Marching
It seems more than coincidence that Palm Sunday and the March for Our Lives came the same weekend. Reading an old reflection by Fred Craddock on Palm Sunday, Pastor Craddock reminded us that Palm Sunday was a protest march, and like all protest marches, not everyone knew what was happening, but only that something was happening that could possibly alter the course of life.
I am heartened by the courage and activism of our young people. They have finally had enough. They are impatient with adult inaction. So, they speak. They do so with directness, power, and compassion.
My prayer is that all of us of voting age will follow up with action in elections that can make lasting change--change that will make all of us safer.
But we need to pay attention to Palm Sunday.
The crowds shouting, "Hosanna!" were soon enough shouting, "Crucify him!"
Here in Sacramento, we have seen a troubling week. An African American man was killed by police who thought he had a gun when he held a cell phone. People took to the streets, shutting down a freeway, an NBA game, and making us all pay attention. The next day a more loosely organized mob took to the streets and violence erupted that served no one. That meant some of us were nervous as Saturday came--would a protest to end violence be marred by violence?
Fortunately, no.
Folks rose to the occasion.
If we are to change things, everyone must rise to the occasion. We have to overcome our anger, our frustration, our disillusionment, and our grievances to act so justice might flow. Martin Luther King was a man of righteous indignation. He turned his outrage at injustice into non-violent action whose supplies are still reverberating and fomenting change now. Even killed by violence, he still acts. Isn't that the real and lasting power of resurrection?
I am heartened by the courage and activism of our young people. They have finally had enough. They are impatient with adult inaction. So, they speak. They do so with directness, power, and compassion.
My prayer is that all of us of voting age will follow up with action in elections that can make lasting change--change that will make all of us safer.
But we need to pay attention to Palm Sunday.
The crowds shouting, "Hosanna!" were soon enough shouting, "Crucify him!"
Here in Sacramento, we have seen a troubling week. An African American man was killed by police who thought he had a gun when he held a cell phone. People took to the streets, shutting down a freeway, an NBA game, and making us all pay attention. The next day a more loosely organized mob took to the streets and violence erupted that served no one. That meant some of us were nervous as Saturday came--would a protest to end violence be marred by violence?
Fortunately, no.
Folks rose to the occasion.
If we are to change things, everyone must rise to the occasion. We have to overcome our anger, our frustration, our disillusionment, and our grievances to act so justice might flow. Martin Luther King was a man of righteous indignation. He turned his outrage at injustice into non-violent action whose supplies are still reverberating and fomenting change now. Even killed by violence, he still acts. Isn't that the real and lasting power of resurrection?
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