What is the RISE UP! Easter Action?

On Easter Sunday, with your church congregation, make a public witness of standing up for democracy. Join congregations nationwide who are standing up for democracy.

• Make Signs: Use Palm Sunday coffee hour to make signs together as a congregation

• Pick a Location: Outside your church, or in your town/city center

• Select a Time: For many, following Easter worship service, or following a time of fellowship after your Easter service will make the most sense.

• Educate yourself and your congregation: https://faithanddemocracy.net & https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/christian-faith-and-democracy

• Contact local media about your congregation’s RISE UP! Easter Action & use all the media you can think of to spread the word about this witness.

• Invite other congregations to join

• Spread the word on your social media and more.

• Document with photos and videos to be shared.

What change will this make?

Our hope is that this action does at least some of the following:

• Takes up media space with a Christianity that is for democracy and not against it. This will help encourage other Christians and people of faith who value democracy to speak out and rise up in its defense.

• Photos, videos, songs, signs, people! Images of congregations in action to defend democracy will be a public witness that changes the public discourse.

• Through the process of deciding to participate as a congregation, and then making signs together and sharing conversation about Christianity and democracy, building stronger community within congregations.

• By becoming stronger, more connected congregations through the process of participating in this Rise UP! Easter Action, that churches will choose to develop or strengthen relationships of solidarity in their communities with minoritized and targeted communities.

• Encourage congregations that tend to be quiet or more reserved and less public with the core values of their faith to find their voice in this chaotic time and know that they are not alone.

• That this process will connect those of us who participate to our core values and encourage us to speak and act with integrity, agency and courage.

Isn’t this too political for churches to be involved in?

Churches are not legally allowed to support particular candidates for public office and retain their tax-exempt status. A church cannot, for example, campaign for President Trump. However, a church can speak and organize around issues that are political. A church can, for example, show up at city council meetings to support local legislation that would make a city a sanctuary city for immigrants because their faith is rooted in Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25) . A church can, for example, organize with partners statewide to support legislation that would increase funding for affordable housing because their faith is rooted in Jesus’ call to provide for the poor (James 2 and elsewhere). A church can, for example, join in federal movements for clean air and water legislation because their faith is rooted in a God who created every living creature and who has called humans to care for creation (Genesis 1). These are all political actions that are not about endorsing a Political candidate.

The Rise Up! Easter Action is a political action that is not about endorsing a specific political candidate. Churches can “bring our faith to bear on the public square for the common good and the flourishing of all humanity.” (See the Statement on Christian Faith and Democracy -https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/christian-faith-and-democracy). Churches can organize to protect the divinely-endowed dignity of every person. Democracy is a form of government that helps protects the dignity and voice of each person and so the call for Christians to stand up to defend democracy is an expression of faith.

Why do we need to defend democracy now?

The Trump Administration is actively demonstrating their intention and plan to rule the United States not in accordance with the democratic rule of law, but rather according to the personal whims and wishes of the President and those he choses to listen to. The disregard for the democratic rule of law dangerous for all of us. It denies us our voice in the governance of our country, and it puts our physical safety at risk. “From the first day his second term began, the President has continuously undermined the Constitution and made Americans feel less safe. From firing public servants to dissolving federal agencies and taking taxpayer money from our communities, the Administration has violated the law time and time again. Restoring law and order starts with respecting the Rule of Law itself and the sacredness of our Constitution. This Administration has failed to do so since day one,” said Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Grace Meng (NY-06) -(https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/president-trump-actively-destroys-rule-law-he-claims-be-restoring). Additionally, Trump has unlawfully used the Aliens Enemies Act of 1789 to deport hundreds of people from the U.S. (https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5329815/alien-enemies-act-lawsuit-trump) Trump has demonstrated that he does not care to protect democracy and instead wants to rule as an authoritarian.

Authoritarianism is antagonistic to a faith rooted in Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us that loving God and loving neighbor are inseparable (Luke 10). “Love of neighbor calls for the inclusion of all our fellow neighbors in the political process. Democratic participation enables individuals to live in service to, and in solidarity with one another-especially the marginalized among us. As Christians, we are called not merely to pursue self-interest, but to prioritize the collective good.” (https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/christian-faith-and-democracy)

This statement about Christianity and Democracy is an excellent resource for understanding this RISE UP! Easter Action and for conversation in your congregation: https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/christian-faith-and-democracy

What does this have to do with Easter?

Easter defines us as Christians. In Easter, we celebrate resurrection. Specifically, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” is a political as well as religious statement. To declare that Jesus is Lord is to say that no other is Lord. Caesar is not Lord; Trump is not Lord. As Rev. Dr. William Barber describes, “Jesus was crucified as an illegal and rose from the dead to demonstrate that God’s reign is greater than any political system’s efforts to pit us against one another. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that followers of the resurrected Christ were first called “Christian” at Antioch because there was no other name for the beloved community of former enemies that emerged among people who insisted that a crucified criminal, not Caesar, is Lord. A truly revolutionary vision was unleashed in the world that first Easter.” (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/20/politics-of-easter-jesus-william-barber)

Our Easter faith declarations and songs, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” lead us into this Rise Up! Easter Action this year, in this particular time. Trump is not King. Jesus is Lord. Jesus’ kingdom is one in which people’s needs are regarded as holy, in which each life is respected as sacred, in which shelter is given to the stranger, liberty is proclaimed to the captive, love leads instead of vengeance and violence, and forgiveness renews and heals.  “That’s the great Easter challenge of the gospel: to imagine Jesus’ kingdom transformed into current political structures and to make it happen.”

Who is organizing this?

RISE UP! Easter Action is a grassroots effort seeded by Rev. Lindsey Peterson, a minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and pastor of South Congregational Church, UCC in Springfield, MA. You can reach out to Lindsey at revlindseypeterson@gmail.com for help preparing your congregation for a RISE UP! Easter Action. Let Lindsey know if your congregation will be participating!