NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season is the collection of articles you will find below.
Previous: < FALL 1994 >
Next: < SPRING 1995 >
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CONTENTS: WINTER 1994
Following the Sacred Calendar
Fourteenth Annual observance of Epiphany cycle
Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas observed
Commemorative Christmas Sermon
“The Appearance of God at His Second Advent”
Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving
PUBLIC EVENTS
Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal
Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service
RITES AND SERVICES
Anointing
Baptism
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Following the Sacred Calendar
Fourteenth Annual observance of Epiphany cycle
Christmas-Epiphany Vigil (December 25–January 6). The Congregation of the Second Advent Church celebrated a thirteen-day Vigil during the 1994–1995 Christmas-Epiphany season. A Vigil of daily sunrise services continued through January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day.
A Vigil of sunrise services for ministers of The Church was held from Monday December 25 through Saturday January 6 at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. These Divine Services at sunrise are days of special blessings for those in attendance.
On First Dispensation Christmas, Monday December 25, the first day of the Vigil, the Ministers and Congregation of The Second Advent Church were joined by other members of the Reno civic community in a Communion of Fellowship held at 11:00 a.m. at the University Chapel. (See Christmas article this issue.)
On the evening of January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, the final evening of the days of Vigil, Church members gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for dinner, festivities, and an exchange of gifts. (See Epiphany Eve article this issue.)
On January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day, following the sunrise Divine Service at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany, a Communion of Fellowship was held at the Cathedral Church of the Americas, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. Assisting at the service of Communion were the Right Reverend Reano Castell (Lector), the Reverend Tom Rees (Cantor), and Gary Siroshton (Reader). Following the Communion Service, light refreshments were served at the Refectory.
By special invitation of the Bishop, all those present at the traditional Christmas Service at the University Chapel on December 25 were invited to attend both the Divine Service and the Communion Service held on Epiphany Day.
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The Church of The Second Advent celebrates the thirteen days of Christmas each year with a sunrise Vigil. Divine Service is held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. The Vigil begins on the morning of December 25, the date commemorated by First Dispensation Churches in the West as the day of Jesus’s birth, and continues through the morning of January 6, the original day of Christmas in the early Church, and the date recognized by the Second Advent Church as Second Advent Epiphany.
The first manifestation of the New Sun was witnessed by the congregation on January 6, 1981, from the foot of the Mountain of Silver in the Sanctuary of Revelation. The solar manifestation on that date confirmed the authority of The Church and its mandate to establish the cycles and the liturgical dates of the Second Advent Calendar. The event is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. In 1982 sunrise service was held at the Rectory-Abbey in Reno. This event also is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. From 1983–1986 Second Advent Epiphany sunrise service was held at the Church of New Pergamos, built atop the Mountain of Silver. From 1987–1988 Epiphany sunrise service has been held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Sanctuary of Prophecy.
From the opening chapter of the Prophecy of the New Covenant, titled “God’s Appearance at Epiphany,” we quote:
In the twenty-first year of The Great Work, The Man, in company with the Companions of The Way and the general Community in assembly at the Rectory-Abbey, awaited the coming of the sun on the morning of January 6th at Epiphany.
On this twelfth night after Christmas, following a midnight meal of fellowship, they turned to a reading of scripture. Towards dawn they celebrated a Communion Service and liturgical expression of the breaking of bread and the taking of the cup. The Man officiated in the dress of his office, a vestment of white linen with golden insignia of God’s Cross of Enlightenment, reading the litany to the accompaniment of sacred music played on the handbells.
While breaking bread and taking water, The Man asked that God prepare the celebrants to receive the True Bread and the True Water of Heaven–at the rising of the Spiritual Sun–and that God endow the material bread and water with special blessings to give them health of body, peace of mind, and spiritual strength by which to do God’s Will in His Divine Plan for human salvation in the Second Advent.
Following the Service, The Assembly went outdoors to meet the rising sun. While anxiously waiting for the sun to emerge out of the shimmering mist enshrouding the sky, each remembered this sacred day of the year before [1981].
On that day [Epiphany 1981], when all had gathered at the Sanctuary, they had observed a display of brilliant light while the sun assumed strange and wondrous shapes. All had observed the transformation of the sun into geometric configurations: from a circle to a square, to a shape of six sides and then to one of eight sides; and, finally, to a pinched or trefoil figure, a clover-leaf of three lobes progressing to a four-lobed shape. The eyes of the beholders filled with awe at this phenomenon. And they described the event as the Sun of Epiphany, for this was the handiwork of God.
