Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991                   TAG: 9103220559
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

WAR AMD WORRIES LEAVE STAMP ON AREA LENTEN SERVICES

In a year of war and worries, the liturgical season began early and has progressed through five weeks of spiritual reflection in Western Virginia houses of worship.

Among the first services of Lent was the traditional downtown Roanoke ecumenical noon observance at Greene Memorial United Methodist.

Because sponsorship of this service is not confined to the traditionally liturgical churches, no ashes marked the foreheads of the 40 or so adults who left offices or homes for half an hour to hear the Rev. Dr. Steven Teague, a Baptist, discuss "Where Are You Going?"

Lent, said Teague, is all about conversion, a change of attitude. "Repent," he said, is a word unpleasantly associated with being made to feel guilty. A more effective approach for him is to think of the season as a time to reflect on what God is about to do in one's life.

In Lent, said Teague, he sees people not just glancing over their shoulders at God running behind them, but finding inner peace and release from fear as they allow Jesus's love to become the center of their thinking.

\ The following week, another noon service brought out about 30 adults - most over 50 - at the inner-city Second Presbyterian Church. There the Rev. Taylor Todd, an associate minister, used the parable of the Good Samaritan as his text for a seven-minute address.

Todd said many who attended are not members of the church. He chose the topic because the compassionate Samaritan of Jesus' story reminded him of the need to love enemies in the Persian Gulf war.

Samaritans of Christ's time were hated by the Jews out of religious and political animosities going back 700 years.

The Persian Gulf war, said the preacher, shows that such hatreds have not abated and the need to love God's people, though not their violence, remains.

Todd noted that Presbyterians have only in recent years seen the value of taking the time to observe Lent. They see it important to have a time for penitence and reflection, he said.

\ The active war was about to end on Feb. 27 when the Revs. Mark Radecke and Linda Mitchell began the weekly Wednesday night Lenten Evening Prayer at Christ Lutheran Church.

An air of hope pervaded the group of about 100 who gathered after a soup supper to hear an aspect of the Gospel expressed through drama.

A youth, Ben Luedke, and his younger companion, Susan Horwatt, read a scene from "The Lark," a drama about Joan of Arc. In it Joan, portrayed here by a child, convinces the prince of 15th century France that he must have the courage to act against oppression.

Later in an eight-minute message, Mitchell reflected on Martin Luther's advice to "sin boldly" when one has prayed, thought and prepared oneself for possible failure.

A Christian, said Mitchell, must live daily with hard decisions and must not give in to fears brought about by the complexity of situations.

\ Prayer has always been part of Lent, and though Valley Community Church/ Divine Science is not of the liturgical tradition, the Rev. Maurita Wiggins, pastor, spent three Sunday mornings introducing her congregation of about 50 to a book that she said is now a modern classic, "Prayer Can Change Your Life."

Published nearly 40 years ago, it details what happened at a California university when three groups totaling 45 troubled adults agreed to an experiment to see if traditional religion, psychotherapy or a combination of the two can make people more loving.

The book, Wiggins said in her second lecture, brought personal peace into the souls of 72 percent of those who followed a program of positive prayer for specific problems. The Rev. William Parker, now a Divine Science minister, devised the program.

The positive prayer worked remarkably, said Wiggins, creating a kind of resurrection after the darkness of the participants' souls. Darkness remained, however, for those who spent their prayer time concentrating on their faults.

\ The congregation at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church came alive the Sunday after the Persian Gulf War ended, said the Rev. James Drinard Smith, rector. The incentive came when he inserted an impromptu "Let There Be Peace on Earth" - a contemporary spiritual song - into the Communion service.

The glow, he said, lasted well into the next week.

It was the kind of song which about 10 members of the Southwest Roanoke group have been singing and talking about on Sunday nights during the Lenten weeks. Smith called his "Lentsong' series, which also included potluck suppers, a time to learn about new and old music of the church and sing it in an informal way.

Plainsong of the Medieval period was included as well as the up-beat "renewal" guitar music he and Ted Wagstaff used as accompaniment. Through listening to tapes, the study group became familiar with the American-born director of the British Cambridge Singers, John Rutter, as well as with a Leonard Bernstein Mass written in memory of John F. Kennedy.

"Spirituality in the church comes out of music and warms our souls," said Smith. "From all ages, it opens up creativity and our way to God."