Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Goshen College affirms ‘It Is Time’
Goshen College students, faculty and community members will focus on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and explore the theme “It Is Time” during the campus’ annual public celebration events Jan. 15-16, 2017.
The theme reminds the Goshen community that it is time: time to tell your truth, time to speak, time to tend to trauma, time for restoration and time for compassion.
The weekend’s events will begin on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 9:30 a.m. with a church service at College Mennonite Church, featuring guest speaker Sarah Thompson, talking about “MLK and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Thompson is the executive director of Christian Peacemaker Teams. The community is then welcomed to a free concert and discussion with community artists, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Umble Center.
On Monday, Jan. 18, Martin Luther King, Jr. Study Day will begin with a community breakfast and table discussions with Thompson, who will speak on “A New Unsettling Force: MLK and the Poor People’s Campaign.” Tickets are required for the breakfast, and can be purchased online at goshen.edu/tickets or by contacting the Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or at welcomecenter@goshen.edu. Tickets are available at a reduced rate of $18 for adults before Jan. 3. Tickets are $22 after Jan. 3.
Following the breakfast, students will present a spoken-word coffeehouse, and at 10 a.m. the community will gather for a campus convocation, again featuring Thompson, who will speak about “MLK, the Poor People’s Campaign and Elkhart County since the Great Recession.”
For more information, visit www.goshen.edu/mlk or contact DaVonne Kramer at dkramer@goshen.edu or 574-535-7030.
Keynote speaker information
Sarah Thompson is the executive director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that seeks to rectify injustice in non-violent ways. She is also a licensed pastor in the Indiana-Michigan Conference of Mennonite Church USA, and a member of an anti-Zionist synagogue, Tzedek Chicago. Public speaking, social movement building and civil society edification work have led her into 60 countries and countless communities.
Thompson grew up in Elkhart, Indiana, and then studied at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she double majored in international studies and comparative women’s studies, and minored in Spanish. Graduating summa cum laude, she was Student Government president, the co-founder of the Atlanta University Center Peace Coalition and intern at the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. In the summer of 2004 she returned home to south-central Elkhart to support neighborhood organizing that led to the saving of the Roosevelt Elementary school building. Now called the Historic Roosevelt Center, the building serves the community through meeting needs in the area of housing, meeting space, cultural celebration and organizing for social change. That summer of work also gave rise to the current Mennonite Voluntary Service unit, Jubilee House, hosted by Prairie Street Mennonite Church, Thompson’s home congregation.
Thompson was a member of Mennonite World Conference’s youth engagement efforts, attending the Global Youth Summit in Zimbabwe in 2003, and together with a global team of young adults, planned the subsequent summit in 2009. It brought together over 800 participants from 55 different countries to worship, network and think critically about the issues facing our global communion. These experiences led Thompson to pursue her interest in the liberation theologies of various cultures and resistance movements. She attended Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary from 2008-11 and then worked at Sabeel, the Palestinian Christian Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, from 2011-12.
Schedule — Goshen College’s 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Study Day events:
Sunday, Jan. 15
9:30 a.m., Church Service and Discussion, “MLK and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”
Featuring Sarah Thompson, College Mennonite Church
11 a.m., sermon response and discussion, as well as more information about Christian Peacemaker Teams.
7-8:30 p.m. – Community Gathering: Building a Movement with Self, Story, and Song
Featuring UZIMA! African Dance Troupe and Charles Coleman & Divine Favor, Umble Center
Through dance and song, sharing stories and fellowship, this evening gathering demonstrates the community and movements these times require. Facilitated by Jason Shenk, coordinator of the People’s History of Elkhart, and Connie Caiceros, executive director of the Center for Community Justice, panelists will share stories that explore King’s call for a “revolution of values” and for America to be “born again.” The evening will conclude with a dessert reception. Free and open to the public.
Monday, Jan. 16
7:30-8:30 a.m. – Community breakfast: “MLK, the Poor People’s Campaign, and Elkhart County since the Great Recession.” (advance tickets required), Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall
Featuring guest speaker Sarah Thompson. Before Jan. 3: $18 per ticket/$144 per eight-person table.
After Jan. 3: $22 per ticket /$176 per eight-person table.
To make reservations, go to www.goshen.edu/tickets, or contact the Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or at welcomecenter@goshen.edu.
*Discounted student pricing available.
9-10 a.m. – Spoken Word Coffeehouse and talkback session, Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall
Students and faculty will read original poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as works by others.
10-11:45 a.m. – Convocation, “A New Unsettling Force: MLK and the Poor People’s Campaign.” Church-Chapel
This all-campus gathering will feature guest speaker Sarah Thompson.
Workshops and lectures:
Noon-1:15 p.m.,“Get Ready Now! Nonviolent Direct Action Skills and Faith for the Long-Haul Struggle for Justice,” Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall
Featuring: Sarah Thompson
Noon-1:15 p.m., “The Syrian Refugee Crisis: Humanizing the enemy and tending to the trauma,” Church-Chapel, Koinonia Room
Featuring: Amela Puljek-Shenk
1:30-2:45 p.m., “Open Space Process on Organizing Across Historic Divisions in Elkhart County,” Church-Chapel, Koinonia Room
Featuring: Connie Caiceros and Jason Shenk
1:30-2:45 p.m., “Restorative Practices for Tending the Movement,” Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall
Featuring: Katerina Friesen
3-4:15 p.m., Town Hall: #ItIsTime, Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall
Featuring: Goshen College faculty and students