Saturday, August 27, 2011

#4 - pasadena mennonite church/palm sunday peace parade



august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  we have arrived at the top ten things about life in pasadena.



#4 - pasadena mennonite church/palm sunday peace parade

i cheated a bit with this one.  realisticially, these both deserve their own entry in my top ten.  but because they are pretty closely related, i tied them together. 

pasadena mennonite has been our incredible church home while we've lived here.  we have been welcomed there with open arms and have found meaningful relationships that will carry on beyond pasadena.  this community has acted as our substitute parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.  they have been our mentors and peers in ways we never could have imagined.

the peace parade is one of the things that this church does annually as a way to make a public declaration of a commitment to peace.  it is held every year on palm sunday and has grown to include many other local groups dedicated to peace and an end to global warfare.

both of these things are special to me, and i will miss them deeply when we move from here.

2 comments:

Petrea Burchard said...

I've fallen behind this week, Ben! I'm enjoying your countdown, but I don't want to see you get down to #1 and farewell.

ben wideman said...

I know, I'm getting pretty sentimental too...