Invitation to Martin & Music – Sat., Feb 23rd 7:30pm

18 Feb Invitation to Martin & Music – Sat., Feb 23rd 7:30pm

Special Invitation to the Community from Rev Deborah L. Johnson

• Do you have a passion for peace, love, and justice?
• Do you want to be a part of the revolution of values that brings forth freedom and equality?
• Do you want your sacred activism to be grounded in spiritual principle and Universal Truths?
• Do you want to be soothed right where you are and inspired to be more?
• Do you want the young generations to know that they are a part of something so much larger than themselves?

If so, then Martin and Music is for you!

Although the historical context for this performance is rich and rewarding, this show is not about past history. Martin and Music is very much about today. With a laser clear prophetic vision Dr Martin Luther King Jr forewarned of the challenges that we are facing today. With lucid clarity and a boldness of heart, King articulates what we most need to know and understand in our modern world about creating the beloved community. He exposes our greatest hearts’ desires as a society and brilliantly maps out the rugged road to reconciliation, redemption, and fulfillment.

In my opinion, MLK Jr is still the man of the hour, one of the greatest English speaking orators of the 20^th century whose message is my continuous guiding light. His sermons and speeches inform my social justice work more than anything else, save my understanding of Jesus as a spiritual revolutionary. I read and listen to King speeches regularly as part of my spiritual practice to keep my eye on the prize of the Beloved Community in which we all live harmoniously with dignity and respect. His observations uplift and inspire me to my highest self. During the show, we get to bask in the profound eloquence and simple majesty of his insights as delivered by Gerald Rivers.

King’s life, like my own, is deeply entrenched in and enriched by the vibration of music, especially the hymns and spirituals of our ethnic and religious lineage, which blesses across cultures. This music of the soul will be brought to life during the show by the incomparable Broadway singer Charles Host. We will have a chance to not only listen to King but we will listen to what he was listening to; we will drink from the well. King Jr was surrounded by music. His wife, Coretta Scott who carried on his work, was an opera singer. His mother, Alberta Williams, the church organist, was gunned down in 1974 by a deranged gunman while playing the organ at Ebenezer Baptist Church where both King Jr and Sr pastored.

Martin and Music commemorates the annual “A Season for Nonviolence,” strategically celebrated between the assassination anniversaries of Gandhi January 30 and King Jr April 4.  King’s life was cut short at the age of 39 when he began to speak out against the Viet Nam War and the USA’s use of militarism to impose our political will and imperialize our economic interests around the globe at the expense of programs for empowerment. He repeatedly proclaimed that we need a fundamental change in our values, for a country that spends more on war than social upliftment is headed towards spiritual bankruptcy.

Born in 1929, MLK Jr was named Michael King at birth, after his father who changed both of their names to Martin Luther in 1934 after a trip to Germany where he was inspired by life of German theologian Martin Luther who initiated the Protesant Reformation. King Sr wanted King Jr to pick up the mantel for love, justice, equality, and direct connection with the Divine. The work has not been finished. The torch has been passed to us – the living. Will we keep the flame alive?

 Purchase tickets online: https://www.innerlightministries.com/charles-holt-martin-music