The Prophecy also states that the Old Covenant, lost to the world with the passing of Christ Jesus, has been restored with the Second Coming of God as Christ. God’s Law, written in heaven, manifests to us in the New Sun of Righteousness. The manifestation of God’s Light come as His Image and Word, called Christ, dictates a New Covenant.
The Ministry of the Second Advent Church has inherited this New Covenant and holds to it in Community. The promise of the New Covenant is celebrated at Epiphany and is the hope of humankind during the Second Advent Age.
Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas observed
Christmas Day, December 25. A Christmas Day Service was held on Monday December 25 in The University Chapel. Each year on this date a special service is performed in observance of the birthday of Jesus as celebrated by First Dispensation Christians in the West. The Service of Communion and Fellowship, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, was preceded by a special presentation and selected scriptural readings.
Prior to the 11:00 a.m. service, members of the Congregation placed bouquets of flowers on the chancel area beneath the communion table and placed loaves of bread upon the table for blessings at this special service.
The Reverend Rebecca Willis, as Reader, opened the service with an announcement of the Christmas rites to be observed during the Christmas season and introduced the first musical selection, the antiphon “So Is My Joy The Lord,” composed for this Service in 1983 by Church Composer the Reverend Gary Buchanan with lyrics adapted from the Odes of Solomon by Bishop Savoy. Soprano soloist Michelle Carrothers performed the song accompanied by the Reverends Jacklynn Lord and Amanda Buchanan of the Jamilian Handbell Choir, the Reverend Elizabeth Reece as harpist, and the Reverend Gary Buchanan as organist.
Following the performance, Rev. Willis continued her announcement of Christmas rites, explaining that the votive candles that Church members and their guests placed on the candelabrum as they entered the vestibule of the Chapel would now be lit in remembrance as a gesture of love to family and friends who have passed on. And she asked that each person present reflect for a moment in silent prayer, remembering those loved ones who are no longer with us.
As Acolytes light the Candles of Remembrance during the service, Scriptural Reader the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. delivered a reading taken from the Odes of Solomon (See Odes of Solomon). Liturgical music of the Second Advent Church underlined the reverential tone of the Service. Candles remained burning throughout the day.
The Reader invited the Congregation to join in a Communion of Fellowship and partake of the Bread of Health, according to ancient tradition, with these words:
“We take bread and water at Communion asking God to endow these elements with a special blessing. We invoke God to manifest His Divine Presence for a blessing upon us, and pray that we may be worthy to receive the True Bread and Water which gives Life Eternal as given by Almighty God from the abode of heaven–that Bread and Water which is His Image and Word, the Divine Light by which his creation was brought forth; that same Light that transforms our spirits and souls through rebirth.”
Following the Communion Service, the Congregation and guests joined in singing a second selection, titled “Grant Life unto Me,” with the accompaniment of the handbell choir. This song is an adaptation from the traditional “Dona Nobis Pacem.”
The commemorative sermon, delivered each year by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy following the Communion of Fellowship, addressed the celebration of Christmas and Epiphany in God’s Second Advent. The Reverend Gary Buchanan accompanied the sermon with arrangements of ancient Hebrew melodies performed on the organ.
Assisting Bishop Savoy during the Communion Service were the Right Reverend Robert Petrovich (Lector), the Reverend Sean Savoy (Cantor), the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. (Scriptural Reader), and the Reverend Rebecca Willis (Reader).
Sunrise Divine Service is held on December 25, traditional Christmas Day in the West, and daily thereafter, culminating on January 6, the date of Second Advent Christmas, the original birthday of Christ celebrated according to the tradition of the early ‘edah Church.
Odes of Solomon
This selection from the Odes of Solomon is recited from the Chapel Chancel on First Dispensation Christmas morning during the candle-lighting ceremony.
ODE 12
1. He hath filled me with words of truth; that I may speak the same;
2. And like the flow of waters flows truth from my mouth, and my lips show forth His fruit.
3. And He has caused His knowledge to abound in me, because the mouth of the Lord is the true word, and the door of His light;
4. And the Most High hath given it to His words, which are the interpreters of His own beauty, and the repeaters of His praise, and the confessors of His counsel, and the heralds of His thought, and the chasteners of His servants.
