Bishop Deon Johnson invites churches throughout the Diocese of Missouri to observe "Wear Orange Sunday" on Sunday, June 9, 2024, to remember the more than 43,000 people who are killed with guns and approximately 76,000 who are shot and wounded every year.
Here are ways you and our churches can engage in Wear Orange Sunday:
- Encourage members to wear orange clothing.
- Clergy can wear orange stoles.
- Consider using special prayers of lament and hope during your service.
- Distribute this bulletin insert to offer ways we can promote gun violence prevention as individuals and congregations.
- Invite a special speaker to share information during a formation or coffee hour.
- Decorate the entrance to your church with orange flags or prayer banners.
- Encourage everyone to take pictures and post about gun violence prevention on their favorite social media platforms - use #wearorange and #DioMo.
- Send pictures or stories about how you marked the day to communications director Janis Greenbaum.
- Attend the Wear Orange March and Rally, gathering at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church at Noon for a 12:30 march to Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Bishop Deon Johnson will be speaking in the program that follows the march.
However you choose to observe Wear Orange Sunday, the important thing is that we honor and remember in prayer those whose lives have been cut short by gunfire and those survivors whose lives are forever scarred. Our faith compels us to love one another as Christ has loved us. We who follow the Prince of Peace must commit ourselves to work for peace in our communities.
For more information, contact the Rev. Meghan Ryan, Diocesan Missioner for Gun Violence Prevention.
