Rev. David Black is the young pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He and members of his church are putting love into action.
And Rev. Black recently made the news. He was praying on the sidelines of a protest against ICE agents. His prayer was that the Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of the agents and protect the victims. He was shot in the face with a pepper ball.
Standing in his black clerical garb with a clerical collar, in an obvious attitude of prayer, he was shot with the pepper balls over and over again. He heard the ICE agents laughing. Seeing him disabled, the ICE agents approached him and sprayed him with pepper spray. His congregants tried to protect him, taking a lot of the hits intended for the pastor.
If ICE agents treat a minister engaged in prayer with such cruelty, we can only imagine what they do to our Hispanic brothers and sisters.
So, here we are. We have, as a nation, placed evil at the center of national power. Our nation is corrupt at the core. Can the church help to save us?
It was largely Christian conservatives who brought us to this brink. We cannot count on them. But the rest of us have work to do.
First of all, we must not give up. We do not have the levers of power, but we do have the power of the Spirit.
Stand firm. Speak out.
Millions of people will gather in the streets across America tomorrow. It may get darker before the dawn—but love will win. Love will win!