Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be the keynote speaker Jan. 17 at the annual Martin Luther King Day observance organized by the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, as Episcopalians prepare to join citizens around the United States in remembering the civil rights icon on the holiday that bears his name.
Events at the King Center
The King Center, founded by King’s family after his 1968 assassination, has scheduled a week’s worth of activities to commemorate King’s birthday and celebrate his legacy. All of the events will be accessible online, as will the Beloved Community Commemorative Service from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Time on January 17. Curry will be among the limited number of participants speaking at that event in person. Others include Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
“We often ask ourselves how the life and legacy of people like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. remain relevant in our current moment, and it would be difficult to overstate how much we need King’s prophetic witness right now,” Curry said in a written statement to Episcopal News Service. “From his tireless advocacy for the right of all Americans to vote, to his model of faith animating nonviolent work for justice, King calls us to continue his work — and to truly labor for the realization of God’s Beloved Community.”
King was born 93 years ago on January 15, 1929. As a Baptist preacher in Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, he was the leading voice and icon of the civil rights movement in the late 1950s and 1960s, and in the last years of his life, he also spoke against economic injustice and the Vietnam War. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, during a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, to support city sanitation workers who were striking for better pay and working conditions.
Other events remembering Martin Luther King around the Episcopal Church
As in past years, dioceses and congregations across The Episcopal Church are organizing, hosting and participating in a variety of worship services and other public events honoring the civil rights leader.
King preached his final Sunday sermon four days before his death at Washington National Cathedral. This year, the cathedral will celebrate King’s life at Holy Eucharist at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Jan. 16, with a sermon by Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Prayer Breakfast. It will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. In addition, the cathedral will host a service for students of its three Episcopal schools at 9 a.m. on January 18 featuring King’s 13-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King.
On January 15, a luncheon honoring King will be sponsored by the Union of Black Episcopalians chapter in Jacksonville, Florida, and hosted by St. John’s Cathedral. Civil rights activist Rodney Hurst Sr. is the featured speaker.
The Diocese of Los Angeles will hold an online service honoring King at 4 p.m. Pacific Jan. 15. Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor will be the celebrant, and Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson will preach. It will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Episcopal diocese has partnered with the local synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to organize an ecumenical tribute to King. It will be held at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on January 16 at Pittsburgh’s Berkley Hills Lutheran Church. The service will include in-person attendance and will be livestreamed.
The Diocese of Arizona is promoting “Let Justice Roll,” a celebration of King’s life and vision, at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Chandler. The event at 5 p.m. Mountain time January 16 will feature music and readings from King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (PDF).
Also in Atlanta, All Saints’ Episcopal Church will welcome guest preacher Luther Smith, a retired professor of church and community from Emory University at its worship services on January 16. Afterward, a group will embark on a pilgrimage to the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, which includes King’s birth home.
To begin the January 17 holiday, St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and Union United Methodist Church in Boston, Massachusetts, will host their 52nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast. Annette Gordon-Reed, a historian and Harvard Law School professor, will speak at the 9 a.m. Eastern time event. It will be held online, with registration in advance.
New York Bishop Andrew Dietsche will preside at an online service at 10 a.m. Eastern time on January 17 as part of a Martin Luther King Day celebration in the Bronx. The Rev. Robert Jemonde Taylor from Raleigh, North Carolina, will preach, and donations will be collected for the MLK Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Diocese of Georgia, led by St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Savanna, will participate in that city’s Martin Luther King Day Parade on January 17, followed by a short worship service at the church.
The Maine Council of Churches, of which the Diocese of Maine is a member, is offering an online event at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time January 17 called “Committed to Listen” that will include a reading of King’s National Cathedral sermon, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” Those wishing to participate should register on this page.
The dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania are organizing a five-hour prayer vigil on the King holiday titled “Embodied Peacemaking,” to be held online from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern time.
“In 1963, Dr. King specifically addressed the apathy of white Christians and why African Americans could no longer wait for justice,” Gabrie’l Atchison, administration missioner for the two-diocese partnership, said in a news release. “Now, many decades later and one year after the death of George Floyd, what steps do we need to take as leaders of the Christian church to become the Beloved Community that Dr. King called us to be?”
The King holiday also is celebrated across the country as a day of service, designated by Congress and coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Some churches have service projects planned to coincide with the holiday. St. James’ Episcopal Church in Mount Vernon, Virginia, is organizing a canned food drive. All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, will provide a meal and activities for seniors. And in Fayetteville, Arkansas, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church invites people to meet in the afternoon to participate in projects that support Black-led organizations in the community.
—David Paulsen is an editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
Church of the Redeemer
Welcome to Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.
Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.
The Episcopal Church welcomes you.
