United Church

On Tuesday, September 2, 2003, KIMBERLY SILVA, 41, of Charlottesville, Va., died at her residence. Born November 19, 1962 in Washington, D. C. she was the daughter of Dr. Henry Silva and the late Celeste Silva. She was a member of Sojourners United Church of Christ in Charlottesville; although she on occasion attended other churches in different cities. She was a gifted pianist and composer, and an honored graduate of the Duke Ellington school of Performing Arts of Washington, D.C.; and held a degree in Computer Science from Washington, D.C.'s Strayer College.

Union church to celebrate 140 yearsLazarus United Church of Christ and Lazarus Evangelical Lutheran Church will celebrate the 140th anniversary of their founding as a Union church with a joint service at 9 a.m. Sunday.Pastors Verna Call of Lazarus United Church of Christ and Philip G. Emanuel of Lazarus Evangelical Lutheran Church will jointly conduct this service. Former pastors of both churches along with representatives of the individual church conferences are to attend the service.The Lazarus Bell Choir, Joint Choir and Gospel Gang will provide music.

Westminster-area houses of worship have decked their halls with a few extra boughs of holly in preparation for a jolly public reception Saturday. An array of denominations and groups - Lutherans and Latter-day Saints, United Methodists and Unitarian Universalists - will make up the holiday procession, many welcoming questions about their respective denominations and groups as well as showcasing their halls, meeting houses and sanctuaries. That's just a taste of this year's holiday House of Worship Tour, an event organized by the nondenominational Shepherd's Staff, the Community Foundation of Carroll County and the Tourism Council of Carroll County Inc. Now in its second year, the tour serves as a fundraiser for the three groups.

A Westminster church is starting a center to help families with the everyday stresses of child-rearing, adolescence, aging and anything in between.The Hope Family Center will have an open house at 7 p.m. today at St. Paul's United Church of Christ. The church is providing the money and space for the first three years.The open house is for the public and other church leaders to learn about seminars, discussion groups, classes and case-by-case help that could be available at the center.Organizers have hired Terri Miller, a former mental health and disabilities coordinator for Carroll County schools, as a part-time executive director.

St. Mary's Evangelical Lutheran Church will celebrate 100 years at its site in Silver Run with a worship service Sunday for current and past members, synod officials and former clergy.The service at 9:30 a.m. will be followed by a rededication ceremony outside the church. A new stone will be placed in the foundation, bearing a time capsule filled with mementos to create a historical snapshot of the congregation."The original cornerstone has items in it from 1894. We wanted to duplicate that idea and put some items in from today," said Bob Heltibridle, chairman of the anniversary committee and a lifelong member of the church.

The Carroll Promenaders, a local modern western square dance club, will hold a Jingle Bell Rock square dance from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday at North Carroll High School. The cost is $4. Doren McBroom will be the caller and Just Tim will be the cuer. Attire is proper square dance dress with a bell. The school is at 1400 Panther Drive, Hampstead. Information: 410-552-3094. Church youth group offers baby-sitting night Dec. 13 The Trinity United Church of Christ Youth Group is sponsoring a free holiday baby-sitting night for Manchester-area residents from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Dec. 13. Baby-sitting will be at the church, 3229 York St., and is open to children age 3 and older.

The Rev. Julian Hall recently left St. Mary's United Church of Christ to become pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Hanover, Pa. He delivered his last sermon Jan. 22.Mr. Hall provided spiritual leadership at the parish in Silver Run for the past 11 1/2 years. More than 150 gathered to say farewell to him at a celebration after services Jan. 22.Among the gifts presented to the Hall family were a money tree, a coverlet depicting the Union Mills homestead and a caricature of Mr. Hall playing guitar at the church.

For years, ministers and church lay people around the world have freely traded intimate concerns and prayers, religious and ethical questions, even sermon ideas on their computers -- but not face-to-face.At a global meeting in Timonium recently, about 200 of these old friends curiously matched faces to names for the first time."These were not strangers coming together -- although the majority had never met, except electronically," said the Rev. Donel McClellan, one of the participants.The Rev. David Lochhead, a theologian from Vancouver, British Columbia, told the group -- all avid computer users -- that a fast developing information revolution, the creation of "a society of generalized communication," has changed the course of religion forever.

Following in the family tradition of religious leaders, the Rev. Rosemary Maxey became ordained as a United Church of Christ minister in 1986.The difference is that her ancestors were leaders in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of American Indians."On my father's side of the family, they were religious leaders in the Creek nation," she said. "On my mother's side, they were faith-keepers and saw that people acted in accord with the faith they professed."An instructor of religious studies and philosophy at Western Maryland College, Maxey also serves as the pastor of Mount Tabler United Church of Christ in Rocky Ridge, Frederick County.

Daniel B. Swartz was a lonely 11-year-old whose mother had just died when a new pastor from the United Church of Christ came to his family's home in Eldersburg and befriended him, leading to more than six years of sexual abuse that he detailed yesterday in a lawsuit against the minister and the church.Now 36, Mr. Swartz, contends the panic attacks and phobias that have plagued him since childhood are a result of that abuse.In the civil action filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, the Laurel man said he is seeking damages from the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ, which has its headquarters in Catonsville, and from his former minister, Kenneth B. Wyatt, who resigned last month after admitting to the church that he sexually molested Mr. Swartz in Carroll County.