She is one of
the most influential artists of
the 20th century because of
her voice and ability to touch
people of any religious back
ground, color or creed. She is
essence of gospel for a lot of
people.
That said, Lynda Randle
may have bitten off more
than she can handle. She’s
the deep-voiced black woman
that shows up at a lot of the
Gaithers’ homecomings. She
can sing, but she’s no
Mahalia. That’s not a jab, just
the truth and she’d even tell
you that. There’s no problem
with her voice - it’s a rich
instrument that’s full of
expression.
But Randle isn’t a gospel
singer, per se. She’s more
comfortable with the inspira
tional stuff the Gaithers sing.
Nothing wrong with that, but
it just doesn’t fit well with
Jackson’s fiery songs. It’s not
the same kind of emotional
release. This CD is so homog
enized, so sanitized that it
doesn’t come close to evoking
memories of Mahalia.
That’s not to say there are
no good moments. “If I Can
Help Somebody” has a bit of
passion. “I Know Who Holds
Tomorrow” and “Precious
Lord, Take My Hand,” almost
reach the kind of peak you’d
expect on this type of project -
almost.
What this CD needs is a
dose of spontaneity. There
are times I want to shake
Randle and say “don’t be safe,
take that chance and sing!”
For those who know nothing
of Mahalia’s work may find
this CD something special.
But for those who’ve heard
Mahalia’s power and
strength, a tribute this is not.
Ratings
Classic; ^
ExceUent;
i;s
Good
Fair
Why?
No stars
>
Prayer
and arrest
Matthew 26:36-50
Then Jesus went with his
disciples to a place called
Gethsemane, and he said to
them, “Sit here while I go
over there and pray.” He took
Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee along vrith him, and
he began to be sorrowful and
troubled. Then he said to
them, “My soul is over
whelmed with sorrow to the
point of death. Stay her and
keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell
with his face to the ground
and prayed, “My Father, if it
is possible, may this cup be
taken fi'om me. Yet not as I
will, but as you vrill.”
Then he returned to his dis
ciples and found them sleep
ing. “Could you men not keep
watch with me for one hour?”
he asked Peter. ‘Watch and
pray so that you will not fall
into temptation. The spirit is
will, but the body is weak.”
He went away a second
time and prayed, “My Father,
if it is not possible for this cup
to be taken way unless I
drink it, may yom* will be
done.”
When he came back, he
again found them sleeping,
because their eyes were
heavy. So he left them and
went away once more and
prayed the third time, saying
the same thing.
The he returned to the dis
ciples and said to them, ‘Are
you still sleeping and resting?
Look, the hour is near, and
the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us go! Here comes
my betrayer!”
While he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the Twelve,
arrived. With him was a
large crowd ■ armed with
swords and clubs, sent from
the chief priests and the
elders of the people. Now the
betrayer had arranged a sig
nal with them: “The one I
kiss is the man; arrest him. “
Going at once to Jesus, Judas
said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and
kissed him.
Jesus replied, “Friend, do
what you came for.”
Then the men stepped for
ward, seized Jesus and
arrested him.
Tying the knot
Civil contract
or holy matrimony?
By Kevin Eckstrom
REUGION NEWS SERVICE
Are 10 little words —”By the
power vested in me by the state of
the most crucial phrase in the
culture war involving gay marriage?
They are some of the most signifi
cant powers delegated to a member
of the clergy, when acting for both
God and country, he or she pro
nounces a couple to be married as
husband and wife.
But any couple who has ever filed
a joint tax return will teU you it is
the civil marriage license, not the
minister or rabbi’s blessing, that
entitles them to the legal benefits of
marriage.
So if marriage is essentially a civil
contract, shouldn’t a couple be
singing — the Dixie Cups’ 1958
standard notwithstanding — that
they’re going to City HaU, and not
the chapel, if they are “gonna get
married?”
“We don’t ask the state’s permis
sion to do confirmations, baptisms or
funerals, so why should we ask the
state’s blessing to do weddings?”
asked the Rev. Christopher Webber,
vicar of Christ (Episcopal) Church in
Canaan, Conn.
Since 1994, when he published
“Re-inventing Marriage,” Webber
has argued for a separation of
church and state when it comes to
marriage. There is no good reason,
he said, to confuse civil marriage
with holy matrimony. Proponents of
gay marriage agree.
Long ago they set aside dreams of
church bells and flower-covered
altars to focus instead on the legal
document that conveys the rights
and responsibilities of marriage.
They also point to places Hke Swe
den, France and Japan, where new
lyweds pursue both sacred and secu
lar nuptials as a matter of routine.
Defenders of traditional marriage,
meanwhile, argue that marriage
will be forever harmed if either
church or state is granted sole cus
tody.
“One of the strengths of marriage
is that it combines the two,” said
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-direc
tor of the National Marriage Project
at Rutgers University. “Tb have this
kind of splitting off weakens our
understanding of what we have held
marriage to be for centuries.”
