St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Elizabethton’s Historic District invites the public to a community-wide Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sunday, Jan. 20, beginning at 11 a.m.
Two well-known and beloved daughters of Elizabethton, Loretta Bowers and Minister Teresa Bowers Parker will lead the song and preaching service for Dr. King’s Celebration. Loretta has blessed untold numbers of faithful with her singing and testimony throughout the area and around the country.
Minister Teresa lives in Brooklyn and sings and has performed on Broadway.
“From Elizabethton, Tennessee come these two gifted daughters who sing, preach, and live the power of the God of Love and Justice for All,” said the Rev. Timothy Holder, Priest and Pastor of St. Thomas. “This is the Message of Dr. King, that God is great in each and every one of His children, here in Elizabethton, Carter County and all around the whole-wide world!”
The Bowers sisters will lead with such traditional spiritual singing as known throughout America’s struggle for freedom and justice for all as, “We Shall Overcome,” “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,” and, “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired,” and Dr. King’s favorite, “If I Can Help Somebody.” Jason Patrick serves as Parish Musician for St. Thomas.
“It is a fitting and beautiful statement about our city and our faith that in a church built by slave peoples making bricks on-site and then laying them to raise this House of God in 1861, that we here today celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s message of the Love of Jesus for All of us,” shared Kathy Smith, Senior Warden for the Parish.