Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff &
Associated Press
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Earth Day seen from spiritual view
Reflections on Earth Day from spiritual perspectives will be presented next Saturday at the Chaminade University Ching Conference Center.
Leslie Sponsel, director of the University of Hawaii ecological anthropology program, will speak at the 3 p.m. program "Celebrating Earth Day with St. Francis of Assisi and the Buddha." A movie will be shown, "Reluctant Saint: Francis of Assisi," about the 13th-century Italian monk who preached about the beauty of God's creation and is considered the patron saint of ecology.
Michael Kieran, a teacher with Honolulu Diamond Sangha at Palolo Zen Center, will give a Buddhist response.
The free program at 3140 Waialae Ave. will be sponsored by the Hawaii Association of International Buddhists women and environment committee, and the Chaminade Gender Studies program. Call 735-4822 for information.
Community seders begin Passover
The Jewish community will begin the celebration of Passover next weekend with seders, communal meals that memorialize the first Passover 3,000 years ago.
The Haggadah, the Scriptural story of the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, is retold. The eight-day holiday marks the liberation of the Hebrew people and the birth of the Jews as a people.
Reservations are required for seders planned by local congregations.
» Chabad of Hawaii will sponsor a community seder at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday at the Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive. The cost for visitors is $80 for adults and $45 for children. Kamaaina rates are $45 for adults and $40 for children. Discounts are available for families and students. Call 735-8161.
Chabad of Hawaii will also sponsor seders at the Freedom House on Kauai at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday and April 20, and on the Big Island, in Hilo, next Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
» The Temple Emanu-El seder will be at 6:30 p.m. April 20 at Hale Koa Hotel, 2055 Kalia Road, sponsored by the Temple Sisterhood. The cost for nonmembers is $70 for adults and $55 for children. The cost for members is $55 for adults and $40 for children. A discount is available for military service members under E5 grade. Call Alida, 428-0092.
Churches offer musical concerts
Oahu churches will provide the stage for musical concerts next week.
» Korean recording artists Byul and Jadoo and others will perform in a Gospel Rock Concert at 6 p.m. Friday at New Life Church Honolulu, 1190 Nuuanu Ave., and at 5 p.m. next Saturday at All Nations Church, 2889 Mokumoa St. The free concerts will present 20 entertainers from Korea, including Kyun Sung Kang, Esther Han, Jihyun Oh and chorus and band members. Popular songs and worship music are included in the program.
The Saturday concert will be followed by a free dinner and testimony by the musicians about their lives.
» An award-winning musical duo, the Braeded Chord, will present a concert of their acoustic folk and gospel music Friday. The "Coffeehouse in the Courtyard" program at 6:30 p.m. at Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 1730 Punahou St., is free.
Guitarist Sharon Dennis and keyboard artist Doris Au MacDonald won awards for best gospel/inspirational recordings in 2006 and 2007. The singers and their compositions won Washington Area Musicians Association awards called Wammies. They are parish musicians at Church of the Word, an Episcopal church in Gainesville, Va. A potluck dinner will precede the concert.
» Choral groups from six rural Oahu Buddhist temples will perform in the April 20 "Voices in Harmony" songfest sponsored by the Dharma School Teachers of Oahu.
The free 9 a.m. concert at Aiea Hongwanji Mission, 99-186 Puakala St., will feature popular songs that express Buddhist principles, Japanese folk songs and children's songs and hymns sung at temple events. About 120 singers will participate.