The Palm Sunday Peace Parade
An Annual Tradition
This year's Palm Sunday Peace Parade will occur on April 1, 2012, beginning at 3:30pm.
The Parade begins at Messiah Lutheran Church in Pasadena and concludes around 5:30pm with a public worship at Paseo Colorado.
Click here for coverage of the April 17th, 2011 parade: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_17869822
Sign up for our Facebook page to be updated on other peace events in the Pasadena Area: www.facebook.com/pages/Palm-Sunday-Peace-Parade/122328897838091#!/
Background:
The Palm Sunday Peace Parade is a public worship and witness event in which we march about a mile through Pasadena to the economic center of the city (the Paseo Colorado Mall) where we sing songs, pray and proclaim God's peace. This event puts Palm Sunday back in the streets where it began. On the first Palm Sunday, Jesus culminated his journey from the margins of his society (Galilee) to the center (Jerusalem). Likewise we march from an historically marginalized neighborhood (where some of us live) to the economic center of the city (remembering that economic injustice and war go hand-in-hand).
Begun at the outbreak of the war in Iraq in 2003, we continue this peace parade not only because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, but also because this outdoor worship event proclaims God's Reign of Peace and Justice for all time.
Jesus Rode a Donkey
A Theater of the Oppressed
Matthew 21:1-11
Mark 11:1-11
Luke 19:28-40
John 12:12-19
What do country bumpkins do when they come to the big city? The city folk are so much more sophisticated: Their clothes are trendier, their speech more urbane, their transportation flashier. The country folk stick out like a sore thumb and draw contemptuous looks from the city folk. Such was likely the experience of the Galilean peasants coming into Jerusalem for Passover. They must have felt a strong impulse to try to just blend in, to assimilate. That is until one of their local heroes arrived; then suddenly they were willing to make their presence known and to proclaim their own regional candidate for king. They did not care how pathetic and absurd their candidate appeared to the city folk; in fact, they reveled in the absurdity, in the simple down home candor of their champion.
Jesus of Nazareth came in peasant clothes, riding a donkey. When Roman dignitaries came to Jerusalem, they would arrive with an impressive procession of war horses and chariots. In absurd contrast, Jesus rode this lone, pathetic beast of burden. He needed no army. He needed no chariots and war horses. He needed only the singular weapon of the common poor: the word of God, the prophetic word that cuts like a double-edged sword.
His absurdist theater sent forth a word of revelation: It revealed the absurd cruelty of the Roman occupation; it laid bare the foolish complicity of the Jerusalem elite with their Roman overlords; it revealed the defeat of the kingdoms of this world and the coming victory of the in-breaking Reign of God. The disciples recalled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9-10:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
Triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off.
And he shall command peace to the nations!
(NRSV)
Following the example of Jesus on Palm Sunday at 3:00 in the afternoon, The Peace & Justice Academy will co-sponsor the annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade. We will march from a historically marginalized neighborhood in Pasadena to the economic center of the city. There we will sing and pray for peace. We will witness against the powers and authorities of this world that make war against God’s poor ones, and witness for the in-breaking Reign of God, a reign of justice and peace. For further information, contact Bert Newton, elbertwalkernewton@yahoo.com, or 626-793-1103.