Just four days ago, on Palm Sunday, we read the story of Christ’s betrayal and death. We took on the voices of Pilate, of Judas, of Peter, of Christ, of the crowds. We stepped into roles in the narrative, adding our voices to a story that began in adoration and ended in sadness, even in dread, moving from Hosanna to Kyrie, from the soft green of palm branches to the rough wood of the crucifixion tree.
The new year turned a few weeks ago, but yesterday felt more like a beginning. At noon, Elmwood Park in Roanoke, Va. was thronged with people arriving for the city’s Women’s March – approximately 4,500 of them, joining millions more around the globe.
The 2017 #WomensMarch may have been born in anger and in fear, in response to dark and violent rhetoric and proposed legislation whose targets include those who have historically struggled to have an audible and equal voice (women; racial, ethnic and religious minorities; refugees and immigrants; the LGBTQ community; the disabled, the impoverished, the homeless, the marginalized and the disenfranchised), but the manifestation of that was a joyous, determined day of peaceful protest, envisioned, inspired and organized by women.