5. For the swiftness of the Word is inexpressible, and like its expression is its swiftness and force;
6. And its course knows no limit. Never doth it fail, but it stands sure, and it knows not descent nor the way of it.
7. For as its work is, so is its end: for it is light and the dawning of thought;
8. And by it the worlds talk one to the other; and in the Word there were those that were silent:
9. And from it came love and concord; and they spake one to the other whatever was theirs; and they were penetrated by the Word;
10. And they knew Him who made them, because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spake to them; and His explanation ran by means of it:
11. For the dwelling-place of the Word is man: and its truth is love.
12. Blessed are they who by means thereof have understood everything, and have known the Lord in His truth. Hallelujah.
ODE 36
1. I rested in the Spirit of the Lord: and the Spirit raised me on high:
2. And made me stand on my feet in the height of the Lord, before His perfection and His glory, while I was praising Him by the composition of His songs.
3. The Spirit brought me forth before the face of the Lord: and, although a son of man, I was named the Illuminate, the Son of God:
4. While I praised amongst the praising ones, and great was I amongst the mighty ones.
5. For according to the greatness of the Most High, so He made me: and like His own newness He renewed me; and He anointed me from His own perfection:
6. And I became one of His Neighbours; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew;
7. And my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness,
8. And my access to Him was in peace; and I was established by the Spirit of His government. Hallelujah.
ODE 6
1. As the hand moves over the harp, and the strings speak,
2. So speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord, and I speak by His love.
3. For it destroys what is foreign, and everything that is bitter:
4. For thus it was from the beginning and will be to the end, that nothing should be His adversary, and nothing should stand up against Him.
5. The Lord has multiplied the knowledge of Himself, and is zealous that these things should be known, which by His grace have been given to us.
6. And the praise of His name He gave us: our spirits praise His holy Spirit.
7. For there went forth a stream and became a river great and broad;
8. For it flooded and broke up everything and it brought (water) to the Temple:
9. And the restrainers of the children of men were not able to restrain it, nor the arts of those whose business it is to restrain the waters;
10. For it spread over the face of the whole earth;, and filled everything: and all the thirsty upon earth were given to drink of it;
11. And thirst was relieved and quenched; for from the Most High the draught was given.
12. Blessed then are the ministers of that draught who are entrusted with that water of His:
13. They have assuaged the dry lips, and the will that had fainted they have raised up;
14. And souls that were near departing they have caught back from death:
15. And limbs that had fallen they straightened and set up:
16. They gave strength for their feebleness and light to their eyes:
17. For everyone knew them in the Lord, and they lived by the water of life for ever. Hallelujah.
ODE 37
1. I stretched out my hands to my Lord: and to the Most High I raised my voice:
2. And I spake with the lips of my heart; and He heard me, when my voice reached Him:
3. His answer came to me, and gave me the fruits of my labours;
4. And it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord. Hallelujah.
Commemorative Christmas Sermon
“The Appearance of God at His Second Advent”
The following sermon is delivered each year by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy to the Christian public gathered at the Christmas Communion and Candle-Lighting Service to encourage the understanding and exemplification of Jesus’s true teaching in the light of God’s Second Advent. The sermon has been abridged for publication.
“Those of us gathered together in this Chapel dedicated to the worship and service of God are drawn together from many faiths. But we are all one in the Family of God.
“We of the Second Advent Church celebrate today the birth of Jesus as a human being born into the world. For thirteen days we celebrate the Christmas season, which culminates on the sixth day of January; that is, Epiphany, when Jesus was baptized at the Jordan by John the Baptist and God spoke out from Heaven saying: “Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased. This day I have begotten thee.” Thus Jesus—because of the love expressed during his life—was given New Birth by God the Father in Spirit. This event occurred on Epiphany.
“From what ancient scripture tells us we can ask ourselves: What is the real day of Christmas? The birth of the man on December 25, or the spiritual birth God gave Jesus on January 6? In the Second Advent Church we declare both days important, for Jesus was both man and Son of God. This explains why we celebrate for thirteen days, from December 25 to January 6.
