by Pat Freed, Zion congregation
At the corner of Cherry Lane and Front Street in Souderton, PA, there are about 90 colorful T-shirts waving in the breeze. They bear witness to deaths by gun violence in Montgomery County over the last five years. Each shirt tells the name, age, and date of death of someone dearly loved and continually mourned by their families and friends.
Zion (Souderton, PA) Mennonite has partnered with Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, an organization that focuses on faith communities as a key group in helping to solve the problem of gun violence. Our intention in hosting a Memorial to the Lost on the Zion campus is to raise awareness and inspire action to end this epidemic of gun violence.
Our youth group participated in making the T-shirts, and they found the simple act of writing on the shirts to be personal and powerful. The names belong to real people who were our neighbors. We pray that God will take our efforts and make an incredible difference in our community and everywhere.
In 2023, the Salford (Harleysville, PA) and Plains (Hatfield, PA) congregations also held Memorials to the Lost honoring the lives of those who had died because of gun violence locally.
As a follow up to this installation, Zion, along with other local churches, will be hosting a Gun Violence Awareness Walk in Souderton on Sunday, April 21, 2024. We will walk through town as witnesses for peace and change. At the end of the walk, participants will sign letters to their lawmakers to encourage them to implement more common-sense gun laws. All are welcome to walk and pray together to heed God’s call to end gun violence.
Patrice Freed
Patrice Freed grew up at Zion Mennonite (Souderton, PA) and still worships there. She’s a grandmother to nine and loves the outdoors and working for peace and justice.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.