Praying with their feet

On the afternoon of Saturday, October 5, approximately 60 people gathered in the shade of Holy Trinity Church in Toronto to support the Palestinian Youth Movement one year into the Gaza war.

Organizations represented at the gathering included Christians for a Free Palestine, Christians for Just Peace, Bathurst United Church and Mennonite Action.  

“A number of Christians wanted to get together and express our lament and our cry for justice,” Ken Ogasawara of Mennonite Action explained during a video call the day before.  

“Instead of organizing our own [event] or reinventing the wheel, we thought it best to support a Palestinian-led initiative that’s already happening.” 

Those at the event would hear words from the leading organizers, pray together, and sing "Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying," before marching with thousands of other protestors who filled the nearby streets and poured into Dundas Square later that afternoon.  

Ogasawara grew up attending Shantz Mennonite Church in Baden, Ontario. He warmly refers to it as his home church, a place where the congregation is like family to him. He joined Mennonite Action back in March.  

He credits the words in Micah 6:8 and Matthew 25: 35—40 for encouraging him to do his part in the collective.  

The push to join this particular march was not without some preemptive anxieties around walking in solidarity with secular groups that do not necessarily share Anabaptist values.  

“Where do we position ourselves within that?” Ogasawara asked, referring to the vast and diverse movement of people seeking justice for Palestine. 

But for Kit Andres of Mennonite Action, who joined Ogasawara on the same call, this is precisely the beauty of large movements.  

“It reflects the diversity of all our communities, and how we’ve been brought up, what we believe,” says Andres.  

“We are all there for the same reason—for a permanent ceasefire, for an arms embargo, for an end to the occupation.” 

Andres was born and raised Mennonite in the Niagara Region. About 14 years ago, he decided to stop attending any church, although his work with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change kept him somewhat connected with the wider faith community.  

Searching for a peace group, Andres found Mennonite Action. In February, the peace group brought him through the doors of Grace Mennonite Church in Niagara, where he now attends regularly.  

He understands that calls for justice can look different from one community to the next. Andres is aware that, for some Mennonites, even the act of attending a rally could be regarded as violent, as could the use of certain words. 

“And that’s okay,” says Andres.   

In the past, folks from Mennonite Action Ontario and a smaller group of participants in the Niagara Region joined larger protests, recognizing that they would not agree with everything that may be spoken by members of other communities.  

He believes people can still stand together in solidarity despite these disagreements.  

“It’s not for us to say that they shouldn’t do this, or they shouldn’t do that,” he says of other groups. “As long as Palestine is occupied, none of us are free.” 

At the October 5 march, Ogasawara felt his initial concern melt away. His spirits rose.  

The Toronto Star estimated 5,000 people gathered that day in the square, while organizers estimated the numbers to be much higher.   

In an email to Canadian Mennonite after the march, Ogasawara described the powerful feeling that came with being surrounded by people from many nations as together they called for an end to the Gaza war.  

As anticipated, Ogasawara didn’t agree with all the chants. In particular, he and other Christians present could not join in or condone a chant that ended with “Israel will be no more.”  

But, as he stated in his email, he doesn’t consider this an “all or nothing” situation.

He quoted a line from the hymn "My Soul Cries Out," often sung at many Mennonite Action events: “Wipe away all the tears for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.”  

While he feels that the world has yet to turn away from war and occupation, he puts his greatest hope in Christ and those courageous enough to mobilize and pray with their feet.  

His letter ends with the words, “The world is indeed about to turn.”