The Jain Center of Greater Phoenix will sponsor a concert, “Unlimited Ability,” featuring disabled artists, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Phoenix Symphony Hall, 225 E. Adams St. The performance is being called “a first in North America” and features artists in wheelchairs doing dance, sword fighting and ancient arts.
Wheelchair dancers to perform
The Jain Center of Greater Phoenix will sponsor a concert, “Unlimited Ability,” featuring disabled artists, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 29, at Phoenix Symphony Hall, 225 E. Adams St. The performance is being called “a first in North America” and features artists in wheelchairs doing dance, sword fighting and ancient arts. Tickets are $50, $35 and $25 through Ticketmaster, (480) 784-4444. For more information, see jcgp.org/cultural.html.
Reformed church meets near Florence
A new congregation affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, Grace Bible Reformed Church, has begun near Florence. The church, organized by the Rev. Edward Kavimba Lungu, a native of Zambia, has begun meeting at Anthem K-8 School, 2700 Anthem Parkway. Services are 10:30 a.m. Sunday, with a Bible study and youth program at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Lungu, a graduate of the Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, Mich., was ordained in 1989 and is working on his doctorate. He came to the U.S. in 1993. Until recently, the congregation had been meeting at an elementary school in Queen Creek. For more information, call (520) 723-8319 or (520) 208-4986 or visit gracebrc.org.
Concert covers history of music
A free concert, “Pilgrimage: 2,000 Years of Spiritual Music, From Ancient Greece and India through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to Early America,” will be presented 9:30 a.m. Aug. 12 at the Episcopal Church of St. James the Apostle, 975 E. Warner Road, Tempe. The concert, which includes commentary, will come between the church’s two morning Masses at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. It will feature Robin Rio, an Arizona State University music professor, her musician husband, Jim DeFazio, and soprano Sidney Waller Freedman. It will be a prelude to a full concert on Aug. 17 at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix. For more information, call the Rev. Kerry Newhardt, (480) 345-2686, or the Rev. Steve Ford, (602) 318-8607.
Lecture gives look into classes
An introductory lecture on “Desert Spirituality” will be 7 p.m. Monday at the Shrine of Holy Wisdom, 4625 S. Ash Ave., Suite J-19, Tempe. The Rev. Jorge Eagar will explain “the wisdom tradition practiced by early hermitical fathers and mothers in the deserts of the Middle East beginning in the middle of the fourth century of the Christian dispensation.” It will be an sampling of a five-session course that will meet 7 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4.
“The five classes will emphasize the way of interior peace known as hesychasm and ihidaya, the path of unification,” Eagar said. A meditation practice will be taught that will be complemented with sacred movement as a form of prayer. All five classes cost $90 if paid the first night, or $20 per class afterward. The introductory lecture is free. For more information, call Eagar, (480) 219-9633.
'Soul Song 2007’ to show in Mesa
“Soul Song 2007,” a music revue of religious-themed plays of the Broadway stage, will be presented 7 p.m. Aug. 18 and 5 p.m. Aug. 19 at First Christian Church of Mesa, 805 N. Country Club Drive. Proceeds will benefit the music fund of the church. The revue will feature music from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Godspell,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and others. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, call (480) 833-7312.
Pastor joins Velda Rose
The Rev. Cliff Asay, with 35 years in pastoral ministry, is the new associate pastor of Velda Rose United Methodist Church, 5540 E. Main St., Mesa. A native of Los Angeles, he earned a degree in broadcasting from UCLA and is a seminary graduate of Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo. He served four years at a church in Hacienda Heights, Calif., and started North Scottsdale United Methodist Church in 1977. In 1983, Asay was named associate minister for First United Methodist Church in Phoenix, then in 1992 became pastor of the White Mountain United Methodist Church in Show Low. The following year, he became director of communications for the Rocky Mountain Conference of the denomination.
From 1996 to 2005, Asay served churches in the West Valley. At his last post, he helped form a three-church partnership with the Youngstown and Lakeview United Methodist churches in a cooperative parish. For more information call (480) 832-2111 or visit veldarose.org.
Food bank to help schoolchildren
The East Mesa Food Bank, a ministry of East Mesa Baptist Church, 752 S. Ellsworth Road, will give away backpacks and school supplies to needy children 4:45 p.m. Aug. 12. Contributions will be taken 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Families wishing to get backpacks are requested to sign up by calling (480) 986-9827. Food boxes for families are regularly given out at no cost at 4:45 p.m. Sundays.
