There is really only one topic of relevance for this week and that is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is Monday, as we write, and most of the country is on holiday. Not at the newspaper, we are here putting out the Jan. 20 issue.
On Sunday, Jan. 16 Christ Church held a celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. The combined choirs of Christ Church and Hood A.M.E. Zion Church sang Rockin’ Jerusalem which the Hood Church Choir sang at their Christmas service. It is mentioned in the photo spread this week in the Enterprise Pilot. It is a marvelous gospel song.
The entire congregation sang We Shall Overcome, and at the potluck luncheon afterwards in the Parish Hall we spoke of it. Christ Church Vestry member Frank Rinck said, “I teared up when we sang We Shall Overcome. It brought me back to the 1960s – and I was overcome. I remembered the second inauguration of President Nixon, I was there on a school bus. Written on the side was “The Attica Brigade,” if you remember the prison riot at that time.”
“It took long enough, but at least we got rid of segregation,” said Dr. Susan Peterson, “We made progress, but there is still more to do.”
One could say that when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and say “With Liberty and justice for all” – that it is a goal we continue to strive for, and a blessing in itself that we know where we want to go.
You could say, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We have a dream…”
The luncheon itself was reaching for that goal. The food was prepared by the members of the Hispanic Cultural Society (CCH); and the fried chicken was prepared by the Hood A.M.E. Zion congregation; the Interrreligous & Human Needs Council paid the grocery bill and the ladies of Christ Church provided the dessert table.
“The Christ Church ladies were in charge of the desserts. There were so many desserts and they were delicious,” said parishioner Renee Warren. There were chocolate cakes; brownies, cookies, and a chocolate chip loaf cake and more. “The Hispanic ladies made empañadas, rice with chicken, refried beans and tacos too; it was really good,” she added.
Dave Asher said, “We should do this more often with the entire interrreligious community. There is so much more power when one aids the other.”
It was a lovely event. We will share pictures of the luncheon in a future edition of the Enterprise Pilot. It is easy to see why Oyster Bay is such a great place to live.
– DFK
