The Peace Parade Coalition Presents:
"Restoring the Earth,
Redeeming the City"
The 13th Annual Peace March
The theme at this year's Palm Sunday Peace Parade is: Restoring the Earth, Redeeming the City; Peace, Justice and the Ecological Crisis. Since we believe that an environmentally sustainable society cannot be achieved without justice, at this year’s Palm Sunday Peace Parade we will “walk an extra mile” to the place where Kendrec McDade was shot by police (Orange Grove Blvd and Sunset Avenue) three years ago to hold a brief vigil. One of the sponsors of the parade, The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, has joined the NAACP and the ACLU in a lawsuit against the city to make public the findings of the report on this shooting from the Office of Independent Review.
When: This Sunday, March 29, 3:00 pm
Where: Begins at Messiah Lutheran Church, 570 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Stops at Colorado Blvd. and Garfield Avenue, and Ends at Orange Grove Blvd. and Sunset.
Sponsored by: Church for Others, Crescenta Valley Methodist Church, First American Methodist Episcopal Church, The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, Knox Presbyterian Church, Montrose Peace Vigil, Orange Grove Friends Meeting, Pasadena Community Christian Fellowship, Pasadena Mennonite Church, Peace & Justice Academy, Progressive Christians Uniting, Jill Shook & Anthony Manousos, Urban Village of Pasadena.
This year's theme will be celebrated on March 29, 2015:
The Pasadena Palm Sunday Peace Parade-Sunday, March 29th- a family-friendly peace march and public worship.
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This year's Palm Sunday Peace Parade will occur on Sunday, March 29, 2015, beginning at 3pm.
The Parade begins at Messiah Lutheran Church, 570 E. Orange Grove Blvd., in Pasadena and concludes around 5pm 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/PeaceParades
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.