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SECTION Religion B

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 / THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

VATICAN CITY “(EdLantzer’sart)isfortheunlovedchild,ofanyage.” Catholic bishops take distance DEBRAHEINZELMAN,WHOLEDTHEEFFORTTOBRINGLANTZER’SMURALSTOGRANDRAPIDS from gay document

Conservative Catholic bish- ops are distancing themselves from a document showing an unprecedented opening toward gays and divorced people, saying it doesn’t reflect their views and vowing to make changes to the final version. The provisional document produced at the halfway point of a two-week meeting on fam- ily life says gays have gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provide gay cou- ples with “precious” support. It says the church must welcome divorced people and recognize the “positive” aspects of civil marriages and even Catholics who cohabit. Vatican spokes- man the Rev. Thomas Rosica says the bishops want to avoid words like “intrinsically disor- dered” or “living in sin. But amid an outcry from conservatives, organizers of the synod insisted Oct. 14 that the document was merely a working paper that would be amended.

LEBANON, INDIANA The late Ed Lantzer is shown in front of one of his murals in 2009. (Submitted by LaShelle VanHouten) Christian group singer killed in Indiana crash GRAND RAPIDS Police say a singer and pia- nist with a Christian musical group was killed when an RV he was driving crashed recent- -basedmuralsofhomelessman ly on a highway in Indiana. The Boone County Sheriff’s Department said 61-year- old Roy Bray, of Trenton, ondisplayatlocalcongregation Kentucky, was driving the RV carrying The Southmen Quartet when it went off I-65 he things people will do for Jesus. Standing before a mural showing Jesus about 2 a.m. Oct. 12 and into a They set up homeless shelters and Charlesarles at the Last Supper, Heinzelman recalled a wooded median near Lebanon, drug rehab centers for him. Take for- Honeyney young woman in Marquette staring at it for honeycharlesm@eycharlesm@ about 20 miles northwest of mer prostitutes into their nice sub- gmail.comail.com the longest time. Then, she wrapped her Indianapolis. T urban homes. Serve up casseroles arms around it and laid her cheek against The department said Bray in ’s Kitchen. Use vacation time Jesus’ cheek. was pronounced dead at the to build houses in Haiti. Walk the streets “Ed hopes people find answers in the scene, while 72-year-old singer of South Division offering prayers with space at 800 Monroe Ave. NW. They will panels,” said Heinzelman, a secretary at Jim Hefner, of Albertville, drunks and drug dealers. Risk their lives in be open to the public at least until the end Spectrum Health whose life was forever Alabama, was taken to a hos- Africa for Ebola sufferers. Ed Lantzer made of the year, from 6-9 p.m. on Mondays and changed by them. pital with non-life-threatening murals about him. Fridays beginning this week. They also will She surveyed the murals along with Paul injuries. Two other group Huge ones: 8 feet high, 12 feet wide, be featured in special Saturday-night events, Hresko, an Elk Rapids businessman and members on the RV weren’t weighing about 400 pounds. Each one made said Steve Fridsma, the church’s ArtPrize president of My Father’s Love, a founda- hurt. of thousands of diamond-shaped wooden curator. tion dedicated to supporting and exhibiting pieces less than a half -inch long. Thirty of Lantzer’s murals. Hresko traced hidden WASHINGTON those. ‘A LABOR OF LOVE’ words and symbols in Lantzer’s elaborate Sound like an ArtPrize entry? It could The church continually displays artwork murals, which the artist intended to awaken Next gay marriage fight: have been, except Lantzer, a troubled and that “speaks to the human condition” in a the viewers’ spiritual curiosity. religious exemptions often homeless man, died five years ago. spiritual way, or is “just plain beautiful,” “He wanted people to let the panels speak Alarmed by the broad Contest rules require a living artist. Yet Fridsma told me. Lantzer’s murals fill the to them and then fill in the blanks,” Hresko expansion of same-sex mar- Lantzer’s supporters, who have displayed bill. told me. “I believe he felt God was speaking riage set in motion by the his remarkable works from Marquette to “It was a tremendous effort, clearly a to them through these.” U.S. Supreme Court, religious Indiana, desperately wanted the people labor of love,” Fridsma said. Elsewhere, retired Grand Rapids Police conservatives are moving their of West Michigan to see them. They just The same could be said of Debra Lt. Ralph Mason helped mount panels with fight to state legislatures. needed a space — a really big space — and Heinzelman’s longtime efforts to get the volunteers who included ex-prisoners in They’re seeking exemp- someone willing to show them. murals shown in Grand Rapids. a re-entry program Mason created. He tions from providing service Monroe Community Church happened to She first saw them in an abandoned learned of Lantzer’s work after investigating or benefits for gay spouses for have such a space and such a willingness. schoolhouse in Kalkaska, where Lantzer the 2012 murder spree of Rodrick Dantzler, wedding vendors like bakers, Problem solved. grew up and later returned during a difficult who killed seven people. Dantzler’s friend florists and photographers and An ArtPrize venue since 2009, the life marked by divorce, the death of a child April Swanson, who alerted police, is Debra faith-affiliated groups that rent Christian Reformed congregation arranged and a haunted feeling of being unlovable. He Heinzelman’s daughter. their properties for wedding to mount Lantzer’s panels soon after put his pain into creating images of Jesus Mason saw redemption in the ex-inmates’ receptions. Exemptions also ArtPrize 2014 closed up shop. Church lead- and other biblical figures, using a craft labors and in Lantzer’s murals. are being sought for religious ers were prompted to do so after reading a called marquetry he had learned from his “His dedication to the Lord was just charitiesGrand that Rapids provide adoption Press 10/23/2014column I wrote in April, telling of Lantzer’sCopy Reducedcarpenter to %d%% father. from original to fit letterunquestionable,” page Mason said. “When you and other social services, and incredible creations and previously futile “It’s for the unloved child, of any age,” hear about this guy’s life, it’s just amazing for individual religious objec- efforts to display them here. Heinzelman said of Lantzer’s work, created to me.” tors such as of the Volunteers unloaded the panels last to tell people that God loves them no matter Like I said, the things people will do for peace and government clerks. Saturday into the church’s warehouse-style what. Jesus.

