A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
I love attending the March for Life and just got home from marching with Lutherans from across the country. We had a great time, although my pictures from the March are cracking me up. They begin with everyone smiling and by the time we were half-way to the Supreme Court, everyone is grimacing from the wind and snow.
I didn't find Mama Toad, who also attended. However, the head of my Lutheran denomination, Pastor Matthew Harrison, did get to meet her! Here he is teasing my daughter prior to the Divine Service that was held this morning.
We heard, with Pastor Harrison preaching, a wonderful sermon and received the Sacrament and then headed down to the mall.
Here are a few of the pictures I took. Unfortunately, because it was so cold, most people had their hands in pockets as opposed to holding signs. But this at least gives some flavor.
I saw this Dr. Seuss phrase on many a sign.
This is still the part of the march where we were all smiling and laughing. And yes, most of us did wear these obnoxious neon-green hats to help us keep together.
Then the snow came and the wind picked up. But we finished the march. Our green hat strategy worked so even by the end of the march, several hundred of us were still together to pray (the Our Father) and sing hymns ("We Praise You And Acknowledge You") in front of the Supreme Court and Capitol buildings. Quick note on the hymn -- it is a gorgeous hymn that is a versification of the Te Deum laudamus, written by current Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastor Stephen Starke. And yet everyone knew the words by heart already. I was impressed at the beginning of the march when everyone sang four verses of "A Mighty Fortress" and that's basically a requirement to be confirmed Lutheran. It's one thing to know a hymn written 500-1500 years ago, but one that was just put in the hymnal (hymn 941, mind you) four years ago? You can hear it here and here, if you're interested. Lyrics, which provide great imagery of the Universal Church and what Christ has done for us, are here.
OK, I have many, many more photos but am having trouble uploading them. I'll try to do it later. I am curious what media coverage of this huge march was like. By the time I got home, the biggest story was about a dolphin dying in Brooklyn -- no mention of the throng gathered for the 40th annual March for Life.
But, then again, media downplaying of this event is also a 40-year tradition.
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Aug '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Mollie, My husband and I are still on the bus heading home to Connecticut. A young man across from us says Fox news estimates there were between 5 and 6 hundred thousand people there. I love the green hats. Can't pick up the hymn on the bus, but am looking forward to listening when I get home.
Edited on January 26, 2013 at 3:46amRe: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Good for you, Mollie. Good for all the thousands who attended.
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Argh! I have all these photos but I can't upload them. Hulk smash.
Sep '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
You are hereby authorized to use two exclamation marks.
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
God bless you for going! Wish I could have been there.
May '11
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Unless she looks like her avatar, I'm not sure that I would have found Mama Toad, either...
I'm often curious what some of us look like.
May '11
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Maybe they are too big (high-res): file ... save as ... lower the quality. :) Don't you love suggestions from people who have no idea what the problem is? Hulk Smash might also work...
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Ryan M
Maybe they are too big (high-res): file ... save as ... lower the quality. :) Don't you love suggestions from people who have no idea what the problem is? Hulk Smash might also work... · 2 minutes ago
Tried it. The photos are well below the limit. I thought maybe that I had just maxed out for the day. I even tried putting them in the comments -- no go. Maybe I'll try in the middle of the night when the site's got less activity on it.
Sep '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Ryan M: Unless she looks like her avatar, I'm not sure that I would have found Mama Toad, either...
I'm often curious what some of us look like. · 9 minutes ago
As someone who avoids mirrors I know what you mean.
Sep '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Ryan M
Maybe they are too big (high-res): file ... save as ... lower the quality. :) Don't you love suggestions from people who have no idea what the problem is? Hulk Smash might also work... · 2 minutes ago
Tried it. The photos are well below the limit. I thought maybe that I had just maxed out for the day. I even tried putting them in the comments -- no go. Maybe I'll try in the middle of the night when the site's got less activity on it. · 4 minutes ago
I suspect if you do it in the wee hours with no live chat activity it will work.
Jul '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Growing up in South Jersey, going to the March for Life was an annual event for my family and church. Since moving to Ohio (and with a university job without much flexibility when classes are in session), I haven't been able to make it to DC. But it's great to hear reports from the front lines, and kudos to all of you who took the time and braved the cold weather to be there. You were in my thoughts and prayers throughout the day.
May '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
I wish the March for Life would change the venue one year and walk outside news networks ...see if they are still ignored outside the Today Show window. Your pictures are great Mollie! I live far from DC, but plan to make a trip of it when the kids are older. All kids are horrified by abortion, but I think going to the march would be a galvanizing experience to protect them from losing that horror in high school.
Feb '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Mollie,
Couldn't make it to D.C.
However, I'll always remember singing "A Mighty Fortress" In August 1978 at the Minneapolis Auditorium (7th International Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit) with a huge pipe organ and 15 to 20 thousand people. It was absolutely marvelous!
Apr '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Thank you for going.
Wish we could go.
May '10
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
I saw a snatch of the march on CNN [plays to a captive audience in the break room at work] and the reporterette was going on about how polls show a majority of Americans are in favor of Roe v. Wade.
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Ryan M
Maybe they are too big (high-res): file ... save as ... lower the quality. :) Don't you love suggestions from people who have no idea what the problem is? Hulk Smash might also work... · 2 minutes ago
Tried it. The photos are well below the limit. I thought maybe that I had just maxed out for the day. I even tried putting them in the comments -- no go. Maybe I'll try in the middle of the night when the site's got less activity on it. · 1 hour ago
Mollie this might be a Ricochet problem. I tried to put a picture in my Menendez post earlier today and it wouldn't go. Little dial just kept spinning and spinning and spinning...
Feb '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
I love those neon-green hats. It still amazes me how little attention this event receives each year. As "Nick Stuart" mentioned above, polls show a majority of Americans are in favor of Roe v. Wade. But that should not keep anyone from talking and marching for the unborn.
Aug '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Oooohh--I think this is a brilliant idea, Katie O! March outside the MSM about all major issues, including the need for the MSM to crash and burn. "Hey, ho, MSM has got to go..."
Aug '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Mollie, I was thinking about how the Lord said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." About how those are two things we most desecrate here in America: the beginning of life and the end of life.
Jun '12
Re: A Joyous Celebration of Life and a Demand for Justice
Just curious, were there any ELCA Lutherans there? I have Missouri Synod Lutherans to the South, but MN is heavily ELCA, and they don't strike me as taking much of a stand on moral issues. (but it might not be too fair to paint with that broad of a brush :-)