RELIGION TODAY
MISSIONS DAY—Dr. Karmlt Dograffonrotdt recently apaka at Ruab Matropadtan
AME Zion Church an tha subfaet at "Am I Doing What tlw Lard Wanta Ma Ta Do?"
Tho program bagan at 10:50 a.m. with Ma. Etlml Jaffraya at tha argan and Ma.
Hazal Raaca at tha plana aa tho ladloa occupied tho choir loft.
Cokesbury Holds
Annual Services
Cokesbury United Methodist
Church, 3315 Poole Road, Raleigh,
will conduct its homecoming service
Sunday, Oct. 8, at II a.m. Guest
speaker will be the Rev. Albert
Shuler, associate director, North
Carolina Council on Ministries. Din
ner will be served.
There will also be a pre
homecoming celebration at
Cokesbury on Saturday, Oct. 7, begin
ning at 7 p.m. featuring several local
choirs.
The public is invited.
The Rev. Theodore V. Carter, Sr.,
is castor.
Fall Revival In
Progress At
Wake Chapel
Wake Chapel Baptist Church will
be having Its fall revival Oct. 2-8. The
Rev. Eddie Porter of Sontag, Miss.,
will be the evangelist. Services start
at 7:30 p.m. nightly. Come witness
this great man of God. All are
welcome.
Rev. G.A. Jones, Jr. is pastor.
N.Y. City Council Seeking Racial
Unity In MDay Of Reconciliation"
NEW YORK. N Y. (AP)-Calls for
racial unity were sounded last week
as the City Council held a "Day of
Reconciliation" and announced a bill
to establish a youth employment pro
gram in memory of Yusuf Hawkins,
the black teenager killed in Ben
sonhurst, Brooklyn.
Mayor Edward I. Koch said family
upbringing was the key to countering
racism in society.
He told about 250 people at a
ceremony in the City Council
Chamber at City Hall that govern
ment, religious groups and the social
system play their own roles in
fighting racism, but that “the key in
stitution clearly is the family."
He said, “If the child grows up as a
bigot. it will be because the family did
not offset all those outside
influences."
Manhattan Borough President
David Dinkins, the Democratic
mayoral nominee, said, "A city
polarized is not in the best Interests of
the Afro-American community or any
community "
City Council Majority Leader Peter
Vallone said. "We are all trying to do
God's work in one form or another"
and tha one way to remember the
death of Hawkins is to bring alive a
wish he had expressed in a school
essay: to find a way to give needy
youngsters jobs while they go to
classes.
Vallone said a bill will be introduc
BY RUTH HEINER
Marriage customs and rituals dif
fer greatly around the world. In many
countries the traditions have evolved
until the marriage has become a
public function instead of a private
ceremony. They have become part of
a community celebration.
Some years ago in a nearby town
they were going to celebrate a spring
festival in a city square that had just
been redecorated, and the gazebo
was painted afresh. A newly engaged
couple agreed to have their wedding
there the day of the celebration, and
al lthe advertising in the newspapers
featured the lovely bride and groom
and wha they would be wearing from
their sponsors.
A table of gifts was piled high from
businesses, friends, and relatives,
and it was a grand affair. A storybook
dream come true in times that were
tough for most newly-married
couples. This couple would begin with
all the things that most of their
parents had taken years to ac
cumulate.
It was like a fairytale come true,
and it appeared that the whole town
turned out for the gala affair.
Within a few months the couple had
separated, and the dream bubble
burst. True love, it seemed, was not
the foundation for the marriage.
Neither were all the lavish gifts and
wishes of the whole town. That was
the end of public marriages in the
town.
Latter-Day Saints’ beliefs about
marriage and family are unique in
many ways, and in sharp contrast to
many practices of our day.
Mormons believe that marriage is
a sacred covenant that requires love,
commitment, and unity. It requires
devotion that must overcome
selfishness.
Marriage is ordained of God, and
“Whoso forbiddeth to marry is not or
dained of God,” the Lord declared to
Joseph Smith.
“Marriage is honorable. It is a plan
of God. It is not a whim, a choice, a
preference only, it is a must! ” Presi
dent Spencer W. Kimball, the late
president of the LDS Church, said.
Choosing a marriage partner is a
choice that can have eternal conse
quences. Marriage is sacred, and
when entered into by two worthy
partners, and sealed in the Holy Tem
ple by those in authority, it is a cove
nant of commitment forever. Not for
time only.
