http://communitiesrising.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/what-would-jesus-do-for-easter-by-pam-nath

What Would Jesus Do for Easter? by Pam Nath

This coming week, Christians around the world will commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you have plans to commemorate this Holy Week? I'd like to urge you to spend part of your Easter Sunday joining with Survivors Village for a Right to Return March and Rally. When you think of Easter, you probably don't think of a political rally. You probably think of church services, Easter parades, the Easter bunny, Easter baskets full of sweets, egg hunts and family gatherings. What does a “Right to Return March and Rally” have to do with Easter??
The word commemorate comes from the Latin “commemorāre” which means “to be mindful of.” During Holy Week, Christians should be mindful of how Jesus lived his life, how that got him killed, and how his resurrection demonstrates that the ability to kill and destroy posssessed by this world's “powers that be” does not have the final word.

So how did Jesus live his life? What did he do that so alienated and enraged the religious and political leaders of his day, enough so that they decided the best option was to kill him? What does following his example in these things mean for us in 2010? In what way are we called to “live out” the final word of resurrection? These questions are ones that I believe all committed Christians need to struggle with.

When I think of Jesus' life, I think of his first public proclamation of what his life was all about: “to bring good news to the poor...to proclaim release to the captives...recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4: 16-21). I think of how he “hung out” with poor folks and others who the society of the day saw as undesirables (the kind of folks that many folks might want to clear from their neighborhood or city if given the chance to create a “new” New Orleans) (cf: Mark 13: 41-44; Luke 7: 36-49; Mark 5: 24-34; Mark 1: 40-43; John 4: 1-27). I think of his saying “You cannot serve both God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24), telling the rich man to sell all that he had and give it to the poor (Matt 19: 16-24), and claiming that we would be judged by how we respond to the poor (Luke 17: 19-31). I think of him overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple just a few days before he was killed (Matt 21: 12-18).

Survivors Village is a group of former St. Bernard Housing Development residents and their allies. The demolition of St Bernard and other public housing developments in New Orleans was “justified” with the promise that residents would be granted newer, safer, and more modern housing. Instead, residents are being systematically excluded from the land they lived on prior to the storm using income requirements, credit and background checks and other oppressive rules. This is on top of the fact that from the beginning, plans excluded them from 75% of the rebuilt apartments which were reserved for mixed income (non-poor) tenants.

So on Easter Sunday, April 4 at 5 pm, Survivors Village will be hosting a Right to Return March and Rally. The rally at 3800 St. Bernard Ave. will also serve as the starting point for the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)'s march from New Orleans to Detroit Michigan for the US Social Forum. Come live out your commitment as a follower of Jesus on this day when we commemorate ressurection by joining with Survivors Village and PPEHRC and sending a message to today's “powers that be” that their plans to destroy the former St. Bernard neighborhood will not have the final word.