Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / April 18, 1985, edition 1 / Page 5
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■< £ . t •*. £Li , • i EfcAoc/ EEetbon By Bessie Wllbon Z INTRODUCTION ” '*he insistent voice of an insurance promoter drums at us r through the television speaker, “If you or someone you £ love is aged 50 to 80,1 urge you....” - This exhortation is all-inclusive. Similarly, the suf - ferings of the patriarch Job touch us all. If you or someone z love is beset with troubles that seem unjust and Z Undeserved, you will be helped by considering Job and his P unhappy plight. Z We all have troubles, and our own troubles seem most Z severe. We probably haven’t suffered boils all over, as Job Z did, but a painful corn on one toe can occupy a lot of our • V attention. We probably haven’t lost a whole family to one j swift storm, as Job did, but the hurt of one bereave - ment can provide grief enough for almost anyone. The I hpok of Job, then, belongs to all people in aU ages. Job Z belongs to the ages of all mankind. We belong to us and to Z everyone we love. : LESSON BACKGROUND I Our key to understanding the book of Job rests with the - first two chapters, which provide a prologue to the lengthy r discussions making up the body of the work. First, Job - himself is introduced as a wealthy and godly man, the Z father of 10 adult children. Next, a conference in Heaven : finds Satan conversing with God about virtuous Job. Satan : charges Job with worshipping God for what he (Job) can . get out of it, and asserts that a change in his fortunes will : cause Job to forget his religion. God gives Satan permis ; sion to test his theory, whereupon follows a series of disas ters. Pillagers and storms came in swift succession to : striP Job of his wealth and his family. Rather than cursing : God. as Satan said he would, Job recognized that the ; Provider of blessings has every right to withhold those ; blessings whenever He chooses. “The Lord gave, and the ; Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord ” : (1:21). THE LESSON “O, God, put a curse on the day I was born; put a curse on the night when I was conceived! ” (Job 3:2-3). “Why let ; men go on living in misery? Why give light to men in grief? They wait for death but it never comes; they prefer a grave ; to any treasure. They are not happy until they are dead ; and buried; God keeps their future hidden and hems them in on every side. Instead of eating, I mourn, and I can never stop groaning. Everything I fear and dread comes true. I have no peace, no rest, and my troubles never end,” (Job 3:23-26). ; Job cursed the day of his birth, but he didn’t curse God. ,* So also Jeremiah, languishing in a dungeon for his faithful ‘ warnings to Judah in her last days, wished that he never had been bom, (Jeremiah 20:14-18). Not surprisingly, both Job and Jeremiah in their miseries seemed to forget the long years of good and constructive living that preceded their difficulties. Each man would be remembered for goodness and godliness by which he had benefited others. And each, in sober evaluation of his whole life, probably would have admitted it to be worthwhile, but the immediate miseries made sober evaluation most difficult, if not impossible. That is a principle that should be remembered by those who suffer, and by all their friends. Job proceeded to give reasons for his death wish. He named a series of things he considered worse than death; and he was suffering all of them. First in a sense that life has no purpose. What good is light, he asked, if one cannot see where he is going anyway? He felt that God, who knows and controls all things, had shut him* into a meaningless existence, and he could gladly be freed from it. Yet he did not question God’s right to do what He had done. Material and physical problems had so invaded Job’s world that he was denied even the last refuge of a calm spirit. He had no peace of mind. THE FIRST DIALOGUE Job 4: “Job, will you be annoyed if I speak? I can’t keep quiet any longer: You have taught many people and given strength to feeble hands. When someone stumbled, weak and tired, your words encouraged him to stand. Now it’s your time to be in trouble, and you are too stunned to face it. You worshipped God, and your life was blameless; and so you should have confidence and hope. Think back now. Name a single case where a righteous man met with disaster." Apparently the oldest of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, seems also to have been the most considerate of Job’s feelings. It would be natural for the oldest to speak first in response to the plaint with which Job had broken their long silence. ' One must give Eliphaz credit for (a) accepting re sponsibility to counsel a friend, (b) acknowledging the good in a person he considered to be at fault, (c) appreciating