An Easter message of a different kind

Twenty concerned citizens of the last generation called on believers today on Good Friday with a large wooden cross in front of the cathedral in Frankfurt to offer peaceful resistance as Christians in the face of the great injustice of the climate crisis. People stood quietly at the entrance to the church with a large wooden cross and posters as churchgoers arrived for the Good Friday service. A nine-year-old child nailed a globe to the cross and covered it with fake blood. The posters had sayings like: “Creation is dying. We are determined. Are you too?” 33 other citizens of the last generation were unable to take part in the action because they had to spend until Easter Monday in police custody due to peaceful protests.

“Climate change is a catastrophe that is being ignored and suppressed – just like Good Friday was for us Christians. “Science agrees: If we don’t act immediately and forcefully now, the world we know will end,” he said. said Jesuit Father Jörg Alt from Nuremberg. 

He further says: “We Christians have a special responsibility in times of crisis because we have had a special hope since Easter: namely that God himself will always find answers for us. I have repeatedly broken the law myself - for the sake of what is right; for example during food rescue campaigns at the beginning of the year. Everyone should now ask themselves the question: Which side am I on? On the side of the unjust ‘business as usual’ or on the side of peaceful resistance?”

He asks us all: “What would happen if more and more people positioned themselves in blockades of highways, banks and corporations, government buildings, fossil infrastructure, and that we need a system change? – Namely, away from egoism and pressure to grow, towards justice and solidarity.”

Good Friday is the day on which destruction prevails - just as large parts of creation are in danger today: all life, animals and plants, are dying. The miracle of resurrection will only happen if we make it possible – through peaceful resistance in this dark hour.

Sonja Manjabach, a church musician from Oldenburg, had to spend over 48 hours in police custody after a blockade on Monday. The judge decided on this period of custody, even though Sonja assured that she would be used as an organist at her church's Easter services. The pastor of the church thanked Sonja for her civil disobedience and said “You also do this for us”.