Martin Luther King, Jr. BIRTHDAY OBSERVANCE,

Rebirthing King, Rebirthing America

January 19, EVE OF INAUGURATION DAY, 2009,
All Souls Church, Washington DC

Full program and order of events

As people arrive, each will be given a candle, andinvited to stand in silent vigil in front of All Souls Church before enteringthe sanctuary in silence, led by Japanese Buddhist peace drummers.

Ringing of Church Bells: All Souls Church member

Coming Together

Summoning of the People According to the Traditions

Blowing of the Shofar:  Rabbi David Shneyer
Muslim Call to Prayer:  Mr. Irfan Shuttari
Buddhist Bell:  Ms. Annie Kelley
Unitarian Universalist Chalice-lighting:  Rev. Rob Harries & Rev. William Sinkford

Interfaith Children’s Choir

Welcome from hosts and organizers

Rev. Robert Hardies, All Souls Church, Unitarian
Rev. William Sinkford, Unitarian Universalist Association
Dr. Mark C. Johnson, Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership & Fellowship of Reconciliation

Welcome from the Traditions

Rev. Michael Kinnamon, National Council of Churches
Dr. Sayyid Syeed, Islamic Society ofNorth America
Ms. Sammie Moshenberg, National Council of Jewish Women
Ms. Mushim (Patricia) Ikeda-Nash,Vipassana Buddhist teacher

Four “Acts”:  The Three Evils & the Beloved Community

Ashes, Stones, & Flowers:

A Litany on Militarism, Racism, & Materialism in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Adapted from a Litany by Rev. Patricia Pearce, Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia.

Act I:  Racism

Addresses by speakers on this danger
Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Freeman Fellow, FOR
Ms. Samina Faheem Sundas, American Muslim Voice
Rev. Andrew Marin, author of Love is an Orientation  

Section I, Readers

ASHES:  Ms. Rima Vesely-Flad, Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry & Employment
STONES:  Monsignor Ray East, Office of Black Catholics, Archdiocese of Washington DC
FLOWERS:  Mr. David Adam Hart, Grow the Hope

For a nation that stood idle as its Black citizens were purged from voting lists and their homes were swept away by hurricanes,
We lift up the ashes of our remorse, O Forgiving One.

For abandoned inner cities in which the only living wage is the drug trade or prostitution and the only assurance of protection is thehandgun,
We lift up the ashes of our pain, O God.

For a nation that imprisons its citizens of color rather than educating them,
We lift up the ashes of our grief, O Freedom.

For a nation in which a death sentence is often determined by the color of the defendant’s skin,
We lift up the ashes of our shame, O Defender of Justice.

For our nation’s refusal to acknowledge the brutal history of the Middle Passage, of auction blocks, of brandings and burning crosses, of back country lynchings and inner city redlining,
We lift up the stones of our anger, O Karma-Bearer.

For a nation in which affirmative action is attacked but white privilege is protected,
We lift up the stones of our hardness, O Judge of All.

For a nation that sends racial minorities to its battlefields but bans them from its boardrooms,
We lift up the stones of our arrogance, O Reconciling One.

For a nation that uses immigrants to clean its houses and pick its harvests in exchange for poverty and daily fear of deportation,
We lift up the stones of our self-righteousness, O Merciful One.

For a country that has elected an African American who will sit in the Oval Office and whose family will live in a White House built by slaves,
We lift up the flower of our hope, O Great Spirit.

For the ability of the human heart to repent when it recognizes itself in another,
We lift up the flower of our compassion, O Forgiving One.

For the brave warriors of justice who sat at lunch counters, faced police dogs and fire hoses, and risked their lives to set freedom free,
We lift up the flower of our strength, O Great Liberator.

For the fierce vision of our oneness that refuses to let us go,
We lift up the flower of our resolve, O Boundless Love.

Interlude:  Festival Choir of All Souls Church

Act II.  Militarism

Addresses by speakers on this danger
Ms. Celeste Zappala, Military Families Speak Out
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus
Mr. Nihad Awad, Council on American Islamic Relations

Section II, Readers

ASHES:  Mr. Mubarak Awad, Nonviolence International
STONES:  Ms. Rabia Harris, Muslim Peace Fellowship
FLOWERS:  Dr. Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research &Education Institute

For every vibrant life and hope-filled dream, annihilated by war and dismissed as necessary collateral damage, 
We lift up the ashes of our pain, O God.

For the millions who hunger and suffer sickness because bombs are more lucrative and deemed more important,
We lift up the ashes of our remorse, O Merciful One.

For each haunted mind and broken body that war has devastated,
We lift up the ashes of our grief, O Caring One.

For the wounded soldiers and disabled veterans injured by weapons of death,
We lift up the ashes of our shame, O Healing One.

For homes reduced to rubble and all homeless people,
We lift up the stones of our anger, O Refuge of All.