the things the friend had done, and (d) approaching with tact (he rebuke he felt impelled to give. The opening statement of Eliphaz goes about as far as any of the friends’ comments in considering Job’s thoughts and feelings. He was bursting with good advice for Job and he had to let it out. In this respect Eliphaz was very human. Which of us can refrain from volunteering sage counsel to a suffering friend? What do you say to a friend who is in trouble? You want to help him, and the easiest “help" is advice as to how he should meet and perhaps alleviate his difficulty. ... Job’s insistent plea was for understanding. His constant unanswered question was, “Why? If I only knew why!” If 1 he could see a reason for his afflictions, he might be able to bear them. We can identify with his problem. Moat of us have asked the same question with some degree of the same anguish. ' • ‘'v vv. * Job’s question was never answered. He never did learn why he suffered. He did, however, withdraw the ques tion and the demand after he knew that he had been heard by the Almighty and had gotten a response from Him. (Read Job 38-41.) Calvary Christian, Educational L' 'SJb ■ * And Learning Center Established By Jalyne Strong Peat Staff Writer In an ambitious move on behalf of his outreach ministry, Rev. Edward Roberts, pastor of Calvary Chris tian Church, has established the Calvary Christian Educational and Learning Center. This school, begun in October 1964, has a two-fold mission: it offers instruction in religious and secular education. "At our church we stress teaching quite a bit,” relates Rev. Roberts as to the reason for founding the learning center. "It is our desire to help our people meet the total needs of mind, body, and spirit." Calvary Christian Learning Cen ter, located in Suite B of Tryon Mall, is a 2,200 square foot space which houses two classrooms and four tutoring rooms. Its classes in secular education involve supplementing both chil dren’s and adult's academic skills with tutoring in such subjects as math, reading, etc. The children’s program, for grades K-12, concen trates on improving performance in areas which the child may be ex periencing difficulty and also pre paration for the CAT and SAT comprehensive tests. witmn me secular education units, courses are called Children’s Academic Tutoring (CAT) and Basic Adult Tutoring (BAT). “There are acronyms joining these titles,” explains Rev. Roberts. “There's CAT MEOW, which stands for Children’s Academic Tutoring— Making Every Opportunity Work. And BAT HOME, refers to Basic Adult Tutoring-Helping Others Make it Economically.” Director of the secular education Rev. Edward Roberts .Calvary Christian pastor division of Calvary Christian Learn ing Center is Viola Reid, a cer tified teacher with the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System Addi tionally, there are five other cer tified teachers working in this pro gram. r or two days per week, from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m., both the CAT and BAT courses are in session. These courses run for four weeks for which there is a $5 fee for each class night. "This is the opportunity to help our children, regardless of race, creed or color,” comments Rev. Roberts. “These classes are needed because educational requirements are much more stringent,” notes Rev. Roberts, himself a former teacher The religious studies department at the center, on the other hand, says Reeder Memorial Church Celebrates “Victory Sunday” Rev. Roberts, “is a program that is the groundwork for a planned Bible Institute.” Currently at the Calvary Christian Learning Center, the one course, “Bible Survey,’’ is being taught to an enrolled class of 30 students. "Next summer we will expand to include two additional courses,” projects Rev. Roberts. The new classes will be "Old Testament History" and "Exploring God’s Word.” as director oi religious studies. Rev. Roberts announces, "We plan to develop this school into a three or four-year program for a religious degree.” He is currently seeking instructors to teach Hebrew and Greek. Rev. Robert notes, "These are the original languages of the Bible." Courses in the religious depart ment of the learning center are structured on the semester system. The cost is $11 per course. Presently the only teacher of the religious class, Rev. Roberts re ceived his preparation through the University of Michigan and the Flint Bible Institute. "The learning center's programs have been very successful in the respect that the current students are learning a lot and are very ex cited. Plus, we are receiving quite a few calls about enrollment for the next class,” points out Rev. Roberts. The dual purpose of the learning center, secular and religious stu dies, stems from Calvary Chris tian’s desire to reach the total educational needs of the com munity. "We