The Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference will present the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Interfaith Service at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, at Community Christian Church, 4601 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri. Co-chairs for this service are Rev. Robert Lee Hill, community consultant, minister emeritus — Community Christian Church, and Judy Hellman, Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee.
Jewish musicians from the Greater Kansas City area and Lawrence — Hazzan Tahl Ben-Yehuda, Rachel Black, Anna Jaffee, Linda Salvay and Lara Steinel — will be among the performers. Tim Whitmer, Millie Edwards, Ah’Lee Robinson, and the Kansas City Boys Choir/Kansas City Girls Choir will also be featured.
The keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr., pastor, theologian, speaker, author and activist. Moss is well known for his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and his friendship with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Martin Luther King Sr. He is also the father of Otis Moss, III, the current pastor of the famous Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The 2018 Evelyn Wasserstrom Award will be presented to Melissa Robinson, executive director of Black Health Care Coalition.
All are invited to join in the community’s Interfaith Service at no charge.
“I am very proud this tradition of the Kansas City Jewish community co-sponsoring a celebration of the civil rights movement started decades ago and continues in 2018,” said Marvin Szneler, JCRB|AJC executive director.
The theme for the 2018 MLK Week celebration is “Celebrating Successes: Advancing the Movement.” The Interfaith program will begin a weeklong commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and legacy. For a complete schedule, visit www.sclcgkc.org/events.
