Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages: A Recap
During the season of Lent, we worked together with multiple local organizers to help host Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage walks in multiple cities around the U.S. (and attended a couple more as participants).
Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage is a worldwide movement of Christians who set out to walk the length of the Gaza Strip during Lent in a gesture of prayerful solidarity with those suffering violence.
As participants in this global movement, we held walks in the Twin Cities, Seattle, Boise, San Diego, and Davis, with a total of 400+ participants. Read on for highlights.
TWIN CITIES
Twin Cities showed up! Around 300+ people from the local area participated in this walk. We started with a sunrise gathering and then journeyed along the Mississippi River to remind ourselves of Gaza's seaside geography. Along the way, we stopped for singing, interfaith prayer, and a vigil at the Governor's Mansion. Twin Cities participants also donated over $4,000 to help put on the walk and to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza and support for Palestinian refugees in North America.
We also created a pilgrims' booklet to guide our reflections and prayers along each leg of the journey. If you're in the Twin Cities area and would like to use the booklet to help guide your prayer, lament, or daily reflection, you can still get the booklet here.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
In Seattle, pilgrims came out in spite of rain, wind, and hail to show solidarity with the civilians of Gaza, and in Boise, neighbors gathered to walk the length of the Gaza Strip through a large local park, with stops along the way for prayer, song, and lament.
CALIFORNIA
In Davis, at least 20 people participated from seven different local congregations, and in San Diego, the walk was rained out and then rescheduled, and 80 people still showed up despite the change of plans and walked 22 miles to approximate the journey from Gaza City in the north to Rafah in the south.