Ocean City celebrates Dr. King with singing, speeches, awards and a community meal
OCEAN CITY — Ocean City celebrated the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 19 with a ceremony overflowing with good will and powerful emotions.
The city’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration brings the religious, civic and educational communities together at the Ocean City Tabernacle for song, prayer and recognition.
Tom Sherf, executive director of the church, focused on going out and doing good deeds in the opening prayer.
“The Tabernacle has long been a place for worship, for reflection and service to the community, and it’s especially meaningful today because the expectation of the Tabernacle is to take your faith from inside and go outside these walls,” Sherf said, adding that King’s life “reminded us constantly that faith is meant not to stay within walls, but that it’s to be lived through love, through justice and service to others.”
“We can continue the work of justice, reconciliation and service in our own communities outside these walls.”
Community Service Awards
Mayor Jay Gillian and City Council honored this year’s winners of the Martin Luther King Community Service Awards: Dr. Constance Pritchard, Sister Joelle Thren and Jennifer Shirk. The awards recognize volunteerism and service to the community.
“Martin Luther King Jr. lived his life fighting for equal rights and for the ability for every man and every woman to work together for a better world,” Gillian said. “The three winners share Dr. King’s commitment to serving others.”
Pritchard has been involved with St. Peter’s United Methodist Church’s English Language Learning Program since 2012, serving as a lead instructor for almost nine years.
“This program is vital, not only to teaching language skills within our diverse community, but in making everyone welcome through holiday parties, music programs and so much more,” Gillian said.
Sister Joelle has served St. Damien’s Parish for the past 28 years and the Sisters of Christian Charity for more than 50 years.
“Ocean City has always been America’s Greatest Family Resort, and Sister Joelle’s ministry has always focused on the whole family. She helps start summer sessions to foster faith among children with full-year sessions accommodating families, and her generational activities encourage volunteerism throughout the community year-round,” Gillian said.
Shirk has dedicated much of her life to serving others in the community as a volunteer.
“Her work benefits people of all ages in Ocean City,” Gillian said. “She’s a professional, she’s an author, she’s a parent, she’s a wife, but she finds plenty of time to give back.”
Shirk is president of the Ocean City Free Public Library board of trustees, a member of the Ocean City Exchange Club and started the Ocean City Community Wellness Alliance.
Essay contest winners
Ocean City Intermediate School Principal Matt Engle introduced the winners of this year’s essay contests — seventh-graders Tierney Kane and Randy Scarborough and eighth-graders Elena Marini and Leah Datti — who wrote about King’s legacy.
“We’re proud to recognize four exceptional students whose essays stood out amongst their peers’. Their writing reflects not only an understanding of Dr. King’s legacy, but also a powerful ability to connect his message of justice, equality and hope to the world as they experience it today,” Engle said.
In her essay, Tierney discussed King’s legacy of peaceful protests and how it “continues to shape and influence the social movements of today, illustrating that peaceful protests can create meaningful change.”
Randy wrote about how King fought to overcome institutional racism after his father was denied service at a shoe store.
“Today, in our country, people of different colors sit at the same table, ride in the same bus, sip at the same water fountains, but that wasn’t the case 63 years ago,” she said.
In her essay, Elena spoke of King’s dream, as stated in his speech Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington.
“King’s dream was to have a United States where all people have equal rights and equal treatment, regardless of the color of their skin. He wanted to end segregation, racism and discrimination that occurred daily. He also wanted to have civil rights protections for voting, work, education, housing and access to jobs,” she said.
She shared a dream of her own.
“I think if we all start listening to each other and respect each other’s point of view, we won’t be so divided,” Elena said. “If we were more empathetic and more willing to compromise, it is likely that it may lead to a more moderate group of people running for office that are able to support and respect everyone in the country.”
Leah connected King’s dream of the past with her dream of today, both looking toward a better future.
“Liberty, equality, justice. Three words that attempt to capture the depth of one of the most influential speeches known to man,” she said, describing King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“Empowerment, opportunity, education. Three words that describe my dream for tomorrow,” she said, noting the disparity in educational opportunities in America.
“Empowerment, opportunity, education, liberty, equality, justice. Six words that successfully capture the dreams, the unique dreams, of two separate individuals,” she said.
‘I Have a Dream’
As always, the highlight of the service was the performance of the Rev. Gregory Johnson, who pondered in his speech what King would be thinking and doing if he were still alive today before reciting King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. An assassin’s bullet ended King’s life on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.
“He believed in America. He believed that we could do it,” Johnson said, noting King knew it would be people whom he never met who “get to the mountain someday.”
Johnson imagined King opening his iPad and sending a note to somebody.
“We’re at the crossroad now. And when we get to the crossroad, there’s a decision that we must make,” King would write. “There’s no need to wait till tomorrow to talk about the crossroads. Because either you can go with love and justice, or you can take the road of division.”
Johnson said King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and shared his vision of a nation that would live up to the highest ideals.
“More than 60 years later, we stand today at a different moment. In 2026, we feel exhausted rather than inspired. We feel divided rather than united. And for some, hope feels less than a promise, more like a memory.
“So the question we must ask ourselves today is not whether Dr. King’s dreams still matter. The real question is, how do we talk about the dream when so many people feel that there’s no hope left?,” Johnson said.
He said King would want people to carry on.
“The dream was not a moment in history. It was a direction, and a direction requires that we be faithful and that we be committed to seeing that the journey goes to the end. Dreams do not disappear overnight. They fade when they’re no longer practiced. Dr. King had inspired millions of people. He understood that hope without action becomes frustration, and action without purpose becomes chaos. But in 2026, reclaiming the dream today means shifting from remembering it to now owning it.”
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