For our thirst for revenge and our captivity to a narrative of violence,
We lift up the stones of our hardness, O Justice-Maker

For a nation in which money is plentiful for warfare but scarce for health care,
We lift up the stones of our arrogance, O Humbler of the Mighty.

For hiding the truth of our vulnerability behind a bravado of military might,
We lift up the stones of our fear, O Ground of Courage.

For the truth that war is an endless, escalating cycle and that the future of humanity demands peace,
We lift up the flower of our hope, O Breath of Life.

For the capacity within the human spirit to imagine another’s grief as our own,
We lift up the flower of our compassion, O Heart That Binds Us.

For the witnesses for peace who stare down tanks and stand before bulldozers to awaken us to the world that could be,
We lift up the flower of our resolve, O Strength of Resistance.

For the billions of people on earth who imagine and work for a just world and join hands to prepare the way of peace,

We lift up the flower of our strength, O Force of Life.

Interlude: Singing led by Ysaye Barnwell

Act III.  Materialism/Poverty

Addresses by speakers on this danger
Ms. Marie Dennis, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns & Pax Christi
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Network of Spiritual Progressives
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center

Section III, Readers

ASHES:  Rev. Bob Edgar, Common Cause
STONES:  Mr. Alexander Patico, Orthodox Peace Fellowship
FLOWERS:  Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Chautauqua Institute

For clearcut forests, poisoned rivers, scarred hillsides, and melting icecaps sacrificed to the gods of profit and progress.
We lift up the ashes of our pain, O Nurturing One.

For a nation that gives billions to welfare for corporations and pennies to welfare for people.
We lift up the ashes of our remorse, O Generous One.

For a nation that builds prisons for profit and makes medical research a stock option,
We lift up the ashes of our grief, O Healing One.

For impoverished neighborhoods that are the dumping grounds for our toxic refuse,
We lift up the ashes of our shame, O Truth.

For a nation that pays the average CEO 400 times what it pays the average worker,
We lift up the stones of our anger, O Righteous One.

For a nation of unrivaled wealth unwilling to require a living wage,
We lift up the stones of our greed, O Protector of the Poor.

For a nation’s standard of living that would require seven planets for all the world to live as we do,
We lift up the stones of our arrogance, O Force of Life.

For a nation that offers bootstraps to the impoverished and bailouts to the wealthy,
We lift up the stones of our hypocrisy, O Justice-Maker.

For new visions of trade that is fair, of jobs that are green, and of energy that is clean,
We lift up the flower of our hope, O Emerging One.

For the growing awareness that we must join together to save the environment that sustains our lives,
We lift up the flower of our compassion, O Source of Life.

For grassroots globalization that is turning back the corporate plunder of the Earth,
We lift up the flower of our strength, O Merciful One.

For the growing commitment to a spiritual maturity that is attained through material simplicity,
We lift up the flower of our resolve, O Great Spirit.

Interlude: Singing led by Ysaye Barnwell

Act IV:  The Beloved Community  

Reclaiming the sacred vision of the Beloved Community inspired in Dr. King.

Addresses by speakers on the Beloved Community
Rev. Rita Nakashima Brock, Faith Voices for the Common Good
Mr. T.J. Liggett Creel & Ms. Peggy Liggett, Shiloh Baptist Church
Ms. Bonita McGee, Islamic Social Services Association
Rev. Jim Forbes, Healing of the Nations Foundation & The Riverside Church
Dr. Vincent Harding, Veterans of HopeProject

THE COVENANTAL PLEDGE:
Common recitation & signing of the Covenantal Pledge

REBIRTHING KING, RE-INAUGURATING AMERICA:
A COVENANTAL PLEDGE ON JANUARY 19-20, 2009

On this rebirthing day, January 19, 2009, the national observance of Martin Luther King's Birthday, & on the eve of a new government coming into office to represent the American people, I join in covenant with other Americans

I commit myself togive a new birth in America and in the world to the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, to call ourselves and every nation to develop, now, an overriding loyalty to humankind as a whole, in order to preserve the best in our individual societies

I commit myself to work toward a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond any tribe, race, class, or nation; to call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all humanity and for the web of life upon our planet;

I commit myself to fuse power with compassion, might with morality, and strength with sight; to choose nonviolent coexistence rather than violent co-annihilation; to speak for peace and justice throughout the world — within and beyond our doors and shores.

I commit myself totake specific action by:  [Spoken simultaneously or held in silent personal reflection]

Recessional: Redistribution of candles, as people exit the church for a brief concluding Candlelight Vigil outside.

Return to the church’s Pierce Hall for:  Refreshment & Fellowship, meeting our neighbors. Forty peace, social justice, and faith-based organizations will have tables with representatives to meet, discoveries and connections to be made.

Contact:
Mark C. Johnson, mjohnson@forusa.org
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, awaskow@shalomctr.org