Celebration of the Life of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Looks at Moving Forward

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R Scott James - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Celebration of the Life of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Looks at Moving Forward

By Tia Carol Jones

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), McCormick Theological Seminary (MTS) and Catholic Theological Union (CTU) are sponsoring a celebration of the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15th, on the campus of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, located 5416 S. Cornell Avenue, 4th floor.

The event will be hybrid and feature a praise service with an Ecumenical Choir, as well as a panel discussion with the Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger, Senior Pastor St. Sabina Church; the Rev. Dr. Maisha Handy, newly appointed President of McCormick Theological Seminary; Dr. Syed Atif Rizwan, Assistant Professor and Director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program at Catholic Theological Union; and Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Texas. The theme of the celebration is “What Now America? What Now?”

Marvis Hardy, MDiv, STM Program Coordinator for the Dr. Albert "Pete" Pero and Dr. Cheryl Stewart Pero Center for Intersectionality at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, said the theme of the celebration reflects the implementation of new policies and legislation from the new presidential administration.

“We knew that we needed to have some type of strategy, some type of plan to survive the next four years. We thought we would bring together some scholars, some people who have been working in different political areas to provide some insight, some ideas, some thoughts and to come up with strategies about how we can move forward over the next four years,” she said.

Hardy said this year is the sixth year the Lutheran School of Theology of Chicago has hosted the event. Each year, it has a different topic, with the aim to respond to the topic in a manner that Dr. King would have responded to it or addressed it. Hardy said the celebration is a way to keep Dr. King’s memory alive and keep his work very prevalent and relevant in today’s society. She said the messages and speeches that he gave are just as applicable today as they were when he gave them.

“We’re very excited. We think we have a great program,” Hardy said.

Hardy said the speakers for the panel were chosen based on diversity and their experience with strategizing and planning. She said finding ways to keep moving forward in the midst of MAGA and Trumpism will be essential. She added, that the goal of the celebration is to give people ideas and hope that it is possible to get through this time together, and there are strategies, methodologies and plans that can be used to help do that.

Father Pfleger said he wanted to participate in the panel discussion during the celebration because it is important to have discussions about how the faith community can lead through the next four years. He said he believes going forward in the next four years that the faith community is going to have to become a much more vocal, aggressive and a stronger voice in this country. He said, personally, he thinks the faith community has failed and been way too silent. He said the faith community has to become a moral conscious to the country.

When it comes to the legacy of Dr. King, Father Pfleger said King gave people a blueprint of what the church should be doing in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He said the faith community needs to pick it up and put it into practice.

A lot of churches have pictures of Dr. King hanging up, but don’t implement the courage and, I think, the prophetic voice that he was for justice. If you’re going to hang his picture, then grab hold of his blueprint,” he said.

To register for the event, visit https://lstc.edu/event/mlk-25/.

The Lutheran School of Theology of Chicago will also host a Black History Month celebration in February. Details are forthcoming for speakers for that event, which they have hosted for 10 years.


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