NONVIOLENCE SEMINAR: The Rev. James Lawson, a...

NONVIOLENCE SEMINAR: The Rev. James Lawson, a Los Angeles pastor and a 37-year veteran of the civil rights movement, will conduct a two-part seminar on “the practical application of creative nonviolence” to achieve social justice goals, the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council has announced.

The seminar will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 21 at First Presbyterian Church of North Hollywood and will resume Feb. 11 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Tarzana.

Lawson, senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, got involved in the civil rights movement led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957 and was the chief organizer of the Nashville Sit-in Movement. In 1968, Lawson was pastor of a Memphis church and working with striking sanitation workers when King went to that city to show support and was assassinated.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolence, but preregistration is being handled by the Chatsworth-based interfaith council. A donation of $10 is requested for seminar registration. For more information, call (818) 718-6460.

TORAH CEREMONY: Members of Temple Solael in West Hills will dedicate new handmade mantles, or scroll covers, for the synagogue’s Torahs in a ceremony at 8:15 p.m. Friday. The service will also rededicate several silver artifacts adorning the Torah scrolls. The Reform synagogue is at 6601 Valley Circle Blvd.