ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512050014
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
Home renovated
The United Methodist Home in Roanoke, a retirement facility, is undergoing a $3 million renovation that is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Interior and exterior upgrading is being carried out in part with funds from a bequest of Charles and Ethel Skepmos.
One of several Virginia United Methodist retirement homes, the one in Northwest Roanoke opened in 1964. It has living quarters for elderly couples and singles who can live independently, as well as for people who need various degrees of assistance.
Religion and laughs
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Janet Martin recalls swinging around the poles in the Lutheran church basement as a youngster.
``We called that dancing,'' quipped Suzann Nelson, Martin's friend and partner in writing.
Back then, dancing was taboo. ``You can't get too close,'' a minister once said. But Martin and Nelson could never figure out why it was OK for hips to hug as people squeezed into a pew on Sunday morning.
And, pool, ``that was a real sin,'' Nelson said. ``But you could put one end of that stick down on the floor and play shuffleboard. And why could we watch Lawrence Welk with all those champagne bubbles?''
Humorist co-authors Martin and Nelson, known for ``Cream Peas on Toast,'' ``They Glorified Mary ... We Glorified Rice'' and ``Lutheran Church Basement Women,'' bantered recently during ``Theology for Lunch'' at the Christus Rex Lutheran Campus Center.
``We really think God gave us a gift of laughter, and we think laughter is good for the body and for the soul,'' Martin told the Grand Forks Herald.
The authors say they have the best job in the world.
``We go from church to church and eat,'' Nelson said. ``We talk about what it was like growing up Norwegian Lutheran and you laugh. You buy our books and we endorse your checks, and then we laugh.''
Gambling opposed
OWENSBORO, Ky. - The Kentucky Baptist Convention unanimously approved a resolution urging its members to fight the spread of casino gambling and off-track thoroughbred betting.
The resolution described casino gambling as ``evil'' and ``immoral'' and said Baptists are concerned about the spread of gambling and about other state governments' reliance on gambling revenues.
It urged members to work with the Temperance League of Kentucky and the Kentucky Council of Churches to oppose land-based or riverboat casinos, which currently are illegal in Kentucky but allowed in neighboring Indiana and Illinois.
The convention also said it will provide its churches with educational materials opposing gambling if the issue comes up before the General Assembly next year.
Churchill Downs and some other thoroughbred tracks have expressed an interest in more liberal gambling legislation to fight the threat of riverboat casinos that will soon begin operating in Indiana across the Ohio River.
Mormon singles
SALT LAKE CITY - Single members of the Mormon Church have just as much to contribute to the family of the faithful as those with spouses and raising families, Apostle Robert Hales says.
``Salvation is for everyone in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves: male, female, married, single, with children, childless, rich, poor, young or old,'' Hales told single Mormons, 18 and older, gathered recently in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square.
The Single Adult Fireside also was broadcast via satellite to Mormon chapels throughout North America. It is an annual meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
``We have all been single, are now single, or at some time again may be single,'' said Elder James Faust, second counselor in the Church's governing First Presidency. He recommended an attitude of selfless service as a goal for singles.
Sue Blunt of Escondido, Calif., said she faced new expectations when her husband died in 1989. Left alone with seven children, Blunt learned to be independent enough to maintain her home and dependent enough to follow God.
``The pipeline to heaven must be constantly open so that we are prepared to ask for and then receive help on a daily, sometimes hourly basis,'' she said.
Denver seminary
DENVER - The Denver Catholic Archdiocese's new seminary will be named for Pope John Paul II, even though hundreds of people signed petitions asking that it be named for the late Bishop George Evans.
The seminary is planned at the site of the former St. Thomas Seminary, which closed June 1 because of financial problems. St. Thomas was operated for 88 years by the Vincentian order of priests.
Construction of the new seminary, which will be operated by the Denver Archdiocese, will be financed from a $64 million capital fund drive, Denver Archbishop J. Francis Stafford has said.
Bishop Evans, known for his ecumenical and interfaith work, was auxiliary bishop of Denver under Stafford's predecessor, the late Archbishop James V. Casey.
Baptist names
COLUMBIA, S.C. - What's in a name? Apparently a lot if you are trying to attract folks who usually avoid church on Sundays.
In the past five years, the South Carolina Baptist Convention has planted roughly a dozen churches across the state with generic names such as ``Golden Corner Church,'' ``Crossroads Community Church'' and ``LifeSpring.''
Keith Lancaster, a consultant with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said the initiative is designed to counter the negative image that many people, especially from other parts of the country, have about Baptists.
``A lot of people think of us as the `no' denomination - no drinking, no dancing, no playing cards, no fun,'' said the Rev. Wayne Terry, pastor of LifeSpring in Florence. ``We may not like the stereotypes, but the fact is they are there.''
The ``seekers'' churches, as some call them, are cropping up in communities that have a lot of people who do not go to church or who are not from the South.
In South Carolina, the churches appear in places like Myrtle Beach, Summerville and Greenville. Many meet in nontraditional settings, such as school gymnasiums.
Edelman honored
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund was honored for her humanitarian work by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Marian Wright Edelman accepted the church's International Temple Peace Award in recognition of her work on children's issues. In accepting it, she urged the audience to fight congressional cuts in welfare programs.
``I would submit that our crisis is not a crisis of money,' Edelman told about 500 people at the third annual Temple Peace Colloquy of the RLDS. ``It is a crisis of values. It is time to build an alternative to the culture around us.''
She said the Republican-driven budget bill, which includes tax cuts totaling $245 billion, would ``literally take food from children and give it to those who don't need it.''
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