Religious leaders come together in Arlington Heights to celebrate MLK's legacy
The sanctuary at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights had never rocked as loudly as it did Wednesday night, when a gospel choir from the Austin neighborhood of Chicago opened a remembrance service for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The choir from Mars Hill Church opened with "We Start Again" and ultimately brought the nearly 250 people in the audience to their feet for the closing anthem "We Shall Overcome."
The music gave voice to the sentiment expressed during the one-hour service about the life and legacy of King, and the strategy going forward.
"We've got our work cut out for us," said the Rev. Clyde Brooks, a Baptist minister who chairs the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations. Back in the 1960s, Brooks worked with King as a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"The forces that Dr. King worked for - unity, community and equality - are more polarized than ever," Brooks said. "This is a historical moment that we're trying to do this, bring people together and educate them."
The Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations hosted the event, drawing more than one dozen faith leaders to take part, including Lutheran and Methodist ministers as well as Catholic clergy and a Jewish rabbi.
"We gather across time and space tonight to remember Dr. King's dream and recommit ourselves to his vision, acknowledging how much further we need to go," said the Rev. Pete Warmanen, pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church.
The Rev. Charisse Jensen, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Barrington, called for peace, while the Rev. Darneather Murph-Heath of the Elgin District of Northern Illinois Conference of United Methodist Churches renewed a call for justice.
"We have to be justice-minded people," Murph-Heath said in a passionate address.
The Rev. Seth Moland-Kovash, pastor of All Saints Lutheran Church in Palatine, called for unity and diversity as he echoed passages from King's last speech, which was delivered April 3, 1968, in Memphis.
"You really have to believe in the dream, believe in the mountaintop," Moland-Kovash said, "that one day we will all be united together."
But it was Brooks who brought home the message of the evening with an address describing "where we go from here." He encouraged those gathered to not be complacent, but to actively work against hate and racism.
"Look in your own backyard," Brooks said. "Too many times we talk about what's going on in Mississippi and Georgia. Let's talk about what's happening right here, in the Northwest suburbs."