3/16/2004

SAVE OUR CHILDREN, OUR FUTURE, FROM THE PHARAOHS OF OUR DAY

BRING PALM BRANCHES OF RESISTANCE
SHARE THE PASSOVER SEDER OF FREEDOM
RECREATE THE INTERFAITH BELOVED COMMUNITY

Church of the Advocate, 18th and Diamond
4-6:30p.m. Sunday, April 4 (4/4/04, 4 pm)
(for Palm Sunday, Passover Eve, & Dr. King's VISION)

Pharaoh said to the midwives, "Kill the boy-babies as soon as they are born." But the midwives revered God, and refused. (Exodus 1:16-17).

Today, new Pharaohs are killing the children of our world — by gun violence in our cities, and by wars they invent; with AIDS, asthma, and cancer because of high drug prices, lack of health insurance, and polluted air and water; with land mines, mercury, and lead they will not clear or clean.

And today Pharaohs are again enslaving workers, oppressing immigrants, mobilizing armies, and bringing plagues and eco-disasters on us all.

One generation ago, April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke out against the Vietnam War, naming militarism, racism, and materialism as the great enemies of freedom in America.

Militarism, racism, and materialism remain the Pharaohs of today.

We will march with the palm branches of resistance and then inside the church will share a Passover Seder the sacred meal of Freedom. We will not only remember freedom struggles of the past but also renew our freedom struggles for the future.

By joining together in sharing our different traditions and communities, we will ourselves create a new space of freedom.

If you can, please bring a candle, palm branch, box of matzah, roasted egg, or bitter herb. Please also bring some object that is a symbol of your own liberation last or next year. Please remember daylight savings time starts April 4.

Sponsors: The Shalom Center, Church of the Advocate, Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia, American Muslim Society (Tristate Area), Project H.O.M.E., Catholic Peace Fellowship/ Pax Christi, The Other Side, Veterans for Peace, Brandywine Peace Community, Philadelphia County Prison Healthcare Coalition, Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, Central Committee for Conscientious Objection, Training for Change, Pai Or Religious Fellowship, Philadelphia Women in Black, Mishkan Shalom Congregation, Interfaith Coalition for the General Welfare, Yes!Coalition, Soulforce Philadelphia, Jewish Labor Committee, Africana Islamic Institute, Pa. Fair Trade Coalition, Center for Progressive Political Communication, Eastern PA Chapter of the Methodist Federation For Social Action. First United Methodist Church of Germantown, NW Interfaith Movement, Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility, PA Council of Churches, PA Interfaith Climate Change Campaign, Center for the Celebration of Creation; Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir/Heart of the City, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, the simple way, New Jerusalem , Phila. Physicians for Social Responsibility
Write Shalomctr@aol.com for more information