Religious Offerings: 5/5

5/5/2018
BLADE STAFF
The Clarence Smith Community Chorus, performs during the Toledo Opera's 'I Dream' kick-off event at the ProMedica Steam Plant in January. The Clarence Smith Community Chorus performs at Epiphany Lutheran Church.
The Clarence Smith Community Chorus, performs during the Toledo Opera's 'I Dream' kick-off event at the ProMedica Steam Plant in January. The Clarence Smith Community Chorus performs at Epiphany Lutheran Church.

Mother’s Day concert

Epiphany Lutheran Church hosts the Clarence Smith Community Chorus in a spring concert at 6 p.m. May 12. They will sing Mother’s Day’s selections in solos, duets, and ensembles.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $11 for students and seniors at the door; there is a $2 discount on tickets purchased online in advance through cscchorus.com.

The Clarence Smith Community Chorus specializes in spirituals and is dedicated to the preservation of this genre and the performance of works by African-American composers, according to its website. They have performed with the Toledo Symphony and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, among other music organizations in the area.

Epiphany Lutheran Church is at 915 N. Reynolds Rd,. For more information, go to cscchorus.com or call 419-283-1434 or 419-243-1958.

‘ReZist’

First Unitarian Church of Toledo hosts Roy Zimmerman, a political songwriter and satirist, in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday. “ReZist” features “funny songs about peace and justice,” including takes on topics such as racism, gun violence, climate change, and income inequality.

Mr. Zimmerman has been performing for more than 20 years. His songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime, and he has shared stages with Bill Maher, Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Williams, Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, John Oliver, and more.

Admission is $20 or “what you can pay”; no one will be turned away. First Unitarian is at 3205 Glendale Ave. For more information on Mr. Zimmerman, go to royzimmerman.com.

Humanists organize

The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie are organizing as a new group that “values people, emphasizes reason, and focuses on this world.” SHoWLE holds an organizational meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Washington Branch Library, 5560 Harvest Lane.

Humanism calls for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities, according to SHoWLE. It is not theistic and does not accept supernatural views of reality.

SHoWLE’s purpose is to educate the public about humanists and to build a humanist community in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Organizers intend to hold regular monthly meetings and to become a chapter of the American Humanist Association; membership is open to humanists in substantial agreement with the group’s principles.

“According to recent polling, people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, when asked about their religious preferences, make up about 20 percent of the population,” SHoWLE founder Douglas Berger said in a statement. “There really isn't a community in the Toledo area for those of us considered ‘nones’ while you can’t take two steps without tripping over some kind of church. That's the void we would like to fill.”

For more information, go to humanistswle.org.