Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Nikita Wilson holds 9-month-old Cerrancy Rhodes Jr. as they join the mass choir Sunday during the interfaith worship celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at the New Life Baptist Church in Lacey.

Marking King's impact, life

South Sound churches unite to honor civil rights leader

LIONA TANNESEN, THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY -- Eight-year-old LaRae Mathews led a group of girls in an African dance -- arms out, arms in, hands on knees, all to the beat.

The seven girls, in white shirts and black pants, lined the front of the New Life Baptist Church.

They were part of an interfaith worship celebration Sunday in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is not only hope for the world," said the Rev. Edsel Goldson of Tumwater United Methodist Church after the girls finished. "There is hope for the church."

South Sound worshippers from Risen Faith Fellowship, New Life Baptist Church, Church of Living Water, Tumwater United Methodist Church, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Michael Catholic Church and Unity Church of Olympia came to sing, celebrate, pray and listen.

Worshippers of all hues clapped, swayed, raised their hands and sang.

Ministers of different faiths, colors and sexes gave the readings and spoke.

Unity Church of Olympia Pastor Anna Joy Grace asked everyone who felt comfortable to hold hands for the prayer to the mother-father God.

"We are so grateful for how far we have come," Grace said. "And we have a long, long way to go."

The congregation agreed. "Yes," "yes," "yes" came from different parts of the room.

The first speaker, the Rev. J. Smith, associate pastor for Risen Faith Fellowship, also urged people to move on.

Smith said he has mixed feelings because people need to do more than dream.

God wanted everyone together before the world began and gave everyone freedom, Smith said. People need to get up from their dreams and be willing to take some risks, Smith said.

"The past is the foundation that has been laid," Smith said. "The present is where you're sitting now. ... The only thing that is left is the future. What are you going to do with it?"

Liona Tannesen covers Lacey and courts for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5427.

On the Web:

- Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project

- Beloved Community

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