Religion
3B • Daily Corinthian
Friday, December 5, 2014
Worship Call Usher Day Program
tinuing Sunday at 11 a.m. with a potluck lunch to follow the morning service, Everyone is invited. For more information contact Pastor Casey Rutherford at 662-396-1967.
Mt. Pleasant M.B. Church will hold itsr Usher Day Program at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7. The speaker will be the Rev. John Pams, pastor of Saint Luke M.B. Church. He will be accompanied by his church family.
Gospel Music Program Synagogue will have a Gospel Musical program Sunday, Dec. 7, @ 3 p.m. It is asking all choirs, soloist, drama teams to come help lift up the name of Jesus with singing. Please sign in upon arrival.
Anniversary Celebration Rutherford Chapel is having an eight year Anniversary Celebration Saturday, Dec. 6 beginning at 7 p.m. and con-
Prayer breakfast
Bible Study
The American Legion Post 6 is hosting a prayer breakfast every Wednesday at 7 a.m. The menu and speakers will change weekly. The prayer breakfasts are being held at the American Legion Building on Tate St. in Corinth. Post membership is not required to attend. Donations for breakfast will be accepted. For more information, call 462-5815.
City Road Temple will hold a Bible study each Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Bible Study Group meeting at 7 a.m. on Saturdays. They have started a faith based Twelve Step Program at lunch (11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.) on Tuesdays. There is no cost to attend and all meetings are open to everyone. Living Free Ministries is located behind Magnolia Funeral Home in the 2 metal buildings at the rear of the parking lot. For more information call Living Free Ministries at 662-287-2733.
Living Free Ministries Living Free Ministries will meet at 6 p.m. on Monday nights in small groups. There will be a concerned persons group that meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights and ‘Celebration Night’ at 6 p.m. on Thursday nights. There will also be a Men’s
Classic ‘O Holy Night’ has compelling story Recently I heard someone say it’s about time to hear “O Holy Night” since Christmas is upon us. I agreed – and then I started to wonder about the story behind the song. Such a powerful song must have an interesting history. … So I looked it up! Finding that the song was at one time forbidden to be sung in church by the leadership, I also learned that the common people refused to let the song die – the message was too powerful. The story goes that in 1847 a commissioner of wine in France, Mr. Placide Cappeau, known for his poetry, answered the request of a parish priest to come up with a poem for the Christmas Eve service. As he rode to Paris in a bumpy carriage, he imagined being present at the birth of Jesus. He envisioned the wonder of
the night as he wrote the words and called it the “Song of Christmas.” Reading over the words, CapLora Ann peau felt they Huff needed to be set to music in orBack Porch der for souls to be lifted by the words of the poem. Having a friend, Adolphe Charles Adams who was a classical musician, he confronted him with a request for a musical tune for the poem. Adams was a Jew and had not accepted this Jesus as the Messiah, but being a good friend of the poet, he accepted the challenge and came up with the original tune. The congregation sang the song on Christmas Eve and was deeply moved. The French people loved the Christmas carol and sang it over
and over, but later Mr. Cappeau left the church in a pull toward socialism and when the church leaders of the church found out the music composer was a Jew and not a “real Christian,” they banned the song from the church throughout France. The French common people didn’t take lightly the overpowering authority of the church leadership. They refused to let the song die even if they had to go against the “church.” They continued to sing the song. About 10 years later, John Sullivan Dwight, an American abolitionist, heard the song and loved the message of hope, most especially the verse “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.” He brought the song to our country and “O Holy Night” gained popularity in the North during the Civil War.
Legend says the French Catholic Church eventually accepted the song again after the powerful message became a peace producing tool during the Franco-Prussian War when soldiers began to sing during a quiet time between battles. The story goes that when the radio was invented, in 1906 on Christmas Eve Reginald Fessenden, a friend of Thomas Edison’s, was conducting experiments with a microphone and the telegraph. He began reading about Jesus’ birth from Luke 2. Wireless operators on ships and at newspaper desks around the world began hearing a man’s voice on their machines – the first radio broadcast being the Gospel of Christ! Fessenden picked up his violin and started to play. The tune was “O Holy Night” – a song penned by a wine merchant, put to music by a Jewish com-
Why are people so inconsistent? If you ever hear of someone that has played golf with me, they will tell you that I am probably the most inconsistent golfer they have ever seen. Listen to them because they are telling the truth. For 40 something years I have chased golf balls, that is, the ones I could find, all over golf courses. I have never tried to be better than my playing level because this is a game I enjoy but have never pursued mastering. There are many of us walking this earth that try to be someone that we are not. I have met and seen many people that have said they could do things that they had no idea of even where to start. Then
Gary Andrews Devotionals
there are people that play games with life, just as my golf game, playing hard but never mastering the subject. Why are we
like this? Are you one of those people that would rather tell a lie than tell the truth? Does it give you a sense of security, value or prestige knowing that the person you are talking with may never know the truth? What if the person you are talking with challenges you and asks you to fulfill the task?
Pope, patriarch demand end to Islamic State attacks BY NICOLE WINFIELD AND SUZAN FRASER Associated Press
ISTANBUL — Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians demanded an end to the persecution of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq on Sunday and called for a “constructive dialogue” with Muslims, capping the pontiff’s threeday visit to Turkey with a strong show of Christian unity in the face of suffering and violence. Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I issued a joint declaration urging leaders in the region to intensify assistance to victims of the Islamic State group, and especially to allow Christians who have had a presence in the region for 2,000 years to remain on their native lands. “The terrible situation of Christians and all those who are suffering in the Middle East calls not only for our constant prayer but also for an appropriate response on the part of the international community,” they wrote. Specifically, Francis
told reporters on the way home from Istanbul that all Islamic leaders — political, religious, academic — should clearly condemn terrorism so that their people hear it directly from their mouths. “We need a global condemnation — including from Muslims — who say ‘This isn’t who we are. This isn’t the Quran,’” he said. Francis, who represents the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church, and Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, called for “constructive dialogue” with Islam “based on mutual respect and friendship.” “Inspired by common values and strengthened by genuine fraternal sentiments, Muslims and Christians are called to work together for the sake of justice, peace and respect for the dignity and rights of every person, especially in those regions where they once lived for centuries in peaceful coexistence and now tragically suffer together the horrors of war,” they said.
