Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 2005 — Page 11

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Order of Service Religion

B SECTION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005

SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK Where is the love? By PASTOR DAVID A. HAMPTON

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seek-ing, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Paul instructs us about the futility and frivolousness of life without love inverses 1-3, and goes on to teach about the positive and negative aspects of love in verses 4-8. Ironically Paul lists more negatives than positives. Why? Because our flesh is naturally inclined toward evil, but the type of love he mentions is agape or Godly love. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit and runs contrary to human, fleshly nature. The more we become like Christ, the more agape love we demonstrate. He had to address the negatives because we display them so easily. Agape love is outward toward others while lust is focused inward toward self. The positives: patient, kind, rejoices with truth, always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. The negatives: envy, boast, proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, keeps record ofwrongs, and delight in evil. These all serve to teach us what love is and is not. As Donny Hathaway said, “Where is the love?” Our society today operates on an increasingly lower level of substance and sentiment in the area of love. It is even reflected in the music that saturates the minds and hearts, especially of our young people. No wonder the divorce rate is now well over 50 percent. Think about it - the most popular songs noware entitled: “Gold Digger,” “Trapped in the Closet,” “Laffy Taffy,” and “I Should Have Cheated.” None of these songs are generated by love but lust, and we wonder why marriage is not taken as seriously today as it once was. There may be a few selfrighteous Christians who don’t believe in music of any kind. However, at least much of the secular music of just a fewyears ago had substantive lyrics that talked about love. What happened to songs like, “My Girl,” “Ribbon in the Sky,” “Love’s Holiday,” and “A House is Not a Home”? Those types of songs are nearly nonexistent in 2005. Let’s pray for relationships and marriages because they are constantly under attack from the enemy - Satan. I will conclude with some lyrics from the greatest love song ever written. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” They hung him high, they stretched him wide, he hung his head, for me he died. But that’s not how the story ends. Three days later, he rose again - that’s love! David Hampton is pastor of Zion Hope Baptist Church.

SERVICE OF THANKS FOR Robert Turner

BOOK REVIEW

FACING PAIN. FINDING HOPE F| Hope for Christian patients with chronic pain By BRANDON A. PERRY Staff Writer

Prolonged pain and the complications of an ongoing disease can test the faith of a Christian unlike any other occurrence, aside from the death of a loved one. Chronic pain due to nerve, muscle and bone ailments afflicts nearly 1 in 5 Americans and affects millions of family members and caregivers each year. Many individuals turn to their faith for guidance, comfort and insight into God’s will for their situation. But sometimes even those who pray may not get the answers they wanted or expected. Patients would like to know how Jesus will respond to their pain and whether or not they will be healed. Dr. Daniel Hurley, M.D. offers insightful spiritual and medical information to offer clarification on the issue in his book Facing Pain, Finding Hope: A Physician Examines Pain, Faith and the Healing Stories of Jesus. By using his own experiences as a medical professional and sharing reflections of biblical figures who were healed by Jesus (such as the paralytic, the hemophiliac, the epileptic and the leper) Hurley sheds light on Christ’s feeling’s about human suffering and offers hope by encouraging patients and supportive physicians not to limit Jesus to one avenue of healing. “The healing can happen if you are open to God’s way of healing you, and not just to the way you are demanding that healing occur,” Hurley writes. Hurley is a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation of the worldrenowned Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch (CINN). He is a national authority on the non-surgical treatment of many neurological and neuromuscular conditions, including head, neck and back pain; repetitive stress disorders; and nerve, joint and soft tissue injuries. ► See HOPE, B2

Shoes for Children Give-a-way coming Volunteers needed for annual community event

Pastor T.D. Robinson helps Nautica Campbell try on a pair of shoes during last year's Mt. Paran Missionary Baptist Church shoe giveaway as her mother looks on. (Photo/J. Hurst)

By BRANDON A. PERRY Staff Writer

A cold and frigid winter could be in the forecast, but thanks to work of a local church and compassionate volunteers, thousands of area children will be able to keep their feet warm with new shoes. The annual Shoes for Children Give-a-way Program, sponsored by Mt. Paran Missionary Baptist Church, will take place on Dec. 17 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the Exposition Hall of the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Families with youth ages 3 to 18 who are in need can arrive and receive shoes free of charge during the event. All of the shoes are brand new and were made available through the generous donations

of church members, businesses and individuals throughout the community. Rev. T.D. Robinson, pastor of Mt. Paran, said members have been busy getting ready for the giveaway and the church has received new volunteers signing up almost daily. “We’re excited, we’re all geared up and ready to go,” Robinson said. This year marks Shoes for Children’s 15th year, and Mt. Paran estimates that over 44,000 shoes have been distributed to children since the program began in 1990. Approximately 2,300 children benefited last year, and organizers expect to distribute 3,000 pair of shoes this year. ► See SHOES, B2