“The message is quite simple: We are both mortal beings and spiritual beings. And as we feed our mortal bodies at Christmas time, we must also feed our souls. How do we do this? The answer is to be found within the message conveyed at Christmas in the words of the Odes of Solomon, Ode 36:
I rested in the spirit of the Lord: and the spirit raised me on high, and made me stand on my feet in the height of the Lord, before His perfection and His glory, while I was praising Him by the composition of His songs.
The spirit brought me forth before the face of the Lord: and although I was a son of man, I was named the illuminate, a Son of God. For according to the greatness of the most high, so He made me: and like His own likeness He renewed me, and He anointed me from His own perfection.
And I became one of His neighbors; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew. And my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness.
And my access to Him was in peace; and I was established by the spirit of His kingdom. And I went up to the light of truth which preserved me. And it became to me a haven of salvation: and set me on the arms of immortal life.
“The following words, from the Gospel of John (15:9–12) express the Christian hope which we remember as expressed by Jesus:
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
“Beyond all theological questions is the singular precept given us that each must express as a person, as an individual—that we love one another. It begins in our family life, reaches out to friends and embraces our neighbor. Like a seed, it must be planted before it can grow. If we can express love as we do at Christmas time throughout the whole year, each one in his or her own way, we begin to live the life exemplified by Jesus.
“From what has been said, let each of us examine his or her heart and spirit. The real world takes away our ability to love one another at times. This inability harms the spirit. Thus each of us must rise above the physical limitations of the material world and embrace the spirit, which is expressed by love. By so doing, God comes to each of us, adopting us as His Son or Daughter, for we are all Children of God, who loves us one and all.
“In lighting the candles today in remembrance of those who have gone on to another life, let us place our faith in God, who is Author of our Spirits and Souls. When death claims the mortal body, as it does every one, it is the spirit and soul that endures and goes on to a higher world. But if we not love, our spirit and soul fades like a flame and goes out. Love kindles and brightens the spirit and soul. By loving we are made eternal, for God is love. Love binds us to those departed, it binds us to those about us while we live, and it binds us to God. For how else can we know God if we not love?
“You may ask, How do I love? This loving expression is reflected in the words of the former Prophets who wrote upon the Beauty of God and who placed their faith in an Almighty Good Father. These verses are not generally known to modern Christians, but in olden times they were common to such men as Jesus. Perhaps he remembered these words at times, perhaps while on the cross as he looked down upon the throng below. [See Ode 16 below]
“These words taken from the old, apocryphal Odes of Solomon teach us that the human Spirit needs to identify with God by the living of a Way that is regulated by God’s Law. When one lives that Way, one’s Spirit shines bright. It gives Life, it does not darken or cast a shadow over others. And it is made of that Light that comes from God, that same Light that ennobled Jesus.
“We remember the scene of His Transfiguration on the mountain when He stood there beneath a cloud made bright by the Divine Presence of God with His face shining like the Sun and His raiment white as snow. Moses and Elijah had appeared and spoken to Jesus. And Peter, and James, and John had witnessed it.
“This event tells us two things. First, that the Spirit is eternal. And second, that life goes on because God does not forget the Good. For being all Good, God is not the author of death but the Creator of Eternal Life.
“Therefore, on this day commemorating the birth of Jesus, we should all remember what He taught: All men and women everywhere may shine forth as the Sun in Righteousness if they but live and exemplify the Love of God in their daily lives.”
Ode 16
“The beauty of God’s creation.”
1 As the work of the husbandman is the ploughshare: and the work of the steersman is the guidance of the ship:
2 So also my work is the Psalm of the Lord: my craft and my occupation are in his praises:
3 Because His love hath nourished my heart, and even to my lips His fruits He poured out.
4 For my love is the Lord, and therefore I will sing unto Him:
5 For I am made strong in His praise, and I have faith in Him.
6 I will open my mouth and His spirit will utter in me the glory of the Lord and His beauty; the work of His hands and the operation of His fingers:
7 The multitude of His mercies and the strength of His word.
8 For the word of the Lord searches out all things, both the invisible and that which reveals His thought;
9 For the eye sees His works, and the ear hears His thought;
10 He spread out the earth and He settled the waters in the sea:
11 He measured the heavens and fixed the stars: and He established the creation and set it up:
12 And He rested from His works:
13 And created things run in their courses, and do their works:
14 And they know not how to stand and be idle; and His heavenly hosts are subject to His word.
15 The treasure-chamber of the light is the sun, and the treasury of the darkness is the night:
16 And He made the sun for the day that it may be bright, but night brings darkness over the face of the land;
17 And their alternations one to the other speak the beauty of God:
18 And there is nothing that is without the Lord; for He was before any thing came into being:
19 And the worlds were made by His word, and by the thought of His heart, Glory and honour to His name.
Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving
On the evening of Friday, January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, the Congregation of The Second Advent Church gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for the traditional banquet and festivities at the invitation of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy.
