Thanks to a group of Lawrence pastors and Richard Norton Smith, director of the Dole Institute of Politics, festivities to be held July 20-22 to mark the center’s dedication will begin on a spiritual note.

The pastors and Smith have been working for months to organize an ecumenical celebration at 10 a.m. July 20 at the Lied Center on Kansas University’s West Campus.

It’s an appropriate way to begin several days of dedication activities for the Dole Institute, according to the Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.

“The theme will be a celebration of sacrifice and a focus on service above self. That’s what we’re going to focus on — honoring and remembering those who gave service to their country 60 years ago during World War II,” says Luckey, who’s leading the committee of pastors organizing the event.

“I think it will be a very traditional service. We’ll sing ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’ (the U.S. Navy hymn), ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ We hope to find some liturgy, prayers and responsive reading that would be from the World War II period that were used by churches.”

The keynote speaker at the service will be the Rev. George Russell Barber, the last surviving military chaplain who was on Omaha Beach during D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Barber spoke at a memorial service in Houston — which President George W. Bush attended — for the astronauts who were killed in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in February.

It was Smith’s suggestion to have a spiritual celebration begin the dedication activities, according to Luckey.

“It was his idea to have an ecumenical, interfaith worship service that focuses on service and brings together people of all faiths and backgrounds. It’s been in the works the past couple of months,” he says.

Smith explains his reasons for wanting to have such an event.

“It just seemed an appropriate way to launch the three days, which, in a larger sense — at Sen. Dole’s insistence — is a thank you to the men and women who fought World War II,” he says.

“For many of these people, it will be a final thank you, given the age of a lot of folks involved. What better way to launch that program than on a Sunday morning, to bring folks from different faiths together to recognize and honor the whole concept of service.”

The idea is not to celebrate or glorify war, but to recognize what the people who fought World War II accomplished for humanity.

“If this generation had not gone off to war and made the sacrifice that it made, it’s arguable we would not have the freedom to worship, 60 years later, in all of the diversity that we have. One of Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms was the freedom to worship. That’s probably what inspired this (service) as much as anything,” Smith says.

The spiritual celebration will be open to the community.

Two churches — Plymouth and First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway — will cancel their regular Sunday worship services July 20 and instead have members attend the event at the Lied Center.

Pastors helping to organize the spiritual celebration are: Luckey; the Rev. Jim Dunkin, First Presbyterian; the Rev. Gary Teske, Trinity Lutheran Church; the Rev. Sharon Howell, First United Methodist Church; and the Rev. Jay Gideon, West Side Presbyterian Church.

For more information about the event, call Luckey in Plymouth’s office at 843-3220.