Rosemary Radford Ruether
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Rosemary Radford Ruether Program Theme: ‘Celebrating Freedom, Humanity, & Unity’ Mistress of Ceremonies: Gayle Claiborne Keynote Speaker: Rosemary Radford Ruether - Congregational Song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Lead by Sasha Jones & Pianist Bryan Brown - Greeting Reverend Beth Bingham - Pilgrim Congregational Church - Responsive Reading A Litany from the words of Martin Luther King Jr., Led by Rev. Gary Lett - A Look Back Memories of the Movement - Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer - Musical Section Kingdom Bound of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, Pomona - Introduction of Keynote Speaker Sherie Rodgers - Vice President, MLK, Jr., Project - Musical Section The Licata Brothers of Arcadia - Keynote Message Rosemary Radford Ruether, Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology & Claremont Graduate Unv. - The Offering and Imam Jihad Turk, President of Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School Blessing over the Offering The Offering today supports the Youth Social Justice Award - Musical Section The Licata Brothers of Arcadia -Youth Social Justice Awards Princess Njuguna, 2009 Winner to Announce the 2015 Winners - Benediction Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer - Congregational / Recessional “We Shall Overcome” Led by Rev Gary Lett (Please Exit to the Reception Hall) - Reception The Reception is hosted by the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 1 Page Pomona Inland Valley Martin Luther King Jr. Project Members Board of Directors − Gayle Claiborne, President − Sherie Rodgers, Vice President − Dawn Weber, Incoming Treasurer − Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Outgoing Treasurer − Tonisha Rowan, Secretary Committee Members − Maggie Green − Rev. Gary Lett − National Council of Negro Women, Pomona Valley Section − Paula Lantz, Council member City of Pomona − Christina Carrizosa, Council member City of Pomona Area which is covered : Alta Loma, Ontario, Claremont, Diamond Bar, La Verne, Pomona, San Dimas, Walnut, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana and Upland. If you are interested in joining us in our labor of love in honoring the life and work of Dr. King, and in celebrating the young people in our communities please feel free to contact us. We are soliciting volunteers and will have open positions for the board of direc- tors. Gayle Claiborne, President (951) 218-7820 [email protected] Sherie Rodgers, Vice President (909) 261-0247 Pomona Inland Valley Martin Luther King, Jr. Project P.O. Box 1141 Pomona, CA 91769 www.pivmlk.org [email protected] 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 2 Page Pomona Inland Valley Martin Luther King Jr. Project Historical Roots The Pomona Inland Valley Martin Luther King, Jr. Project‘s Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and Youth Social Justice Awards was established in 1983. At the time, a civic-minded group of community leaders joined to form a group modeled after Dr. King‘s teachings of inclusion of all people in the political system. The first celebra- tion was held at the Masonic Hall on Third Street in Pomona. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s birthday was established as a national holiday in 1986. In 1994, the MLK Project promised to present awards to students who demonstrated, by their daily actions, that the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is alive. The awards are given to young people, ages 15-19 that have made a difference in their com- munities, neighborhoods, and schools. Over 120 students have been honored for their commitment to social justice. For the past 34 years the Pomona Inland Valley Martin Luther King, Jr. Project has worked to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The mission of the Project is to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and empower the commu- nity, families, and youth to promote social justice, unity, and outstanding service. Dr. King‘s teachings will last for generations to come. 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 3 Page Lift Every Voice and Sing Lead By Sasha Jones and Pianist Bryan Brown Lift every voice and sing, ‘till earth and heaven ring. Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song, full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song, full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on ‘till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died. Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet, Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. We have come treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered. Out from the gloomy past, ‘till now we stand at last. Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears. Thou who has brought us this far on the way. Thou who has by Thy might, led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee. Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee. Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand, True to our God, true to our native land. 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 4 Page A Litany from the Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Litany for Martin Luther King Day 2015 Leader: Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our procla- mations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war. People: One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal. Leader: We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. People: Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that. Leader: There are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted. People: We shall hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. All: The foundation of such a method is love. Arranged by Rev. Ellen Livingston from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 5 Page A Look Back Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907 - December 23, 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, wrote a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and mysticism and was active in the civil rights and anti-war movements. Rabbi Heschel met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, and they became close friends. Dr. King attended Rabbi Heschel’s Passover every year, and, in the aftermath of “Bloody Sunday,” Rabbi Heschel flew to Selma to join the march. Upon his return to New York, he declared, “My feet were praying!” When Dr. King was uncertain about “going public” with his opposition to the Vietnam War, it was Rabbi Heschel who advised him that, if he confined himself to overtly racial issues – important as those issues were – he would inevitably become marginalized. When Dr. King concluded his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington on August 28, 1963, by quoting Amos 5:24, he turned not to any of the “standard” translations, but to Rabbi Heschel’s, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream!” Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes A person cannot be religious and [be] indifferent to other human beings’ plight and suffering. The most basic way in which [humanity] may be divided is between those who believe that war is unnecessary and those who believe that war is inevitable; between those to whom the sword is the symbol of honor and those to whom seeking to convert swords into plowshares is the only way to keep our civilization from disaster. G*d is present wherever [people] are afflicted. In a free society, some are guilty; all are responsible. The opposite of good is not evil; it is indifference. Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. We are commanded to love our neighbor; this must mean that we can. In doing the finite we may perceive the infinite. Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin. Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. 33rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration & Youth Social Justice Awards 6 Page Keynote Speaker Rosemary Radford Ruether Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Graduate University Rosemary Radford was born in St. Paul Minnesota to a Roman Catholic mother and Episcopal father. She reportedly described her upbringing as free-thinking and humanistic as opposed to oppressive. She is mar- ried to Herman Ruether and they have three children. She received her BA from Scripps College and MA & PhD from Claremont Graduate School. With a host of Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters ranging from Xavier University, in Chicago, Illinois in 1983 to University of Uppsala, Sweden in 2000. She has had positions at Princeton, Harvard, and Yale & Howard over the years, just to name a few. Ruether has approximately 1100 speaking engagements at major universi- ties and church conventions, 1964-2014.