The assembly gathered in the main salon for the candle-lighting ceremony that opened the fourteenth annual celebration of Second Advent Epiphany Eve. Before those present approached the large golden candelabrum to light candles while offering up their silent prayers, Bishop Savoy explained the threefold significance of the ceremony in an informal homily.
Following the opening ceremony and singing of the Second Advent Hymn “Grant Life unto Me,” nearly one hundred Congregation members and guests were invited to a banquet featuring cuisine of the Greek Islands prepared under the direction of the Right Reverend Ileana Isfan.
Later, the play of children replaced previous solemnity. All children, from the youngest to those in their teens, were invited to take their turns at breaking the piñata, a large golden ball called the “Egg of Plenty.” This breaking of the piñata does not simply reenact Mexican festivities held during the holiday season but signifies the gifts and blessings showered from God’s Sun with the aid of the children and youths of The Church.
Once the “egg” was emptied and its candy contents gathered up, the younger children retired upstairs for a short rest. Soon their mothers woke them and gathered them all together on the balcony overlooking the parlor and the Christmas tree, there to await the timely arrival of reindeer and Santa Claus, who leaves them gifts on the ledge beside the tree.
The evening of festivities concluded with gifts exchanged among friends, families, and children. These gifts, along with others, were taken home and placed beneath the families’ trees until opened the next morning, following the families’ return from the Sanctuary after Divine Service.
PUBLIC EVENTS
Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal
The Nevada Clergymen’s Association (NCA) was organized in 1984 by the Second Advent Church to act as a political body separate and independent of The Church. Over the past ten years, the organization’s activities have been minimal. Early this month, however, after the resignation of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy as president and the Reverend Doctor Arline Peace as treasurer, the Nevada Clergymen’s Association was reorganized as a nonprofit organization and opened to participation by all religious bodies.
The NCA is dedicated to securing and protecting the civil and religious rights and liberties of all churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious societies in the state of Nevada. It is now organized to represent the special needs of religion to appropriate government officials and bodies.
In October the NCA initiated a campaign to inform religious organizations throughout the neighboring area of a new state law affecting tax exemption of religious properties. Some 250 congregations in the Reno/Sparks/Carson City area were contacted by phone and informed of the proposed change in legislation. These congregations represent the faithful in the 250,000 population area of the Truckee Meadows.
Although in October more than 50 congregations in the Northern Nevada area showed interest in Washoe County’s application of Nevada’s new religious property exemption law, the November 10 meeting was not well attended. However, Nevada state senator Joan Lambert, the chair of the state Tax Committee, which reviews proposed state legislation, has offered to help the NCA.
Despite the lack of participation at the meeting by local religious representatives, a steering committee was formed to inform other ministers of the tax problems in Nevada that congregations of the faithful will be facing in the future.
In the opinion of the NCA, stated by steering committee chairman the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., existing laws governing religious property tax exemption in Nevada are unclear and give county officials too much leeway in deciding according to their own judgment which organizations and which properties should be exempt.
In 1974 a Nevada legislative study (Tax Exemptions for Charitable Societies, Bulletin No. 122, Legislative Commission of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, State of Nevada, September 1974) concluded the same, that tax exemption laws are unclear and are applied differently from one county to another.
The legislative study also states that the taxing of religious organizations does not even provide significant income to the state and local governments. If all property owned by churches and charitable organizations were taxed, the resulting income to governments would be less than 0.003 percent of their budgets. However, in many cases the tax bills that have been charged to charitable organizations have dealt them crushing blows. This fact is stated in the legislative study: “While the dollar impact of charitable tax exemptions on local governmental budgets is very small, it is very large on the budgets of the organizations receiving them.”