I have seen this happen many times. The person doing the bragging or telling lies to fill their selfworth cannot do what they have said they could. You then become labeled as an inconsistent person and this label is something that you will carry until you actually can walk the talk. Many of us call ourselves great Christians, but are we really? Do we live and do what we say we do? Are we living by the standards that Christ gave us and are we witnessing for Him through our talk and actions? Are we listening to the gospel that is Christ ordained or have we tuned into the gospel of the world and
allowed our thinking to be subpar to what Christ has asked us to do? Remember what the apostle Paul told the church at Galatia in Galatians 1:6-7; “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” The world is really good at allowing you and asking you to live as the world does and get away from the teachings of Jesus Christ. People see us on the street of the cities
poser, banned by church leaders, kept alive by the French common people, adopted by American abolitionists, sung by troops in the trenches, and at last broadcast to the whole world by invisible radio waves. (“A Moment in History” by Dr. Jeff Sanders.) … So the next time you hear the song, take time to pause and focus on the words, absorbing the truth of the story they proclaim, and be thankful for the people who preserved the song for us. It’s one of those powerful songs that should compel us to stand up and praise the One Who came to earth to set us free forever! (Lora Ann Huff is a Wenasoga resident and special columnist for the Daily Corinthian. Her column appears Friday. She may be reached at 1774 CR 700, Corinth, MS 38834.)
Suggested daily Bible readings Sunday – Galatians 1:6-9; Monday – Judges 17:1-13; Tuesday – Matthew 7:1-6; Wednesday – 2 Kings 10:18-31; Thursday – John 7:21-24; Friday – Luke 6:46-49; Saturday – Matthew 23:1-4. that we live and work and see us doing things inconsistent of what Jesus tells us. The only way that we can live a life for Christ is to stay in his word and obey His teachings. Then we can become masters of the Christian life and people will not see any inconsistency in our daily walk. It is the same as when I play golf. If I would take lessons I could better myself but I understand it is only a game for me to enjoy. As long as I can be the Christian person on the course that I am in everything else I do, then I
believe God will bless me through it. He asks me to be consistent in my walk with Him in everything I do. Prayer: Father God I praise you for all the blessings you have given me. I thank you for each and every day you give me on earth and I pray that I can serve and witness for you in all that I do. Amen. (Daily Corinthian columnist and Corinth native Gary Andrews is retired after 35 years in the newspaper and magazine business. He may be contacted at gary@gadevotionals.com.)
Religion Briefs Associated Press
Trial over teacher’s dismissal due Dec. 16 INDIANAPOLIS — A schoolteacher’s lawsuit over her dismissal by a northern Indiana Roman Catholic diocese can proceed to trial this month after a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of an appeal by the defendants. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld an order dismissing the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend’s appeal of a September ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Miller Jr. allowing Emily Herx’s lawsuit to go forward. The trial is due to begin Dec. 16. Herx claims she was dismissed at Fort Wayne St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School because she tried to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization, a process that’s banned under Catholic doctrine.
Pastor accused of affairs fights to keep job MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama minister has returned to court in an effort to keep his job after confessing he had sex with church members without telling them he has AIDS. Circuit Judge Charles Price said Monday that he’ll rule within a week on whether the Rev. Juan McFarland can return to Shiloh
Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery or whether a temporary ban from the church will become permanent. McFarland’s attorney argued that the church approved bylaws in January 2013 giving him his job for life, and that a vote to fire him in October was improper.
Woman sues over rabbi’s alleged voyeurism WASHINGTON — A Georgetown University law student is suing after she says she was sexually exploited by a rabbi who is accused of secretly videotaping women in a Jewish ritual bath. The Washington Post reports that the civil lawsuit was filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court and seeks class action status. The rabbi, Barry Freundel, was arrested in October and is charged with voyeurism for allegedly placing a hidden camera in the shower area of a ritual bath, called a mikvah. The lawsuit says Georgetown, the synagogue where Freundel was a rabbi and the mikvah ignored “red flags” that he was acting improperly.
Huge Utah Nativity scene breaks Guinness record PROVO, Utah — More than 1,000 people dressed as angels, wise men and religious royalty have gathered at a park in Provo, Utah, setting a new Guin-
ness record for the largest live nativity scene. The event on Monday featured a variety of performers who made videos posted on YouTube. It is also expected to serve as a backdrop for a music video. Organizers said breaking the record was secondary to emphasizing the birth of Christ over Christmas shopping.
Boehner links tree lighting to Jesus Christ’s birth WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner says Christmas is a time to rediscover “the glory of God’s love.” Boehner presided at Tuesday’s lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree, an 88-foot spruce from Minnesota’s Chippewa National Forest. Senator Al Franken said one of the tree’s 10,000 ornaments, a Native American dream catcher, is believed to “catch all the bad dreams and thoughts while letting only positive thoughts come true.” The Minnesota Democrat said that’s “a good sentiment for the holiday season.” It was left to Boehner to remind the crowd that on the first Christmas, an angel appeared announcing the birth of “a savior, which is Christ the Lord.” The National Christmas Tree was to be lighted Thursday on the Ellipse outside the White House in a ceremony attended by President Barack Obama.