Prayer

This annual event, sponsored by the GFWC Woman's Club of Linthicum Heights, takes place at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Linthicum Heights United Methodist Church, 200 School Lane. Cost is $10. For tickets and reservations, call 410-636-7325. Proceeds benefit Sarah's House, H.O.P.E. and the Fouse Center.

John Kennedy Gutierrez, a Woodberry-based metals artisan who was part of the design team for the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden, died of cancer Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Medfield resident was 45. "He had an indomitable spirit and the things he made were magic," said Baltimore developer William Struever. "He was a rock, a pillar of goodwill. His works were gorgeous but always enormously practical." Mr. Gutierrez worked with numerous architects and designers and helped create Woodberry Kitchen, Tapas Teatro, Red Star and Copra restaurants.

John Kennedy Gutierrez, a Woodberry-based metals artisan who was part of the design team for the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden, died of cancer Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Medfield resident was 45. "He had an indomitable spirit and the things he made were magic," said Baltimore developer William Struever. "He was a rock, a pillar of goodwill. His works were gorgeous but always enormously practical." Mr. Gutierrez worked with numerous architects and designers and helped create the Woodberry Kitchen, Tapas Teatro, Red Star and Copra restaurants.

Our dear beloved sister and friend CATHERINE CONNERS has gone to Heaven at the beginning of 2010. A faithful, relentless, prayer warrior for Israel, the world, and all mankind. The memorial services will be at Moreland Memorial Park, Thursday 28 of January at 1 PM.

The Revs. Tracy Bruce and Stephen Davenport travel to Haiti every January to visit the music school in Port-au-Prince, the church in St. Etienne and the other development projects they support in the poorest nation in the Americas. But with the school and the church now destroyed, and no word yet from many of the friends with whom the husband-and-wife Episcopal clergy members have worked over the decades, they expect this month's trip to be different. "There's nothing that's coming out of Haiti at all in terms of communication right now from anybody on the ground," Bruce, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Glyndon, said Friday.

On October 18, 2009, John F. Nowicki, Jr Visiting at the E.F. Lassahn Funeral Home, P.A., 11750 Belair Road (Kingsville) on Wednesday 6-8 pm. A Prayer Service will be held on Thursday at 11:00 am. Interment Gardens of Faith Cemetery.

In a society in which at least 9 of 10 people say they believe in a supreme being, it is natural for people to pray for what they want and identify good outcomes as God's affirmative response. This is especially true in matters of life or death. And so, when a plane crashes or a boat sinks, it is common for the survivors to attribute their good fortune to God's response their prayers. Similarly, when a person is facing life-threatening illness, it is routine to solicit the prayers of others for recovery.

Last year, even as she grew weaker from an illness she'd had for many months, the Rev. Josephine Pinkard of Severna Park kept telling her daughter, Avanette, of a dream she couldn't get out of her head. "I see the roof [of your business] opening up, and God showering the place with blessings," she told Avanette, a beauty-and-wellness professional who owns Essential Essence, a Laurel day spa and beauty salon. "I see it growing by leaps and bounds." At the time, the imagery seemed absurd.