Multifaith service celebrates life, legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

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The Sacred Space in the Numen Lumen Pavilion was filled Thursday with the sounds of gospel music and piano along with words of hope, freedom and love as the Elon community celebrated the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a multifaith service. 

​Those gathered in the space for the “Shine Your Light, Spread Your Love” service heard from students and staff as they reflected on how challenges King faced during his life more than 50 years ago still remain today, and yet recognized the power of community and perseverance to eventually overcome them. 

“There’s so much work that needs to be done today,” said Monique Swirsky ’18, president of Spectrum, Elon University’s queer-straight student alliance. “Any action, even small ones are needed.”

Thursday’s service was part of a variety of events on Elon’s campus this week to mark the impact that King made on civil rights in pushing for social justice, and offers an opportunity to recommit ourselves to that ongoing work, said Joel Harter, associate chaplain for Protestant life. 

​In two unaccompanied pieces, The Elon Gospel Choir sang of freedom and hope to set the tone for the service, which frequently spoke to the intersect of God, love and community. Alyssa Cass ’19, a singer/songwriter studying music production and recording arts offered two of her own pieces to the crowd while accompanying herself on the piano.

“We come from different places, but all the same source,” Cass sang in her song, “We Are Love.” “Holding us all together is one vital force.”

Music was a running theme throughout the service, with Imam Shane Atkinson, the Muslim life coordinator at Elon, offering lyrics to a song he wrote in the late 1980s inspired in part after viewing the documentary “Eyes on the Prize” that followed the civil rights movement. 

Atkinson explained that King sought to achieve a “beloved community” through his work, a goal still important to dedicate ourselves to today. 

“Dear people, this is the unfinished work of Dr. King,” Atkinson said. “God willing, we can make the commitment today to do this work as individuals, families, communities and nations, for its a victory in and of itself that will bring us closer to actualizing these blessed words of Dr. King. … The end is the creation of a beloved community.”