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Gospel event to sing prayer for Tohoku

Friday, July 22, 2011

TOKYO

By MIKE HAMILTON, Staff writer

The bombastic and expressive vocals of gospel music are far removed from traditional Japanese culture, which may be why the genre is so popular here.

With the financial support of Tokyo Union Church, Rev. George Redding and a group of American and Japanese gospel singers are hoping their chorus will inspire more people to embrace the genre at the Japan Earthquake Disaster Gospel Music Charity Show.

The extensive roster of artists is bound to impress those at the 1,400-seat capacity Nerima Bunka Center with awe-inspiring sounds. Redding, who has lived in Tokyo for the past 10 years, started organizing the event in February this year. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, Redding made the decision to donate profits from the event to disaster victims in the Tohoku region.

While the event will center on gospel, R&B will be provided by artists Christi and Rod Ross. Shoko Yamagishi and Jonny Dynamite will also add a dash of jazz to the event. In total, nine individual artists are set to perform. Also, young quintet PMG Kids will take the stage as will 23-member-strong group True Praise supported by Ray D. Lewis. The group will perform gospel classics such as "Oh Happy Day."

Japan Earthquake Disaster Gospel Music Charity Show will take place at Nerima Bunka Center Hall in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on July 31. Doors open from 6:45 p.m. Tickets cost ¥3,000 in advance, ¥3,500 at the door. For more information, visit a1production.web.infoseek.co.jp.

Science cannot affirm the non-existence of God

Archbishop: Church Must Learn Language of Youth

Says Liberty and Science Are Two Dominant Values

MADRID, Spain, JULY 21, 2011 (Zenit.org).- To evangelize young people, the Church must understand their culture, in which liberty and science are dominant values, say the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella said this Wednesday during the summer course "Young People and the Catholic Church: Points for a Youth Ministry for Today," which is under way this week at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid.

The archbishop's talk was titled "Young People and God, Young People and Jesus Christ, Young People and Eternal Life."

One cannot speak to young people of Christ, said the evangelization dicastery president, "without speaking of liberty, as the youth of today has placed it in his culture, but liberty must always be in relation to truth, as it is truth that produces liberty."

At the same time, he added, "one cannot speak of God to young people without knowing the culture of today's young people, which is scientific. Today's culture, its content, is full of axioms of science."

The Italian prelate clarified that the Church is "in favor of science, but the latter must be in favor of humanity and never against humanity."

"The time will come when science itself will ask for help from theology to know the realms of reality more amply, and to be able to give an answer to pain, to betrayal, to death," in short, "to the great questions, the questions of meaning," said archbishop Fisichella.

Archbishop Fisichella pointed out that "the interaction of science, personal life and ethics is necessary," and that one cannot live without the other.

By way of example, the archbishop gave the case of the director of the Genome project, Francis S. Collins, who has gone further into the language of God, because "true science puts you at the doors of the transcendent."

Archbishop Fisichella concluded assuring that one "can be Catholic and scientific at the same time. To experience scientific knowledge does not imply atheism. The scientific has its limits; it cannot affirm the non-existence of God."

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U.S. stamps to mark 100 years of cherry trees gift

Kyodo

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service will issue two stamps next year on the 100th anniversary of the gift to Washington of more than 3,000 cherry trees by Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo at the time.

The "Cherry Blossom Centennial Forever Stamps" create a single, panoramic view of the cherry trees blooming around the Tidal Basin when two stamps are placed side by side.

The other half of each stamp features blossoming trees arching over a family on a stroll and two girls wearing kimono, and a canopy of pink blooms with the Jefferson Memorial in the background. The trees have become a symbol of the Japan-U.S. friendship.

Pastors Videos For Pastors How to Disagree with Grace

Chandler, Horton, Keller on How to Disagree from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.