"Fulfilling The Dream" Concert 2019 with Rev. James Lawson
Channel: First Congregational Church of LA
Date: 2019-01-26

A Concert to Promote Social Justice Action in Los Angeles

Rev. James M. Lawson, Guest Speaker
Featuring: C3LA, Commonwealth Community Chorus, DLW Community Chorale, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Reseda Mass Choir, Selah Gospel Choir, Tonality,  Top Shelf, VOX Femina, and the First Congregational Church Cathedral Choir, and John West, Organist

Assembly                led by Mr. Alexander Lloyd Blake
Lift Every Voice and Sing     (James and Rosamond Johnson)
Mass Choir                                led by Dr. David Harris 
Shed a Little Light          (James Taylor, arr. David Harris)
FCCLA Cathedral Choir                                   Dr. David Harris
         Mr. Corona de los Santos and Ms. Molly Pease, soloists
Ella’s Song      (Bernice Johnson Reagon)
Prayer                        Ms. Melanie Edmunds
Selah Gospel Choir                              Mr. David Saul Lee 
Deep River, My Lord               (arr. Michael Martin)
Assembly                     led by Dr. James Calhoun 
           Mr. David Saul Lee and Ms. Kathryn Shuman, soloists
Wade In The Water                 
DLW Community Chorale                Dr. James Calhoun   
I’m Gonna Sing ‘Till The Spirit Moves In My Heart 
           (Moses Hogan)
C3LA The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles                 Mr. Fahad Siadat, conductor
He Would Not Stay           (Peter Walters)   
Commonwealth Community Chorus    Dr. David Harris
Chico Gospel             (Karisha Longaker, arr. David Harris)
While We Continue To Ask Ourselves...Why   (Suzette Shaw)  
Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles’ Aftershock  
                      Mr. Gavin Thrasher, Mr. David Pannell II, soloist   
Angel Down                 (Lady Gaga)
Assembly                     led by Dr. Iris S. Levine of VOX Femina 
This Little Light Of Mine
VOX Femina                        Dr. Iris S. Levine
Stand Upon The Rock          (Rollo Dilworth)
Top Shelf           Mr. Aaron Schumacher
Oh, How Beautiful This Finely Woven Earth   (Greg Jasperse)
Reseda Mass Choir         Ms. Gabrielle Thompson
 ‘Tis So Sweet           (William Kirkpatrick and Louisa Stead)
Introduction                   Judge Robert E. Ward
Message                   Rev. James M. Lawson of Holman 
                   United Methodist Church
Assembly    led by Mr. David Saul Lee of Selah Gospel Choir  
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round
Charge and Benediction           Rev. Dr. R. Scott Colglazier 
Mass Choir                                  led by Mr. Sherdale Smith of 
     Reseda Mass Choir
   Mr. Corona de los Santos, Ms. Molly Pease, 
             and Dr. David Harris, soloists
I’m Gon’ Stand       (Bernice Johnson Reagon)
Postlude             John West
Roll, Jordan, Roll            Ralph Simpson
          *Ralph Simpson was organist at Dr. King’s church
   
“When people bow down and worship at the shrine of money they are being deprived of their most precious endowment—the possibility of living life in its fullness and its endless beauty.”  ~Dr. King

 The 1963 March on Washington championed civil and economic rights. With a justice system that functionally enslaves young men of color, voter discrimination and restriction, ongoing police shootings and racial profiling, and other challenges that disproportionately affect the African American community, not to mention rampant discrimination against immigrants, ongoing attacks on the non-cisgender community, and women continuing to struggle for equal rights, the work that Dr. King helped to inspire continues in earnest.  The goals for economic justice, however, have gone backward. We live in the Second Gilded Age, a time when less than 1% of 1% of our neighbors control all the wealth and power.  The sad part is that we yield to them, that our personal greed allows us to participate easily in a system that so disproportionately values the few over the many.