GARY | With the Cathedral of the Holy Angels as a backdrop, a tribute Sunday to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. blended the words of the slain civil rights leader and the voices of a choir born nearly a quarter century after his assassination.

The tribute came a week earlier than most other celebrations of King's life, but prior to his birthday Jan. 15.

Under the direction of Marion Lynn Boynes, the concert choir of Gary's Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts filled the cathedral with music from the national anthem and the hymn, "God of Our Fathers," to spiritual songs sung in Latin.

This is the second year the concert choir has participated in the tribute organized by parishioners of the Gary Diocese.

The celebration of King's life and work interwove the themes of love, equality and "dreaming."

In his welcoming remarks, the cathedral's rector, the Rev. Jon J. Plavcan, said King "inspired people (and) strove for the ideal of equality and nonviolence. He used words and peaceful methods."

Quoting King, Plavcan said, "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve."

He also noted the first federal holiday known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated Jan. 20, 1986.

"Twenty-three years later on Jan. 20, his dream will be extended with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States," Plavcan said.

Troy Patterson Thomas, of Gary, recited the famous "I Have a Dream" speech that King delivered Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C.

"If I closed my eyes, I could swear that Dr. King was here in this church," keynote speaker Vincent Guider said of Thomas' recitation.

An author and development director at St. Philip Neri School in Chicago, Guider said that King's "mission and message was love. Our love defines who we are as people. God sent Dr. King to remind us of God's divine love for us and how, in spite of our fear, we must love one another."

As a minister and a civil rights leader, King "walked the walk of love, talked the talk of love," Guider said. "The best way we can honor him is to walk, talk, think and be love to one another."

Speaking to the multigenerational audience, he said that "depending on our experiences is how we view Dr. King. The viewing of history is generational, but we need to help each other by respecting each other's views."

Guider pointed out some in the audience have lived through the era of overt discrimination and violence against black people that King and others fought against. Others, he said, were born long after changes in society had begun.

"Let us take our love home, to the streets, to the workplace. Let us text our love, e-mail our love," Guider said.

"Let us take our love to the world. We cannot be defeated by violence, racism, sexism, greed or gossip."