Elder Dean L. Larsen noted that
some of the greatest tragedies which
occur in marriage are because the
decision was made largely on whim
sical or emotional impulses. Every
selfless effortandadjustment on the
ferences can become a source of con
stant or recurring stress and conten
tion.
President Ezra Taft Benson said,
'“A married couple have an obligation
not only to each other, but to God. He
has promised blessings to those who
honor their covenant.”
“Marriage presupposes total
allegiance and total fidelity. Each
spouse takes the partner with the
understanding that he or she gives
totally to the spouse with all the
heart, strength, loyalty, honor and af
fection, with all dignity. Any
divergence is sin: and sharing of the
heart [with others] is transgression.
As we should have ‘an eye single to
the glory of God,’ so should we have
an eye, an ear, a heart single to the
marriage and the spouse and
family,” is a quote from Faith
Precedes the Miracle.
Commitment, dedication and loyal
ty should not waver, but remain cons
tant. Emotions fluctuate, but loyalty
should not. The everyday occur
rences which irritate couples should
not make them run to a counselor, or
the divorce court.
Life is full of difficulties, and not all
of them happen to married couples.
We should not give up or desert a
relationship simply because pro
blems occur. Couples which have
committed to marriage—when dif
ficulties arise—can focus on the dif
ficulty, and not on each other in
blame, and overcome many a pro
blem.
As the Lord commanded Adam and
Eve that they should be “one flesh,"
so should married couples be one,
which also included emotional and
spiritual oneness.
Marriage is a partnership, and both
partners need to have the same input,,
and feeling of equality.
Elder James E. Faust suggested
some questions that we could ask
ourselves as we attempt to become
“one flesh.”
1. Am 1 able to think of the interest
of my marriage and partner first
before I think 01my own desires?
2. How deep is my commitment to
my companion, aside from any other
interest?
3. Is he or she my best friend?
4. Do 1 have respect for the dignity
of my partner as a person of worth
and value?
5. Do we quarrel over money?
Money itself seems neither to make a
couple happy, nor the lack of It,
necessarily, to make them unhappy,
but money is often a symbol of
selfishness.
6. Is there a spiritual bond between
Even those of us who have been
married a long time can re-evaluate
our commitment to our spouse, and
realign our lives to make our homes a
heaven [havenl on earth. To love,
honor and cherish one another!
ed in the council to set up a Youth
Kmployment and Career Develop
ment program to match up students
who want to work part-time with job
training and placement counseling.
"Students will be encouraged to
complete their high shool educations
with school schedules designed to ac
commodate their work schedules."
he said.
The Rev. Paul Moore. Episcopal
bishop of New York, told the au
dience. "We must reach into the dep
ths of our own beings for the beauty
that is there,” to fight racism and
<ii her prejudices.
but. he continued, “The federal
government must be forced to return
to our cities" with the billions of
dollars needed to provide more hous
ing, health and anti-poverty program
to fight the root causes of racism.
Hazel Dukes, president of the state
NAACP, said, “With David Dinkins
as our next mayor, a kind and deceit
man, we will move this city to be thte
greatest city in the nation.”
The Rev. Victor Yanitelli,
representing Cardinal John J. O'Con
nor. Roman Catholic archbishop of
New York, said people should follow
the example of Koch, who is white,
and Dinkins, who is black, and
become reconciled as they did after
their Democratic mayoral primary
election battle which Dinkins won.
He said people should not leave the
spirit of reconciliation in City Hall,
but "Let us leave, as David Dinkins
and Ed Koch did, shaking hands and
helping one another.”
It now accepting raglstratlen tar
Cub Scouts, agot 6-10. Tho program It dotlgnod to give chHdroit and thoir
parents a chanco to havo tun and laam togatlwr. Tho child alsa loams sams
idoals of Boy Scouting such as rovoronco for Bod, lova of family, parsanal
dovolopmont and morn. Intorostod parents can contact Charles A. Haywood,
YMCA youth dlractor, at 833-125B, Ext. 1B.
Church World Service*
Aids Hurricane Victims
Church World Services is seeking
$100,000 from U.S. churches to help
the Caribbean Conference of Chur
ches meet unmet needs of victims of
Hurricane Hugo on Antigua, St. Kitts,
Nevis and Dominica.
CWS is also helping Hugo's victims
in Puerto Rico through the
Ecumenical Fund for Puerto Rican
Development. In addition, CWS needs
money contributions to send
blankets, water purification tablets,
antibiotics, and anti-diarrhea
medicine—already stockpiled in
CWS’ New Windsor, Md.
warehouse—to the Caribbean Con
ference of Churches’ relief center on
Antigua.
