The dreams and deeds of civil rights...

The dreams and deeds of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. will be remembered by religious leaders this weekend and on Monday, the official national holiday commemorating the slain Baptist minister’s birthday.

Among the events:

* Songs that embody the mission of King will be featured in a concert at 7:30 p.m. today at Adat Ari El Synagogue, 12020 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, where the choir of Pacoima’s Greater Community Missionary Baptist Church will join voices from the host synagogue.

* The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church will present “outstanding community service awards” in honor of King in a 4 p.m. ceremony Sunday at Lewis Metropolitan CME Church in Los Angeles. Among the honorees will be Rabbi Harvey Fields of Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

* North Hollywood First Presbyterian Church, 5000 Colfax Ave., will host members and singers from Faithful St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church of South-Central Los Angeles on Sunday in a 5 p.m. gospel music service in the congregation’s Caldwell Hall.

* In a Long Beach area interfaith service, King’s birthday will be celebrated at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at First Congregational Church, 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach, preceded by a gospel choir concert at 3 p.m. The Rev. M. Cecilia Broadus, minister of mission support and community development for American Baptist churches in Los Angeles, will speak.

* A celebration by members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will begin Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at First Christian Church of Pomona, 1751 N. Park Ave., with T.J. Bottoms as the main speaker.

* State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) and the Rev. John L. McReynolds of Second Baptist Church of Santa Ana will speak at a south Orange County celebration at 5 p.m. Sunday at Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church, 26001 Muirlands Blvd., Mission Viejo.

* Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Francis of the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark will speak on nonviolent social change on Monday at an 8 a.m. prayer breakfast at Verbum Dei Catholic High School’s new gymnasium, 11100 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles. The event was organized by the Los Angeles archdiocese’s African American Vicariate and neighborhood churches. Bishop Francis was the founding principal of Verbum Dei in 1963.

* The Rev. E. V. Hill, pastor of Los Angeles’ Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and a nationally known preacher, will speak in a communitywide service at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Saddleback College’s McKinney Theater, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo.

* The eighth annual King birthday service of the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council will include special music by an interfaith choir under the direction of Christ Memorial Church’s Pastor Andrae Crouch and Music Minister James Logan. Crouch, the singer-composer who was installed last year as the church’s pastor, will also give the benediction in the 7 p.m. service at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, 15950 Chatsworth Blvd., Granada Hills. Reflections and readings will be given by Alfred Wolf, rabbi emeritus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the Rev. Suzanne Spencer of Studio City Unitarian Universalist Church and the Rev. Curry McKinney, president of the Northeast Valley Ministerial Assn.

* The Santa Clarita Interfaith Council observance of King’s birthday in a 7 p.m. service Monday at Santa Clarita United Methodist Church, 26640 Bouquet Canyon Road, Saugus, will feature Valencia High School teacher Gary Mast, whose students will present stories and views of equality and partnership among all people.

Some related events will take place next weekend:

* Sharon Fox of the Antelope Valley NAACP will speak on “Building Bridges of Understanding” at the 8 p.m. service Friday at Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar, 1611 E. Avenue J, Lancaster.

* The Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray, accompanied by members of Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church, will speak during the 8 p.m. Friday service at Temple Isaiah, 10345 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. To complete the pulpit exchange, Rabbi Robert T. Gan will deliver the sermon at 10 a.m. Jan. 21 at First AME Church, 2270 S. Harvard Blvd.

PEOPLE

* Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman, who was killed along with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994, will speak Friday on “Pursuing Justice” during the synagogue service in Irvine of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot, 3652 Michelson Drive. Goldman was invited to speak by Rabbi Bernie King, who met the Agoura Hills resident at a meeting last year of “Parents of Murdered Children.” The talk is open to the public. Information: (714) 857-2226.

* Psychologist H. Newton Malony of Fuller Theological Seminary will deliver three public lectures next week examining the controversies that arise from the actions or spread of unconventional religious movements. Malony has been active in the last decade in defending the rights of sectarian groups when they have been accused of “brainwashing” techniques or coercive activities. Malony, who has taught at the seminary’s Graduate School of Psychology since 1969, will give the free talks at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Travis Auditorium, 180 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena. Information: (818) 584-5500.

DATES

* “Bonhoeffer,” a dramatization of the incarceration of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, will be performed by the play’s authors, D. Paul Thomas and Nicholas Hormann, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the sanctuary of Los Angeles First Baptist Church, 760 S. Westmoreland Ave. Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his opposition to the party and his role in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Tickets are $5 and available at the door.

* Historian-author Paul Maier will give a free talk on “Luther and Laughter: The Ribald Performer,” on Reformation leader Martin Luther, at 7 p.m. Sunday in Concordia University’s Founder’s Hall in Irvine. Maier, of Western Michigan University, has written “First Christmas,” “First Easter” and historical novels.

* Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Encino’s Valley Beth Shalom will give the keynote speech Sunday during the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Conference for Religious School Educators, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive. Workshops focus on Jerusalem in light of the city’s 3,000th anniversary.

FINALLY

About 150 enthusiasts of loud folk hymn-singing called “sacred harp” music will gather next weekend for a California convention in San Pedro with “music-making the only order of business,” a spokesman said.

The four-part singing, which some have called “fiery,” has been popular in the rural South for 150 years.

“The music is more powerful than ‘pretty,’ ” said spokesman Al Patteson Grindon of Los Angeles. “All who enjoy singing with gusto are invited.”

Singers read from music known for its use of shapes (triangle for “fa,” circle for “sol,” square for “la,” etc.) and the absence of instruments (not even a harp). The participants sit facing each other in rows forming a hollow square.

The eighth annual convention will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. next Saturday and Jan. 21 in Building H at Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro.

The park site is on a bluff overlooking the ocean, but don’t expect to hear the sounds of the waves.

“The room has hard surfaces and a low ceiling, making it just right for sacred harp singing,” Grindon said.