Churches united in work, worship praised

BY HEATHER HAHN

Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008

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In the vestibule of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Little Rock hangs a covenant the church signed with nearby Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

The document commits the predominantly black Bethel and the predominantly white Trinity to respect each other’s traditions, share each other’s joys and strive together to confront issues in their community.

Among other things, the congregations promise “to support each other in programs that bring together our youth, our outreach in community, and our people in holy fellowship and praise.” The document has proved to be more than a decorative piece of paper. Since October, the congregations have joined together in worship services, youth activities and choral performances. Trinity congregation members have visited Bethel services twice this year, and the Bethel youth group worshipped at Trinity last month.

The youth groups jointly distributed food and toys for Christmas at St. Francis House. They also teamed up on service projects on Martin Luther King Jr. ’s Birthday.

“It’s something good for us to do and to live by,” said Eartha Daniel, a Bethel member who helped develop the covenant. “It’s really been awesome.” Daniel said the joint activities have even strengthened her friendships with Trinity members outside of church walls.

Now the covenant has won the two congregations recognition as joint recipients of the 2008 Marie Interfaith Civic Leadership Award.

The two churches will be honored at a special service Sunday afternoon at Temple B’nai Israel in Little Rock. The gathering will include a panel discussion by congregation members, including Daniel. The combined choirs of the two congregations will perform “Because They Taught Us Well,” by Timothy Allen, the organist and choir master at Trinity.

The choirs first performed the piece Oct. 11 when the congregations signed the covenant as part of their commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School.

Three of the nine black students who desegregated Central High in 1957 attended Bethel. So did Daisy Bates, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People local leader who led integration efforts.

The brothers Paul and Irving Spitzberg initiated the Marie award in 2004 to honor their mother, Marie Spitzberg — a longtime volunteer at the temple, Little Rock public schools, hospital auxiliaries and other civic groups.

A committee that includes Marie Spitzberg, Arkansas community activists and church leaders selects each year’s award recipients.

The Rev. Stephen Copley, a committee member and chairman of the Arkansas affiliate of the Interfaith Alliance, said he hopes the congregations’ covenant will become an example for others.

“This is being used to foster relationships between two churches of different racial backgrounds,” Copley said. “But there is a model here that can be used by people of differing faiths to learn to cooperate.” Irving Spitzberg said the congregations’ efforts of racial reconciliation are in keeping with the work of his mother, a member of the Women’s Emergency Committee that worked to reopen Little Rock high schools when they were closed during the 1958-59 school year. Her husband, the late Dr. Irving Spitzberg, had an integrated waiting room for his pediatric practice long before most Arkansas physicians.

The churches plan to continue working together. The two choirs hope to have a hymn festival together in the coming months. The Cathedral also plans to invite Bethel to a gospel and blues program and picnic in July, said Patricia Lewis Simmons, Trinity’s youth minister.

The covenant has enriched both congregations, church members say.

“The bottom line,” said Annett Roper, Bethel’s music director, “is it’s helping us to know and feel each other and our culture.” Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Little Rock and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral will be honored as winners of the 2008 Marie Interfaith Civic Leadership Award at 3 p.m. Sunday at Temple B’nai Israel, 3700 N. Rodney Parham Road. Reservations requested. Call (501 ) 413-9212.

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