Celebration Will Honor Martin Luther King’s Legacy

An interfaith celebration to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Sunday will feature prayer, multicultural music, a high school skit on race relations and an address by Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills.

Jacobs, a longtime civil rights activist who has traveled with the Rev. Jesse Jackson to places ranging from Kosovo to Florida, said he will speak on the still-pressing need to realize King’s dream of genuine voting rights for all. Touring Florida with Jackson during the battle over vote counting in the presidential election, the rabbi said, the two met with Haitians, elderly Jews, African Americans and others who expressed “apprehension and anger” over being disenfranchised.

“We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the one hand, but there’s still a tremendous challenge for fairness in America,” Jacobs said.

The event is sponsored by the Long Beach Ministerial Alliance, Long Beach Interfaith Clergy Assn. and South Coast Ecumenical Council. It will begin at 3 p.m. at Gospel Memorial Church of God in Christ, 1480 Atlantic Ave. in Long Beach. (562) 595-0268.

PERFORMANCE

More than 200 musicians from the Azusa Pacific Symphony Orchestra and Lake Avenue Church Sanctuary Choir will perform the Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 and other music at an orchestra festival Sunday at 4 p.m. at Lake Avenue Church, 393 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. A $5 donation is suggested (626) 844-4721.

* “The Carpenter,” a musical performance on the life and death of Jesus Christ featuring gospel, jazz and Latin rhythms, will be held Jan. 20 from 6:30 p.m. at St. Eugene Church, 9505 Haas Ave. in Los Angeles. Admission is free. (323) 757-3121.

* The Renaissance Service, a worship style using poetry, literature, music and other arts as a window to the divine, will begin its winter series Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at First Lutheran Church of Venice, 815 Venice Blvd. (310) 821-2740.

EVENTS

The South Bay Jewish community will celebrate “Mitzvah Day 2001” Sunday with visits to the sick, fixing of boats, creation of puppets for sick children and care packages for abused women, planting of trees and other good deeds. The event reflects the biblical commandment of Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world. Brunch for preregistrants will begin at 10 a.m. and activities, open to everyone, will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Redondo Beach and Marina Hotel, 300 N. Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach. (310) 375-8815.

* The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization will offer a workshop on meditation Jan. 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Topics will include the power of thoughts, the law of karma, reincarnation, and how to use meditation to reduce stress and calm the mind. Call for location. (323) 933-2808.

* An information session on a three-day Christian retreat known as the Walk to Emmaus will be held for Southland clergy today from 8 a.m. to noon at Trinity United Methodist Church, 676 N. Gibbs St. in Pomona. More than 1 million people in 500 Emmaus communities worldwide have experienced the ecumenical retreat, which is aimed at re-energizing and refocusing Christians. (714) 996-7040.

* Jungian analyst Elizabeth Strahan will facilitate a session on “The Black Madonna: A Worldwide Image of Healing” Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Unity of Tustin Campus, 14402 S. Prospect Ave. in Tustin. Images of black madonnas have been found near archeological sites identified with pre-Christian female divinity. (714) 730-3486.

* Rabbi Lawrence Kirshner of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute in New York will present a weekend program beginning Friday on “Rediscovering the Mystical God” to explore how to relate Jewish mysticism to daily life. The Shabbat service at 8 p.m. Friday and Torah study at 3 p.m. next Saturday will take place at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 5619 Lindley Ave. in Tarzana, and the workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 21 will be at Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in Los Angeles. (818) 725-7600.

* A training session for teachers on “Women of the Holocaust: Resisters to Perpetrators” will be offered four consecutive Thursdays, beginning this week from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Jewish Federation’s Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, 6006 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. The fee for four sessions, including dinner, is $95. (323) 761-8170.

* Holocaust scholar Donald Schwartz will present a program on “Holocaust Deniers: What Makes Them Tick?” Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon at Temple Ner Tamid, 10629 Lakewood Blvd. in Downey. The cost of a kosher lunch is $5. (562) 861-9276.

* An interfaith panel of clergy will discuss the topic of God and animal rights Thursday at 8 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive in Bel-Air. Another panel will tackle the issue of God and politics Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at the university. Both forums, offered by the university’s continuing education program, will be moderated by Michael Levine, author and host of the radio program, “Religion on the Line.” Tickets are $30 for both nights. (310) 440-1245.

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