HONORING MARTIN LUTHER KING IN SONG
If Heaven is like last night, I want to go. If church was always like last night, more people would be in church. The excitement was electric.
It all started when three ladies got together in Wheatland, Calif., and had lunch one Sunday, in November of 2013: a traditional Mormon lady, a progressive Episcopalian, and me, WFWP Wheatland chairwoman and a Unificationist. We were of one mind that we should work together to realize the choir festival idea that had been percolating in my mind for several years.
An interdenominational choral festival in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the small town of Wheatland. The inaugural event brought together diverse groups of Christians and Women's Federation for World Peace peacemakers.
In a striking contrast to the traditional-style hymns sung by a massed choir and later by the Wheatland Ward singers, the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church (Olivehurst) rocked the chapel with gospel music, swaying, clapping, and improvising with Pentecostal fervor.
Guest speaker Rev. Dr. Carl Dorn from Mt. Olivet then spoke to the gathered crowd and declared that it's time to stop circling the mountain; it's time to start moving forward. To a chorus of amens, mostly from his own congregation, Pastor Dorn gradually increased both his volume and level of animation while declaring that we believers may do things differently, but so what? His church likes to clap and sway and say, "Amen," the Mormon Church doesn't, but so what? We're all God's children. Before long, most of the crowd, including the normally restrained Latter Day Saints and Episcopalians, were shouting, "Amen."
To thank the Mormon bishop and his Ward for their gracious hospitality, the Grace Singers, an a capella quartet from Grace Episcopal (Wheatland), performed the 19th-century anthem, "Come, Come Ye Saints," written by early Mormons on their trek to Utah. Soprano Amanda Johnson sang the first verse, the quartet joined in with harmonies on the second; then "flash mob" style, the entire Wheatland Ward choir rose in their pews and joined in the final two verses. Later Bishop Capps tearfully choked on his words as he attempted to express gratitude for this gesture.
Under the inspired and capable direction of Jim Achilles, the massed choir sang the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." The final congregational number was appropriately, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again," by special request of the Bishop.
Something special happens when we step outside our comfort zone, when we visit an unfamiliar place that is not our own, when white people sing black people's music, or non-Mormons sing Mormon music, when women and men partner in song. When such cultural appropriation is accompanied by acceptance, appreciation, friendship, and goodwill, magic happens. We grow our hearts; we stop circling the mountain of small-mindedness and we move forward into that Promised Land where we all just get along.
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy inspires us all to go beyond our comfort zone and walk in another's shoes, leading to understanding and compassion. As we members of Women's Federation for World Peace enter this year 2014, the year of Spirit and Sparkle, let us continue this initiative of women working together with each other in each other's shoes and uplift each other to go forward together.