Tag: Palm Sunday Peace Parade

Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Just PeacemakingLeave a comment

Peace ParadeBy Bert Newton, Pasadena Mennonite Church

This year in Pasadena, Calif., we will hold our 14th annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade. Every year has a different theme. This year our theme is “Peace without Borders; Welcoming the Refugee.” Last year we called attention to the ecological crisis as well as to police shootings of unarmed black people. The year before that we addressed economic injustice and consumerism that drives war. We created a 12 foot Lady Wisdom puppet and a smaller Mammon puppet who rode a coach called “The Excess Express.” You can watch the struggle between Lady Wisdom and Mammon here. Continue reading “Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades” →

The Palm Sunday Peace Parade: Pasadena, CA

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as ResistanceLeave a comment

Palm Sunday PeaceTriumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9

By Bert Newton

Below is a history of what is now the 13th Annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade, sponsored by a coalition of communities: Church for Others, Crescenta Valley Methodist Church, Knox Presbyterian Church, Montrose Peace Vigil, Orange Grove Friends Meeting, Pasadena Mennonite Church, Peace & Justice Academy, Progressive Christians Uniting, Jill Shook & Anthony Manousos, Urban Village of Pasadena.
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We now call it the Palm Sunday Peace Parade; this name not only has the advantage of alliteration, it also reflects the context in which the march actually began. We began the Palm Sunday Peace Parade in Pasadena in 2003 at the outbreak of the war with Iraq, so it was a peace march. Even though the context was war and the death that war brings, we made our event joyful and celebratory, much like the original Palm Sunday; the gospels tells that Jesus marched toward his death and yet entered Jerusalem in celebration of his victory over the forces of death. So we designed our event likewise to be festive and celebratory, a peace parade.
Continue reading “The Palm Sunday Peace Parade: Pasadena, CA” →