Shopper news • FEBRUARY 24, 2014 • A-7
Lifelong learning at Central Baptist By Wendy Smith The Living Fully seminar at Central Baptist Church of Bearden, 6300 Deane Hill Drive, is the largest outreach effort of the congregation’s new Life Long Learning Team. The free event is open to the public. Subjects include Living with Awareness, Living with Purpose, Living with Connection and Living with Wellness. The two-day seminar is 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 1. While the event is sure to draw seniors, it’s open to all adult learners, says Central Baptist Bearden Senior Adult Minister Jim Henry. The class that has created the most buzz is in the Living with Connection category –
Getting to Know Your iPad. “Grandparents, especially, are having to step it up a notch to keep up with their kids and grandkids,” Henry says. He’s excited about the scope of the Living with Wellness classes. Knox County Health Department Nutritionist Susan Fowlkes will discuss healthy eating, and Stan and Phyllis Miller, who both attended culinary school, will share cooking techniques. Doug Sparks, a church member who is an engineer by trade, will teach classes on square foot gardening. Henry looks forward to further offerings from the Life Long Learning Team, which is composed of current and former educators.
Beating back the past Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. … Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. (Exodus 1:8, 11 NRSV) Working dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to start the day’s serious work of beating back the past. (“Beloved,” Toni Morrison) Sue Taylor, Bob Spurling and Betty Spurling enjoy a senior adult Valentine’s luncheon held last week at Central Baptist Church of Bearden. Photo by Wendy Smith He hopes Living Fully will “I think they will leave draw participants from here with a real sense of throughout the community. God’s purpose for their lives.”
Night of romance
is concert theme By Sherri Gardner Howell
Stephanie Reece, merchandise coordinator for the show, gives Paula Snyder a closer look at a stuffed version of the tour mascot.
Christian musician Jason Crabb sings “Love is Stronger” to a packed house on Valentine’s Day at Knoxville Christian Center. Photos by Nancy Anderson
Romance is in the air for Susan and Kenny Loveday, who have been married 26 years. They celebrated with an uplifting concert at Knoxville Christian Center.
Valentine’s Day was a musical night of romance for fans of Jason Crabb, a Gospel Music Association Dove Award winner. The 2012 Male Vocalist of the Year and Artist of the Year brought his show to Knoxville Christian Center and played to a packed house. The room may have been filled with more than 850 concert-goers, but there were some personal moments befitting the day. Crabb’s message, in speech and song, encouraged couples to keep romance alive and build a strong, loving marriage. “Be sweethearts,” he told the crowd. To add to the romance, Crabb had the men in the room stand and address their partners with the words to Joe Cocker’s hit “You Are So Beautiful.” The women were asked to respond by looking into their partner’s eyes and crooning, “You’re everything I hoped for, everything I need,” completing the Cocker love song. Crabb brings his music to Knoxville Christian Center every Valentine’s Day. The concert ticket price, $19 per person, included dinner before the show.
Fellowship church hosts Worldview Conference By Wendy Smith Fellowship Church, 8000 Middlebrook Pike, will host a Worldview Conference Friday, Feb. 28, through Sunday, March 2. Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason ministries is the main speaker. He has been featured on Focus on the Family radio and debated Deepak Chopra on Lee Strobel’s Faith Under Fire
television show. He is an award-winning author and has spoken extensively on college campuses. The conference is designed to help people answer faith’s toughest questions, says Stacie Johnson, associate pastor of disciple-making at Fellowship. Breakout session topics will include “How can I be confident when I feel so
faith
uncertain?” and “How can I start with the truth in my non-Christian friend’s worldview?” A high-school edition will address questions
about God, the Bible, suffering and evil and God’s will. To register: http:// worldview.fellowshipknox. org. For more information: 470-9800
Toni Morrison’s searing and grace-filled book “Beloved” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Don’t ask me why I am just now reading it. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t ready. It is not a book for the faint of heart. It is about the aftermath of slavery and the long shadows that horror draped across a young nation. It is, quite simply, stunning, heartbreaking and haunting. In a tale filled with truths I have read about only in history books, Morrison’s words about kneading bread struck a chord with me. There was something I could relate to! I have been baking bread for more than four decades, and every batch is a little miracle of grace. Not to say – far from it – that every loaf of bread was perfect. It takes a while to get the hang of making bread, and then, if one is daring enough to try a different kind of loaf, or work at a different altitude, or bake on a rainy day, all bets are off. Yeast is a living thing and seems to have a temperament. It can’t be hurried, or overheated, or too cold. But it is the handling of the dough, the kneading of it, the shaping of it that makes the magic work, and at the same time affords such pleasure to the baker. However, Morrison’s “beating back the past”? That is harder still. Admit it. There are things in the past that haunt you. That worry, and nag at and grieve you. It is part of
Cross Currents
Lynn Pitts
the human condition, this memory of pain or failure or regret or sin. We may not be enslaved by chains or by those who claim to own us. But slavery still exists in today’s world. It lives in those who live with terrible memories of pain and suffering. It thrives in those who will not, cannot forgive or forget the wrongs done to them. It continues in those who are addicted – to anything! (A good friend made an unforgettable statement to me many years ago. She said, “Satan is alive and well in Knoxville, and his name is Crack Cocaine!”) So, how do we throw off the chains and beat back the past? William Faulkner, who knew something about the South, famously said, “The past isn’t over. It isn’t even past!” Forgiveness is key, I believe. Forgetfulness is also helpful. I can’t remember where I first heard the 10 words that will lead to freedom. But I believe they are true and life-giving. Write them down. Keep them where you can read them when you need to. Remember them. They are, “Give it up, let it go, and set it free.”
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