CWS is working closely with Lyn
chburg Baptist Church in Winter
Haven, Fla., where Florida churches
have stockpiled 14,000 pounds of
nonperishable foods, 4,000 pounds of
rolled plastic for temporary shelters
and 1,000 pounds of roofing nails.
CWS and Florida churches will share
the cost of shipping those goods to the
Caribbean, which has suffered even
greater damage from Hugo than it
did from Hurricane Gilbert last year.
To help in this international effort,
individuals and churches should send
checks to CWS/Hurricane Hugo
Response, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, Ind.
465)5. Continuous updates of CWS
relief efforts to help Hugo’s victims
are available 24 hours a day by call
ing the toll-free CWS hotline,
1-800-456-1310.
CWS has also helped organize and
train Interfaith Disaster Recovery
Committees among churches and
Jewish congregations working
ecumenically to meet the unmet
counseling and material needs of
Hugo’s victims in both Carolinas. In
dividuals and churches/Jewish con
gregations wanting to support the
ecumenical effort in North Carolina
should send checks to N.C. Interfaith
Disaster Recovery Committee, N.C.
Council of Churches, Suite 162, 1307
Student Shines In Bout
With Fatal Sickle Cell
BY HENRY DUVALL
Special To The CAROLINIAN
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Unlike
many college students, James B.
Wyatt, a junior at Howard Universi
ty, has more at stake in life right now
than just producing good grades.
The 20-year-old political science
student has returned to Howard this
fall knowing that his studies may be
interrupted by a medical “crisis.”
Yet, in his bouts with a sometimes
fatal blood disorder called sickle cell
disease, Wyatt has surmounted
adversity to become one of Howard’s
top undergraduates—a member of its
Honors Program.
“He has been an inspiration to
me,” says Dr. Theodore Bremner,
director of the program. “He is an in
dividual who lives with hope.”
Adds the professor, “He has shown
me and others that sickle cell disease
is not a death sentence.”
In his struggle to combat the in
curable disease, the bespectacled
young black man, who appears
healthy and younger than age 20, has
mawagod to earn a S.7 cumulative
grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.
“The only class I did poorly in was
golf. I earned a C,” he says in an in
terview.
Wyatt has returned to Howard after
studying this past summer in
England at Oxford University. He
Mother Teresa
Calcutta, India—Mother
Teresa's condition was
Improving earlier this week a
hospital statement said.
“She slept well last night,” the
statement said. “She had no
chest pains and her appetite is
better today.” It said her
temperature was normal
The Reman Catholic nun, 70
has had Intermittent chest pains
since suffering a heart attack
Segt. 8. three days after she was
admitted to Woodlands Nursing
Home Hospital with a high fever.
had received a scholarship for a
three-week study program in history,
politics and architecture.
But just weeks earlier, in June, he
had been hospitalized in his native
Georgia, suffering from intense, ex
cruciating pain in his joints. He had
undergone a sickle cell crisis.
The genetic blood abnormality
strikes about one of every 500 black
Americans as well as Caucasians of
Mediterranean origin and blacks
from other global regions.
An estimated 50,000 persons in the
United States suffer from this disease
in which, as the result of an abnormal
hemoglobin, the red blood cells have
a sickled shape rather than the nor
mal round shape.
“Although there is no cure for the
disease, advances in early detection,
patient care and management have
led to longer life spans of the
disease’s victims,” says Dr. Roland
B. Scott, director of the Howard
University Center for Sickle Cell
Disease.
The mild-mannered, soft-spoken
Wyatt says that the disease was
diagnosed when he was about three
years old. He had been riding in his
father’s car when, suddenly, he pass
ed out.
Later, at the hospital, he and his
parents discovered that he had
undergone a sickle cell crisis, and
was given a blood transfusion. Since
then, Wyatt has had some eight to
nine blood transfusions.
He notes that both his mother and
father carry the sickle cell trait. If he
had inherited the gene from only one
parent, Wyatt would have also had
the sickle cell trait, which usually
presents no medical problem.
Other members in Wyatt’s family
either have the trait or the disease as
well. He says he had an uncle with
sickle cell anemia who died six years
ago in his early 40s.
“Death is nqt something that I
worry about,” he emphasizes. “It’s
only by God’s will that I’ve been able
to survive, and (pat I’m able to have
the life I do."
Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh
27605-6501, phone 828-6501 or
1-271-5959._
In South Carolina, check* to su|P
port the ecumenical effort In
Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester
counties should be sent to Tri-County
Interfaith Disaster Recovery
Ministry, c/o St. Thomas Episcopal
Church, 1150 E. Montague Ave.,
North Charleston, S.C. 29418, phones
(803) 747-0479 or 744-6994.
Persons or churches wanting to
contribute to the S.C. ecumenical
relief effort in other parts of South
Carolina should call the CWS consul
tant, Bill Nix, at (803) 786-7115.
Checks sent to Interfaith Disaster
Recovery Committees in both North
and South Carolina will be used to
help Hurricane Hugo’s victims who
have slipped through the cracks of
American Red Cross, Salvation Ar
my, or state and federal government
emergency relief. The CWS consul
tant, Rev. Bill Nix of Venice, Fla., is
working closely with the American
Red Cross and Federal Emergency
Management Agency's early
emergency efforts in South Carolina.
The Interaith Recovery Committees
in both Carolina* will continue
meeting the unmet needs of Hugo’s
victims long after the American Red
Cross’ and EEMA’s emergency ef
forts are concluded.
The regional CWS office in Durham
has learnpd that many of the
emergency hurricane relief needs of
small family farmers in isolated
rural areas of the Carolines have not
received priority attention from the
media or from the emergency teams
working mostly in the urban areas.
These small family farmers, already
suffering financially from years of
rural crisis, are not able to absorb the
additional financial setbacks caused
by Hugo’s recent destruction of their
generators, barns, homes, fences,
crops and livestock. They need help
desperately. Many of the dairy
farmers without electricity to power
their fences, milking machines,
refrigerators are losing their dairy
cows to disease and broken fences.
Poultry and pig farmers are also los
ing the value of their livestock at an
accelerated pace due to long power
outages. ,
Checks to help Small family
farmers in both Carolinas in this most
current rural crisis can be sent to
Rural Advancement Fund/Farm Aid,
P.O. Box 1209, Pittsboro 27312, phone
1-542-5292 or (803) 297-8562.
Methodist Church
Plans To Recruit
Black Ministers
CHICAGO, III.-The United
Methodist Church, in the next decade,
must recruit and ordain mdse than
340 ministers in order to maintain its
present level of clergy supply, and to
All gape left by massive retirement of
dergypersons in the 1900s, a recent
study by the church’s Division of Or
dained Ministry has shown.
Members of the Black Concerns
Committee of the denomination’s
General Commission on Religion and
Race, meeting here 8ept. 22*38, said
they will urge church leaden—par*
tlcularly bishops—to take the remits
of the study seriously. The findings
were presented to them for discussion
at the commission's biannual
meeting.
The number of black clergy
reported In this study was 1,420,
although figures gathered by regional
boards of ordained ministry In IMS
totaled 1,857, said the Rev. Kil Sang
Yoon, division staffer.
The study indicated that about 28
percent or 340 black clerics will reach
the age of 08 and be eligible to retire
In the next 10 years. The average age
of black dergypersons Is 48.8 yuan,
only slightly higher than the general
age, 48.8 yean.
The South Central Jurisdiction,
whose dergypersons generally an
older than In the four other regions in
the United States and Puerto Rico
(48.7), will see 30 percent of the black
clergy reaching age 88 during this
decade, the study showed. The North
Central Jurisdiction has the lowest
average age of black clergy, 48.8
yean.
The division, a unit of the General
Board of Higher Education and
Ministry, used pesonal information
records in the various episcopal of
fices across the 8.9 million-member
denomination to obtain information
for the study. •*»
In response to the study data the
Black Concerns Committee recom
mended that the colleges of Mshope in
each Jurisdiction review a ministerial
recruitment model designed Igr
retired Bishop James S. Thomas, and
submit a plan of action for recruit
ment in their respective areas to the
region and race agency by August
1990.
Chairpersons of both Religion and
Race work areas and of the boards of
odrained ministry will receive copies
of the churchwide study on black
clergy supply and demand.
In other actions, the Black Con
cerns Committee is requesting local
congregations across the ohivoh to.
pray on Christmas day in support of
the new anti-drug initiative mounted
by the denomination’s international
Council of Bishops.
WOHDof (.()1)
Worship the Lord!
Give unto the Lord
the glory due unto
his name: bring an
offering, and come
before him: wor
ship the Lord in the
beauty of holiness.
/ Chronicles 16:29