On a snowy Sunday evening, Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton paid tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy with prayer, poems, sermons, and songs. The multifaith celebration brought religious leaders, residents, and students together to reflect.
Rabbi Josh Franklin of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons led the opening prayer. “We remember the march from Selma, where clergy from many backgrounds walked side by side. We remember so many faith leaders who know prayer without action is not devotion. We acknowledge with honesty that the ties which once bound faith communities together have indeed frayed. We know that racism anywhere, antisemitism anywhere, makes us more tolerant of hatred everywhere. We pray not for comfort, but for courage. May every single day be a day that we stand together against the poison that degrades our common life.”
The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Shambaugh of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church preached about the “good stuff.”
“Renunciation of evil and acceptance of the love of God is the good stuff, the Renee Nicole Good stuff. It’s a tragedy that it took the murder of a white woman from the suburbs to experience and understand what people of color and other faiths have experienced again and again and again for a long time. I want to stand before you today and apologize. Sometimes in this world today it’s hard to see beloved community. We’re here to celebrate M.L.K. and we have come together. This is the beloved community. This is a community of people of character, of hope, of good stuff, of Renee Good stuff.”
Piper Borsack, an East Hampton High School sophomore, shared a poem so beautiful she could easily be considered the town’s poet laureate. It read, in part:
Today they tell us to remember a dream
But no one really explains how heavy it is to carry one.
M.L.K. Jr. spoke like hope was a language;
He was loud in the way oceans are loud.
Because his dream was never a metaphor,
It was a demand.
One that asked us to show up even when it’s uncomfortable.
The dream is not behind us. It is staring us straight in the face,
Asking over and over again: “What are you going to do with me?”
Maya Tavares, a high school senior and one of the church’s King
scholarship winners, read at the ceremony for a third time, sharing her poetic thoughts on the day:
The first time, I had so much to say.
This time, for the third time, I still believe in the inevitable change that continues to call.
This time, I stand before you pleading for lasting change.
I don’t question that one person can make a difference.
Showing up, speaking out, utilizing the power of silence
This time I plead for the courage of the people of our nation and beyond to fight for the dream.
Finally, the Rev. Trevon Fergerson, who was installed as the pastor of Cavalry Baptist in November, read the Bible story of Joseph’s coat of colors from the book of Genesis.
He delivered a message on the cost of dreaming.
“Has anyone here ever had a dream? Not just a passing thought but a God-sized dream? I’ve come to encourage each and every one of you tonight, no matter the cost, never stop dreaming.”
“Whatever you do, don’t allow people, places, or things to derail the dream that God has placed inside of you. In times like these dreaming becomes even more necessary. . . . The dream did not die with Dr. King, but it was passed to each and every one of us here tonight. The dream is not Democrat or Republican. It is not black or white or Hispanic. It is not Jew or gentile. The dream is still love. . . . The dream is rooted in your voice, your actions. . . . Make a commitment to continue to fight for equality, for love, for community. That is the dream.”