urge anyone interest ed to call the school at 568-4504 any weekday after 5 pm.," enthuses Rev. Roberts. Rev. Robert's wife, Betty, is administrator for the Calvary Chris- f tian Educational and Learning Center. Samplers Highlight Needle Arts Festival _ ! ' The North Mecklenburg Junior Woman's Club will feature a col lection of “samplers” at its 4th Annual Needle Arts Festival. On display will be the works of Cindy Daly, of Matthews, who specializes in designing her own samplers. Cindy explains that the sampler form of needlecraft was originally done in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and was a method by which young girls learned the al phabet, numbers and sewing. Com pleted samplers were prized pos sessions of these young women and were often hung in the family parlor to impress guests and potential suitors Cindy points out that many samplers were stitched while girls were away at boarding school and were often done to impress their parents. Cindy says "somewhat like we would hang our kids' pictures on the frig todav." Urigmatly, samplers were done in long vertical bands like bell pulls and often used leftover threads and materials. Besides including the fa miliar alphabet, samplers also use many symbols often with special religious meanings such as the carnation flower which indicates maternal love or a deer which means gentleness and pride. Cindy recommends the reference book “Embroidery Motifs from Dutch Samplers," (B T. Batsford. Ltd.. London) as a good source for more information on sampler symbols. Cindy is a member of the Char lotte Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America She says her love of samplers has grown out of her interest in 18th century furniture styles and in anything primitive She feels that the sampler motif in needlecraft has become very popu lar now because of the strong in fluence in "country" style decorat ing. BORED? The Charlotte Post lists many activities in the Charlotte com munity to keep you busy. Continued From Page 6A Sunday, April 21, will be consi dered “Victory Sunday” at Reeder Memorial Baptist Church. Begin ning at 2:30 p.m. the church will hold a service at the Temple Chapel Baptist Church, 900 September Lane, with Rev. P. W. Drummond as guest speaker. He will be accom panied by his choir and congre gation. Reeder Memorial will be celebrat ing a second phase in their Build ing Fund Drive. The next phase will be the crowning of Queen and King of Reeder Memorial Baptist Church. This will take place at a later date. This service is anticipated to be a victorious one in the history of Reeder Memorial. The church meets each Sunday morning at 9:30 for Sunday School and 10:45 for worship service at the Metrolina Funeral Home Chapel, 3715 Beatties Ford Rd. Rev. D Donald Steger, minister. ADAMS-METROPOLITAN AME Adams-Metropolitan AME Church will celebrate its first Annual Men's Day program Sunday, April 21, at 4 p.m. Ihe church has been blessed to have as guest speaker Rev. Dr. Myland Brown, professor-educator administrator of Barber-Scotia Col lege in Concord. Rev. Mayo Rich, pastor of Adams Metropolitan AME Church, officers and members invite you to come and worship with them. The church is located at 500 Yorkmont Rd. BIG SPRING CHURCH On Saturday, April 20, the Young Adult “Genesis” class of Big Spring United Methodist Church will spon sor an attic sale at the church. The church is located at 5300 Old Dowd Road, just look for the signs. There will be plenty of nice items for everyone. Don’t miss it. For more details, contact Emily C. Conner, weekdays, at 392-0191. NEED MONEY?/ UNWANTED ITEMS THRU THE CHARLOTTE POST CLASSIFIEDS CALL 376-0496 ELM STREET AME ZION Elm Street AME Zion Church will sponsor its First Annual Baby Con test. The contest began March 24 with six contestants and each con testant and their sponsor were in troduced to the congregation The contest will continue through April 14 and conclude with the announce ment of the winner on Sunday, April 21, at 3 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend. Rev. C. E. Woods, pastor. NEW ST. JOHN The theme Sunday at New St John Baptist Church will be “Save The Family Through Teaching and Evangelism." Delivered by Rev. Robert Leak, pastor of the church, this message promises to be both inspirational and challenging At 2:30 p.m. the Youth Mission aries will have their Annual Youth Program. At this time “Miss St. John Baptist Church” will be crowned. SUBSCRIBE TO THE POST Tar Heel Urological ('enter Derek C. Gardner9 M.D. \ Urologist Specializing In e Impotence e Bladder & Kidney Problems e Infertility Office Hours 951 S. Independence lllcd.l By App'l Monday-Friday Suite 100 j 9:00-4:50 __ Charlotte, X.U.l 704-377-1236
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 18, 1985, edition 1
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