INTERFAITH INSIGHTS Abraham:fatherofthefaithforJews,ChristiansandMuslims

By Douglas Kindschi a great nation, Scripture foresaw God would flict? Is it just sibling rivalry or love and forgiveness. The differ- Director of the Kaufman Interfaith and I will bless justify the Gentiles by faith and are the three in fundamental dis- ences are apparent and can be Institute at GVSU you, and make announced the gospel in advance agreement? But we also note that the focus of our attention. But we udaism, and your name great, to Abraham: “All nations will be within each of the separate tra- also can choose to find what we JIslam are referred to as the so that you will blessed through you.” So those ditions there are divisions that have in common and seek har- Abrahamic . Each tradi- be a blessing.” who rely on faith are blessed can lead to violence. Whether mony, understanding and peace. tion sees Abraham as a pivotal (Genesis 13:2) along with Abraham, the man of it is Sunni vs. Shiite Muslims Here in West Michigan, we figure in its history. Kindschi For faith. (Galatians 3:6-9, NIV) or Catholics vs. Protestants in have an opportunity to seek that For Jews, Abraham is seen Christians, In , Abraham, called Northern Ireland, tensions with- mutual understanding in an as the one from whom all Jews Abraham is seen as the “father Ibrahim in the , is honored in can be as volatile as conflicts event sponsored by the Niagara are descended. Abraham is the of the faith” and is honored for for his obedience and submis- between religious communities. Foundation. The Abrahamic father of Isaac and grandfather his obedience. The Apostle Paul sion to Allah and is considered While one can find differences Dinner will be held at Grand of Jacob, who is renamed Israel expands the concept of being a one of the prophets. As one of the between and within these three Rapids’ Park Congregational and whose 12 sons represent descendent of Abraham when most frequently named people in Abrahamic traditions, there is Church tonight. Speakers rep- the tribes of Israel. Abraham he writes in his letter to the the Quran, Abraham is called a much in common, too. All three resenting the three Abrahamic is called by God to go into a Galatians: friend of God and an example for acknowledge God as the creator faiths will be featured. More new land and in a covenant is So also Abraham “believed all mankind. of the universe, believe that information and registration can declared to be the “father of God, and it was credited to him If all three religions call humans are created in the image be found at interfaithunderstand- multitudes.” In Genesis, the first as righteousness.” Understand, Abraham the father of the faith, of God, teach that we must be ing.org or by calling 616-331- book of the , God makes then, that those who have how is it that the three “children kind to the stranger and preach 5702. this promise: “I will make you faith are children of Abraham. of Abraham” are so often in con- humility and the importance of Email: [email protected]

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