A small but growing number of
clergy — mostly from liberal main
line Protestant churches — say they
feel imcomfortable granting state
approval to marriages, especially if
they cannot also bless gay iinions.
“There are many people, myself
included, who feel uncomfortable
acting as an agent of the state when
we as pastors are asked to sign mar
riage licenses,” said the Rev. Lois
Please see SHOULD/5B
What makes a woman of God?
Since March is Women’s
History Month, I have been
pondering a question. What
does it take to be considered a
woman of God? I could say it
requires determination or
character but the only way to
know for sure is to consult the
Bible.
The Bible has a couple of
books named after women of
honor. It also has cormtless
stories of godly women Hke
Miriam the prophetess; Mary
Magdalene, the first deliverer
of the news of the resurrection
of Christ and Mary the moth
er of Jesus.
Yet, there’s a passage that
gives a vivid picture of what is
required from the daughters
of The Most High. In Proverbs
31: 10-31 the author pins a
short section at the end of
Proverbs detailing what is
required of righteous women.
In the passage the author
says a woman of good charac
ter is worth more than money
and her husband can put his
complete trust in her. In
return, that wife will bring
him no harm for her entire
life.
Over the years I have met
women who are waiting to
find husbands so they can
stop working and dull at
home. But when I read this
passage in Proverbs the
writer does not give the
impression that a woman of
Lyons
noble character gets to Kve a
life of leisure. In fact it
appears that she has a nmn-
ber of responsibilities and it
sormds like she has a job that
contributes to the family
household.
Proverbs 31: 15-18 says
“She gets up while it is stiU
dark; she provides food for her
family and portions for her
servant girls. She considers a
field and buys it; out of her
earnings she plants a vine-
Please see WHAT/7B
Mahalia Jackson
Lyons:
Greed
got best
of me
By K. Chandler
THE WESTSIDE GAZETTE
FORT LAUDERDALE,
Fla. — “I firmly believe my
stay in prison was the vrill of
God.”
With these words Rev.
Henry Lyons, 61, former
head of the milhon-member
National Baptist Conven-
t i 0 n ,
launched
into a
poignant
narrative of
his meteoric
rise to fame
and fortune
in the mid-
90s.
Scarcely
four years
later, Lyon’s
spectacular
success would be marred by
scandal and a cataclysmic
fall from grace after he was
convicted in 1999 of swin
dling $4 million from insur
ance and mortuary firms
desiring to do business with
the Baptist Convention
membership.
In an exclusive interview
with The Westside Gazette
Newspaper, Lyons talked
about what led up to his
tragic fall, how he coped
while in prison, and what his
future plans are now that he
is once again a free man.
“Let me say first of all that
I have taken full responsibil
ity for my actions. As I have
thought about it and prayed
about it for some five years
now. I’ve had time to reflect
on what could have hap
pened to me to have worked
so hard to ascend to where I
had ascended to, to rise to
that point and then to expe
rience such a dramatic and
drastic fall. I had to ask
myself, ‘What happened to
me?” Not, who did something
to me. But what happened to
Henry Lyons?
“As I think about the many
wonderful and admirable
programs that the National
Baptist Convention fostered,
I also knew as its president I
had to be its chief fundraiser.
I had to actually ‘chum the
butter’ in terms of funding
those programs. (Jur conven
tion, big as it was, didn’t
quite have all the funds to do
Please see LY0NS/7B
Church News
Christian Women of Ele
gance is sponsoring a 100-
word essay contest on ‘Why
Your Mother Should Be Con
sidered The Greatest Mom of
Charlotte.”
The writers’ age categories
are ages 5-9, 10-17 and 18
and older. All essays should
be mailed or faxed to Christ
ian Women of Elegance,
Water Oak, Pineville 281344
or fax to (704) 889-1209. The
winners will present the
awards to their mothers at
the Gospel Day In The Park-
“A Day Tb Celebrate Women”
to be held May 1 at Indepen
dence Park located at 300
Hawthorne Lane.
For more information call
(704) 493-2536.
March 18-19
Bishop Kevin L. Long and
the Full Gospel Baptist
Church Fellowship of North
Carolina will hold its 9th
Annual State Conference “Is
there not a cause?” at Silver
Mount Baptist Church. The
“Parade of Choirs” vrill be
held March 16 at 7 p.m.
March 19
White Dove Chapel at 993
Summers Road Morganton
will hold “Gospel Sing” at 7
p.m.
March 20
C.N. Jenkins Memorial
Presbyterian Church will
hold “Forced Justice: The
Legal Battle Tb Integrate The
Schools of America” at 4 p.m.
• Friendship Missionary
Baptist Church at 3301 Beat-
ties Ford road will hold “A
Celebration of Women in
Song” concert at 7 p.m.
• Chappell Memorial Bap
tist church will hold ‘What It
Means Tb Be Women of Pur
pose” at 8 p.m. The cost of the
conference is $10.
March 21
Trinity Park Baptist
Church at 9115 Trinity Road
vrill hold its Usher’s Annual
Day at 3 p.m.
March 22-23
Please see SPIRirUAL/ZB
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