Parade as Protest

Engaging Mark's Palm Sunday Narrative as Call to Contemporary Christian Advocacy

Abstract

Poetic memoir tangles with theological reflection when a now-minister and seminary educator reflects on how invitation into Mark’s Gospel reached them at a time of deep estrangement from the institutional church and provided a pathway to reconciliation that became both liturgical and street advocacy. The humble entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem over scattered leaves on a utilitarian donkey sparks imagination to embrace the Palm Sunday narrative as a call to accessible and inclusive public protest, embodying civic engagement as a form of worship that celebrates LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized and historically underrepresented people in communities of faith.