Occupy Palm Sunday: Pave the Way for Peace
PALM SUNDAY SCHEDULE
10:30 a.m. Joint Palm Sunday Worship with Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance congregations Note: Worship time is 30 minutes earlier!
11:30 a.m. Sack lunches and sign-making in the fellowship hall
12:30 p.m. Occupy Palm Sunday "Pave the Way for Peace"
Hosanna! Wave your palm branches and come to church 30 minutes early NEXT SUNDAY, April 10 for joint, bilingual (English/Spanish) Palm Sunday worship with congregations of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance, including Humboldt Park UMC and Grace Church.
Following worship, there is a little bit of time to get ready to head to the Eagle Monument for Occupy Palm Sunday: Pave the Way for Peace. Sack lunches will be provided in the fellowship hall, and materials will be available for sign-making.
Sunday, April 10th, 2022 — 12:30 p.m. at the Eagle Monument
The congregations of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance invite you to join us in palm waving, prayer, song, street theatre, and action as we observe Palm Sunday. This year's action focuses on an END TO MILITARISM as we PAVE THE WAY FOR PEACE and urge our City Council to pass the Divest from War Resolution (R2021-1305).
As war rages around the world, our churches stand united in our faith that God's good and loving purpose for the world does not include war, but that God calls us to live in peace-- an active peace that is the result of justice.
The prophet declares that in God's future:
"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
(Isaiah 2:4b)
Our city must to do its part to divest from the war machine and invest instead in things that create life. We urge the passing of the Divest from War Resolution (R2021-1305), which will "call for assessment of city holdings, sale of existing investments in weapons manufacturers, and adoption of socially responsible investment policy prohibiting future investments in weapons producing companies." Our tax dollars must not go to companies that profit from war. To offset the impact of militarism on our communities, we need continued investment in public services that make our communities just and peaceful.
On Palm Sunday, we remember the story of Jesus's arrest, crucifixion, and death, which is a story of state and military violence. The powers of empire were so threatened by Jesus's mission of justice and peace that they killed Jesus. Yet even as he rode into the city that would kill him, Jesus rode on the back of a donkey, an agricultural animal. Plows, not swords. Gardening tools, not instruments of death.
Jesus saves the world, not through military power or might, but through radical peacemaking and love. Join us for Occupy Palm Sunday to celebrate, give thanks, and follow Jesus into the way of peace.