Given the challenging circumstances globally, we — diverse members of our community, named below — on our personal behalf, join over this period of Easter to offer our reflections. This Christian milestone provides us a reminder of the potential of even a single candle on the darkest night.

The gloom currently filling global media includes:

• International engagement taking the form of massive illegal military attacks rather than the deployment of diplomacy

• The violations of international laws and norms; trashing the ballast of civilised society

• Callous disregard for the lives of ordinary people, notably children; normalising incredible levels of cruelty rather than a reverence for life

Locally we are experiencing a worrying cycle of violence, which recently resulted in the fifth murder since last August, undermining reverence for life.

The year 1968 was another period of significant gloom globally. In the midst of the United States war in Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr — who had campaigned for Peace with clergy and laity — was assassinated on April 4. Two months later, Robert F Kennedy, another campaigner for peace, was also assassinated on June 5.

The spirits of these two icons remain as beacons, still pointing the way forward. In a book published after his death, MLK left us a draft roadmap for current generations, titled Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Of course, chaos is dominating the current global ethos.

Community is a requisite for peace, which flows from a paradigm of reverence for life. In the Easter story, Jesus demonstrated community by washing the feet of the disciples. MLK’s servant leadership proved key in sustaining an exemplary community for over a year during the Montgomery bus boycott.

Exactly one year before his death — on April 4, 1967 — King delivered a seminal speech, formally declaring his opposition to the US war in Vietnam. He called for a revolution of values, encouraging his country to become a human-centred society rather than a thing-centred one. In other words, King was calling for community, resonating with the spirit of Jesus’s example.

At our best, Bermudians have a legacy of fostering a sense of community — as exemplified by our renown for being naturally hospitable. Of course, we know we have much more work to do in that regard.

As we reflect during this Easter period, highlighting these considerations would hopefully promote dialogue throughout our island, which would foster community. Reminded that we don’t have to fight the darkness, but allow our light to shine, we all have a role to play in transforming chaos and nurturing community. Doing so not only benefits Bermuda but it potentially serves to inspire other members of our human family.

• The Coalition of Peace includes the Right Reverend Nicholas Dill, the Anglican Bishop of Bermuda, Glenn Fubler, of Imagine Bermuda, Wendell Hollis, a former Royal Bermuda Regiment major, Imam Saleem Talbot, of the Bermuda Islamic Cultural Centre, and Canon Calvert Prentis, of the Anglican Church