MLK NOW 2026: A Prophetic Witness for Our Time

Sunday, January 18, 2026 | The Riverside Church | New York City

(Onsite and online free event) At a moment when the hard-won gains of the Civil Rights Movement are under renewed threat, The Riverside Church calls the city and the nation to remember, recommit, and rise.

MLK NOW 2026 is not simply a commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It is a bold, living witness to his unfinished work. Through music, preaching, prayer, and embodied storytelling, this spectacular afternoon will honor Dr. King’s radical vision for justice, dignity, and beloved community—and confront the forces still working to erase, distort, or silence that legacy today.

SCHEDULE
11:00 AM – Worship with guest preacher, Rev. Rashad Raymond Moore, PhD (Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, NY) Dr. Moore is a pastor, philosopher, and preacher dedicated to unveiling and repositioning the role of tradition and ritual in historically Black institutions through prophetic disruption.)

Organ Prelude: played by Paul Byssainthe, Jr. an organ work based on the last sermon of Dr. King

Inspirational Choir: a piece entitled MLK by U2

The Riverside Choir:

• Choral setting of Lift Every Voice and Sing by a contemporary composer, Zanaida Robles featuring Metropolitan Opera Soprano, Brittany Renee

• Choral setting of If I Can Help Somebody by the late Dr. Nathan Carter, a text Dr. King quoted in his infamous Drum Major Instinct speech, featuring Riverside’s own soprano, Kendra Berentsen

12:30 PM – Soul Food Lunch (Available for purchase only)
2:30 PM – Doors Open (with historic Dr. King speeches playing)
3:00 PM – Special Program Begins (RSVP for free event onsite and online)
• Download the program for the afternoon.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• Organ Prelude & Dr. King Video Montage by Riverside’s Director of Music, Dr. Nathaniel Gumbs tracing the Civil Rights struggle from Dr. King’s era to the present moment

• Welcome & Opening Prayer – The Reverend Adriene Thorne (Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in the City of New York)

• Congregational Hymn – Lift Every Voice and Sing

• Embodied Dr. King Speech – Freddie Moore brings Dr. King’s words to life (Founder and Artistic Director of Footprints Dance Company and Alvin Ailey Dance Instructor)

• Greetings & Guest Speaker Introduction – The Very Reverend Lydia Kelsey Bucklin (President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School)

• The Unsung Collective – Stirring music rooted in resistance and hope under the direction of Dr. Tyrone Clinton (Harlem based group highlighting contributions of people of color in Western art music)

• Guest Speaker – The Reverend Canon Kelly Brown Douglas (Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral)

• Sing Harlem – A joyful, justice-filled musical offering (youth ensemble under the Mama I Want to Sing Foundation) 

• Call to Action – The Reverend Dr. Brandon Thomas Crowley (Director of Theological Education at the Episcopal Divinity School)

• Finale: We Win – Stellar Award winning gospel artist Vincent Bohanan (Founder and leader of The Winners’ Assembly NY)