By Josh Troy
Clarksdale Advocate
The City of Clarksdale began its second Jericho Week on Sunday night. Jericho Week runs from April 23 to 29, and faith-based leaders and citizens walk from one church to another location each day. The group prays at the ending point of each walk. A Jericho March refers to a group or congregation coming together for a prayer walk.
Clarksdale first celebrated Jericho Week in 2019, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The walks for the 2022 Jericho Week begin at 6:30 p.m. from April 23 to 28 and at 10 a.m. on April 29. A bus will be available to take everyone back from the ending to the starting point, beginning Wednesday, April 26.
“The purpose of this is to bring about unity in the community because we’re dealing with such separation and division in our community,” said the Rev. Freddie DeShazer of Dennis Chapel and Calvary Baptist Church. “We need to come together in the community. Certainly, that can start with the faith-based community to reach out and bring others into it.”
A total of 72 citizens participated in the first day of Jericho Week. City Chaplain John Givins, who is also the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church pastor, hopes for even more participation for the remainder of the week. “I just want the whole City of Clarksdale to come out, to be a part of what God is doing in the City of Clarksdale,” he said. “God bless everybody and everybody’s family.”
The walk on April 23, named the “Day of Peace,” was from Kings Temple Missionary Baptist Church to New Covenant Baptist Church. The April 24 walk on the “Day of Love” was from New Jerusalem Church to Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church. The walk on April 25, the “Day of Justice,” was from Metropolitan Baptist Church to Martin Luther King Park. The “Day of Deliverance” was on April 26, but there were some weather issues. The walk was initially intended to be from Old Harvest Food to Oakhurst Intermediate School. Instead, the majority of participants drove in their cars and continued to Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, where everyone came together.
The “Day of Healing” is on April 27, and the walk is from Oakhurst Baptist Church to Sunshine Church. The “Day of Unity” is on April 28, and the walk is from True Light Mission Church to Booker T. Washington Elementary School. The walk on the final day, Saturday, April 29, begins at 10 a.m. and starts from Dennis Chapel, ending at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. Saturday is the “Day of Praise.”
