Essay contest winner to be named at Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Prayer Breakfast
FaithBridge is pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest is a student from Richard Bernotas Middle School in Crystal Lake Elementary District 47.
This year's topic is "How do you bring about peace in the midst of challenge and controversy?" It is based on the quote, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at time of challenge and controversy."
The purpose of the contest is to encourage participation and reflection from young people. The success of last year's contest encouraged FaithBridge to include in the program for the 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Prayer Breakfast.
This year it was extended to other middle schools in the county. There is no religions component to the essay at all, as this event does not promote any one religion.
Members of FaithBridge's board judge the essays, and the winner is invited to read his/her essay at the breakfast. This year's winner will be honored and receive a monetary award and read their essay at the MLK Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Day.
The breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at D'Andrea Banquets, 4419 Route 14 in Crystal Lake. The theme for this year's event is "Peace in the Midst of Challenge and Controversy." Ernest Andrew Brooks III is a multi-faceted and engaging professional is keynote speaker. His topic will be "Trouble in the WorldHouse: Progressive Responses to Persistent Problems."
The program will include a call to prayer, plus a group prayer with participants from a variety of local faith traditions including Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and New Thought. There also will be the reading of the winning essay, plus music and chants with Lia Nicine McCoo.
Brooks' career has included engagements with both national nonprofit and for-profit organizations, faith-based community institutions, governmental entities, and higher education institutions. Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he is working at the intersections of philosophy, theology and ethics.
Most recently, Ernest served as assistant dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. In this role, he served as project director of an interdisciplinary program for the theological and intellectual exploration of vocation funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., and as co-principal investigator for a research project funded by the Fetzer Institute to develop a model curriculum addressing issues of love, forgiveness and spirituality in African-American male identity. Ernest earned a bachelor of arts degree from Morehouse College, a master of divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School and completed advanced graduate course work in nonprofit and philanthropic management at Duke University's Terry Sanford School of Public Policy.
FaithBridge is a consortium of faith-based communities in McHenry and Lake counties and the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.
FaithBridge seeks to promote mutual understanding and respectful relationships among diverse religious communities; to develop interfaith communication, understanding, cooperation, spiritual practice and action; to foster a network of community religious leaders; to create opportunities for inter-religious learning, fellowship and dialogue; and to nurture a culture of justice, peace, and healing among all religious communities.
Toward these ends, FaithBridge sponsors a yearly Thanksgiving Program Giving Thanks, Sharing the Blessing, a yearly prayer breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a two-year course of study in interfaith relations, and other one-time events.
The founding organizations that created Faithbridge in 2007 are: Hindu Mandir of Lake County, First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake, Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple of Woodstock, Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, McHenry County Jewish Congregation, St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Barrington, Presbyterian Church of Barrington, Center for Spiritual Evolution in Cary, Community Church of Barrington, American Muslim Community Organization, and the Department of Mission and Spiritual Care of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.
For details, visit www.faithbridgeinterfaith.org. Follow "Faithbridge Illinois" on Facebook.