St Paul’s remembers Martin Luther King

St Paul’s Cathedral has unveiled a special season of events and services to mark the 60th anniversary of the day Dr Martin Luther King Jr preached to a packed St Paul’s Cathedral while on his way to Norway to collect his Nobel Peace Prize.

Remembering Martin Luther King

And this Sunday (1 September) sees the first of these events when Senator Revd Raphael Warnock will preach at the Sung Eucharist.

As part of the programme to mark the 60th anniversary of this historic visit, Senator Revd Raphael Warnock will preach at the 11.15am Service of Eucharist this Sunday (September 1).

Dr Raphael Warnock is a Democratic Senator and the Senior Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King also served as Pastor. In 2021 he was elected to the United States Senate, the first African American to represent Georgia and the first Black Democrat to be elected to the Senate from a Southern State.

It was on December 6 1964 that Dr Martin Luther King addressed a 4,000-stong congregation in St Paul’s on The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life, providing the British public with a rare opportunity to hear him in person.

Afterwards he gave a press conference in the Cathedral’s Chapter House about race relations in the UK.

During this special season of events, St Paul’s will celebrate the resonance of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s teachings and principles as well as considering how he responded to the extreme and violent opposition he encountered, and how we might engage in the ongoing struggle for racial justice ourselves.

As well as talks, services and sermons, there will be:

• newly commissioned music;
• written reflections for Black History Month;
• workshops for UK National Curriculum KS2 and KS3;
• a creative writing afternoon;
• a day retreat.

The events will close with a creative interpretation of Compline in March 2025.

You can find all the details and events as they are confirmed on St Paul’s webpage here, so do check back for further updates.