Don't Agonize, Organize
Credit to Florynce Kennedy for the title of this post.
Part One: January 2026. Written when ICE agents employed by the federal government were occupying Minneapolis, after Renee Good died, but before Alex Pretti died. Never published because I wasn't satisfied with the ending.
In 2025, University of Michigan constitutional law professor Richard Primus described the conditions for a constitutional crisis. Back then, he said we weren't in one yet. I wonder what he would say now.
We are seeing brutality, violence and death in Minnesota. Between U.S. citzens and agents of the federal government. Between agents of the federal government and detainees. The head of the Minneapolis Police Department is concerned that ICE agents haven't been appropriately trained. Renee Good has died.
I recently saw reports that agents of the federal government are refusing to allow lawyers access to their clients.
I would love to believe that this is a one-off and everything will return to normal soon. But I unfortunately believe the opposite.
And with all the generational trauma of someone whose father and grandmother fled Nazis, I am ready to organize.
Is anyone ready to organize with me? I don't know.
The Michigan Council of Churches sunsetted in the early 2000's. It's very dead.
The Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism is gone too. And honestly, that's ok with me. We need statewide work to be ready for what may come.
Together West Michigan got over 700 people as signatories on a document with a press conference that happened yesterday. I signed on to this document and spoke at the press conference on behalf of the Episcopal Church. But there was no clear digital strategy, and the impact was mostly local.
Where do I go from here?
Time will tell.
Part Two: March 2026: Written on Monday, March 30th – after Palm Sunday Path came to life in Michigan and in sixteen other states.
Sometimes God acts.
You have to see this when it happens. If you don't see it, you miss it.
If you miss it, you miss your chance to be part of what God is doing.
The exact same day that I wrote the first part of this post, I got a phone call from the Rev. Sarah Schmidt-Lee, an early organizer of Michigan's Palm Sunday Path. She invited me to join in bringing Palm Sunday Path to life, here where we lived.
I saw her call in the context of the words I had written earlier that morning.
It was something I couldn't control. It seemed like something God might be doing.
It's always a risk to jump into something that seems like it might be the work of God. Maybe it's not God! Maybe it's a terrible idea. You can't know.
But when you're in the middle of writing about how you feel called to organize? And less than twenty-four hours later you get invited to organize?
I took the risk.
I asked Sarah if she could connect me with the leaders of the event. She could and did. I talked with the Rev. Cheryl Burke, a staff member of the Michigan United Church of Christ (UCC). We had never met – a symptom of the way Michigan faith communities haven't been working together.
Cheryl told me that originally, Palm Sunday Path had been organized by Minnesota leaders. Recently, she had heard they might need to step back to focus on their own state.
I told her that I wanted to see Palm Sunday Path happen in Michigan. I wanted to see new statewide ecumenical relationships grow through it. I told her I would help make that happen. Cheryl thanked me and invited me to the next meeting.
Cheryl took a risk on me – and for that I will always be grateful.
I showed up to that meeting. So I was there when the lead organizer from Minnesota said, "We have so much happening here, the decision has been made to focus locally. I can't manage anything beyond Minnesota anymore."
And then a small team, with eight weeks to go before an unchangeable deadline, pulled together something magnificent.
In Michigan, on February 2nd, Palm Sunday Path was 7 people.
In Michigan, on March 29, Palm Sunday Path was almost a thousand.
Jesus says that when a small seed falls on good soil, it brings forth a hundredfold.
I keep seeing how that happens. God makes it happen.
In January, Palm Sunday Path was being held by only one church: the United Church of Christ. But they were ready to share.
By March, Palm Sunday Path included representatives from multiple churches – more than anyone expected – as speakers, organizers, and volunteers.
We gathered around the words and the work of Jesus Christ, so often misrepresented in the public square.
Jesus lived and taught love of God and love of neighbor.
Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, and welcomed the stranger.
These three pillars were the purpose of Palm Sunday Path: to help Christians show the world the face of Jesus.
Around these three pillars, people spoke and prayed and sang.
Jesus came to lay down his life, not to take up arms.
This week, Christians will gather to remember the last week of his earthly life.
We will break bread together and remember his Last Supper.
We will wash feet and remember he taught us to serve.
We will remember his crucifixion by the powers and principalities of his day.
And finally we will remember that he rose victorious from the grave.
We will proclaim that love is stronger than death. Grace is greater than sin.
I didn't speak this language as a child; I learned it as an adult. I have come to love it deeply; it conveys a truth I can't name any other way.
Palm Sunday itself may be over, but I will continue on my Palm Sunday Path.
This week, I will attend a multi-state debriefing call organized by leaders in Minnesota. I will reach out for conversations about next steps.
And I will ask you – yes, you reading these words – if you live in Michigan, to make your own Palm Sunday Promise.
Because this year I learned: Palm Sunday isn't one day on the calendar.
It's a way of life and faith that is vulnerable, risk-taking, and engaged in the public square.
Just like Jesus.
And just like Jesus, those who make a Palm Sunday Promise will pray, learn and act. We promise to work to create a country where the hungry are fed, strangers are welcomed, and the sick are healed. These are Christian values.
Palm Sunday Path may have begun on Palm Sunday 2026, but it isn't over.
We aren't going to agonize. We're going to organize.
That work has just begun. It's already getting noticed.
Do you want to organize, not agonize?
All are welcome.
Member discussion