The 1990 Nevada Supreme Court decision Simpson v. The International Community of Christ adversely affected the tax exempt status of Nevada’s religious organizations. In that decision, one of the justices stated, “Determinations concerning the extent of land exempt from taxation under NRS 361.125 are now left to human judgements and predilections rather than the law…. I would prefer to have the legislative branch of government, after full debate and consideration of the alternatives and consequences, resolve the type of issues presented by this appeal in the form of more comprehensive legislation.”
As a result of this decision, The International Community of Christ Church has had to pay more than $160,000 in property taxes over the past fourteen years and continues to be assessed taxes. One of the main tenets of The Church is that it must hold certain of its religious services in outdoor, open-air church structures surrounded by temples “built by the hand of God, not the hand of man.”
County officials argue that land which is not “improved” is not “used.” “Use” for religious worship is the criteria imposed by NRS to determine which plots of land and which buildings qualify for exemption, and it is either the county assessor or the district attorney who makes this determination. As the new law is being applied, churches are subject to property tax while new church buildings are under construction. Land that is purchased for the building of a new church is taxed until such time as the building is completed and “used.”
In the opinion of the NCA, according to a statement made by Rev. Savoy Jr., it is not the business of government to determine how or where religious services should be held. “All churches should take heed of this case,” he said, “because once the precedent exists of taxing one place of worship, it is easy to justify taxing other places of worship. Nevada needs a law that clearly defines which properties should be exempt.”
Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service
The Ninth Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service was held Wednesday November 23, 1994, at Trinity Episcopal Church. The ecumenical event included local choirs and inspirational readings from various traditions.
Representatives of Reno community churches opened the program with their formal entrance during a processional hymn sung by the congregation. As representatives of the Second Advent Church, the Reverends Gene Savoy Jr. and Sean Savoy took part in the procession wearing surplices and festive stoles.
Participating members of various churches and faiths provided the main body of the program. Following a word of welcome delivered by Father James Jeffery, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Church members recited selected readings in a program interspersed with religious anthems and choral hymns. Guest speaker the Reverend Jacqueline Meadows of First United Methodist Church delivered the keynote address.
Prayers of Thanksgiving, a benediction delivered by Deputy Sheriff Sita Singh of the Sikh community, and a congregational hymn closed the main program.
The Thanksgiving Eve event is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Northern Nevada Region. The National Conference, founded in 1927, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. The Conference promotes understanding and respect among all races, religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.
RITES AND SERVICES
Anointing
Donald Crook Jr., by the consent of his parents, the Reverends Elizabeth and Donald Crook, was Anointed with Holy Oil and Sacred Balm in private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers on Saturday November 12, 1994. Among those in attendance were his godmother and godfather, the Reverend Doctors Arline and Tyrus Peace. By this Anointing, Donald, who has reached the age of ten, indicates his readiness to assume liturgical responsibilities as an Acolyte and takes another step in his devotion to God in The Church of the Second Advent.
Following the Communion of Fellowship on that day, Donald was formally presented in The University Chapel for public acceptance by the Congregation. The youth will sit among the Assembly under the responsibility of his Office as Acolyte until his fifteenth year, when he may be Consecrated to God and accepted within the Sacred College for instruction in the theological studies as a young minister in training, Emancipated by rite from childhood into the responsibility of a person seeking true understanding and knowledge of God within the divine structure of The Church.
The importance of the children in The Church was revealed in a simple statement made in 1991 by Bishop Savoy during the formal presentation of another Acolyte. After delivering the Blessing over the Children, which he described as “the old Essene prayer over the children,” he said: “The children of the Essaei are no longer with us, except as they are coming forth in this Church. And, although we are small, let us each be reminded that twelve men changed this world.” These words, though few, reveal clearly a child’s bond to The Church and to its Ministry.
Baptism
The daughter of Amy Beth Walters and Jeffrey Walters was Baptized on Saturday November 26, 1994, at 11:30 a.m. in The University Chapel.
The ceremony was performed by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. The Right Reverend Roger Weld and Cynthia Lang avowed themselves as godparents of Amanda Marie Dominique Walters during the service.
The Reverend Gary Buchanan, grandfather of the child, accompanied the service on the organ, playing the liturgical compositions A Baptismal Hymn and Music for a Christening.
A reception was held in the vestibule following the service.
Amy is the daughter of Amanda and Gary Buchanan.
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