From “Why I’ve Made 100 Orange Stoles Addressing Gun Violence” at Sojourners (Sept 2019):
The #WearOrange movement began with a group of teenagers in Chicago whose friend, Hadiya Pendleton, was shot to death in a park near her school in 2013. Hadiya was 15. Her murder made the headlines because she had played with her school band at President Obama’s second inauguration celebrations only the week before. First Lady Michelle Obama attended her funeral.
When publicity began for the second national #WearOrange Day, my friend and colleague, the Rev. C. Eric Funston, posted on Facebook that if he had an orange stole, he would wear it to church the next Sunday. Later, he told me that while we may not think of orange as a standard liturgical color, once it was an accepted alternative to the green of “ordinary time.” What’s more, “amongst those who assign symbolic or allegorical meaning to colors, orange is considered the color of warning and prophecy.”
I heard Eric’s call to raise up the awareness of gun violence within the church that preaches peace and life, and offered to make us an orange stole each. In a minute, I had offered to make one for any member of clergy in our Episcopal Diocese of Ohio who would join us. A little sprig of the #WearOrange movement was born.
The need for awareness, for prayer, for conversion is still critical; as a Christian, one might say crucial. There are many ways to address the prevalence and culture of gun violence that surrounds us. We have no dearth of options, no need to despair when there are tools for each of us to use toward peace, and when we remember that we are each part of the Body of Christ, whose littlest fingernail is a necessary and valuable contributor to the good of the whole, the work of the gospel, the life of the world.
You can visit the “More Publications” page to find more written resources to support your work of peace, or use the search bar to find #WearOrange posts. God bless you in your vocation to deep peace.
To ask a question, request a stole, or simply to be in touch, email Rosalind at AFamilyLikeMine@rosalindhughes.com
over the water 