Make a life shift, 500 at Good Friday event told

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

youngstown

Pastor Julius T. Davis urged a “paradigm shift” to the approximately 500 people at the annual Good Friday breakfast and service in the downtown YMCA.

The pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Girard for 30 years asked the audience to open up to a “new way of thinking” on the day that the Christian savior experienced betrayal, arrest, denial, judgment, brutal beating, mocking and death on the cross.

Pastor Davis said Jesus didn’t think of himself as he was dying on the cross, but asked ... “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Jesus prayed for those who had used him so badly, the minister said, and asked the audience if they could do the same.

“We can intercede for others through prayer,” he said, just as Jesus prayed for mankind as a whole and Peter in particular.

Pastor Davis said when Jesus wondered why God had forsaken him, it was for a purpose. “He was separated from God, so we would not be,” he said. The pastor said when Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit’’ (Luke 23:46), he returned to “intimacy and fellowship” with the father.

Pastor Davis commented that “people don’t understand the enormity of sin.” He said he himself thought he was living a “righteous” life ... as a “good guy, husband and father." But he pointed out, being so satisfied with the circumstances was “defiling” it.

“We have an opportunity every day to have God in our lives,” he said. And we should be “thanking God for Jesus .... who he is and what he has done.”

The “paradigm shift,” Pastor Davis said, is to take responsibility for actions and not blame others. He mentioned Jimmy Buffett’s song, “Wasting Away in Margaritaville,” in which the singer acknowledges his woes are his own fault.

“The first step on the road to recovery is taking responsibility,” he said.

The shift also should take the form of “praying for one another,” he advised. “The power of prayer is the way to intercede for one another.”

Master of ceremonies was Michael Shaffer, Central Branch YMCA director. Max Pivik of Trinity United Methodist Church led the singing of “God Bless America” and also sang “The Call” and “The Holy City.”

Prayer was offered by Gordon Gibson of the Y’s spiritual-life committee.

The program at the Central Y on Champion Street concluded with remarks by Timothy Hilk, the Y’s chief executive officer.