Atop the pulpit of The First Baptist Church of Deanwood rang petitions for change and a bevy of #PrayerfulResistance as more than 24 faith-based and community organizations took to the Northeast Washington, D.C., sanctuary demonstrating the power of prayer — or what event convener the Rev. Dr. O. Jermaine Bego calls “the first form of active resistance.”
“When you think about the life of Harriet Tubman, everything that she did was grounded first in prayer, before she went to serve out her mission, her purpose and to bring freedom to those who are oppressed,” Bego said, “and I believe the same thing is true today.”
Set to the backdrop of a national opioid crisis, anti-immigration efforts, housing discrimination and disparities and the Aug. 11 federal occupation of D.C., with recent orders to extend through Nov. 30, the event proved to be far more than a prayer service.
Titled “Pray for the District: #PrayerfulResistance,” the demonstration brought prayers from the mouths of local leaders to God’s ears, covering topics from law enforcement and first responders to justice and equity, health and healing, remarks for peace and safety, and more.
“We have to pray as though everything depends on God, but we’ve got to work as though everything depends on us,” said Bishop Joel Peebles Sr., prelate of Global United Fellowship, crediting the words of Augustine. “At the end of the day, our prayer is critical, and our prayer works, but our work has to work too.”
Much of the work begins with mirroring how to put faith over fear, Bego noted, a task he bestows upon clergy and Christian believers such as himself.
Amid preparations for mobilizations and growing initiatives, Bego reflected on the day’s tribulations as “the times designed to test our souls,” while exuding confidence that the congregation would leave with “answers to our problems.”
Before speaking with The Informer, he echoed a similar notion during a video segment on local TV station Fox 5, assuring a broader audience that D.C. residents had a plan for the journey ahead — and faith and community-based leaders are ready for the fight.
D.C. faith leaders: We cannot be ‘complicit in a false peace’
According to Free DC, a nonprofit fighting for District statehood, rights and against injustices, the next steps toward liberation in the city can be chopped up to five counteractions that “push back on those who are trying to build a dictatorship.”
At the top of the list is to not obey an advance or be complicit in the threats and fear tactics designed to force action that actually does not have Washingtonians’ best interests at heart — which many local organizers, including Kristen Bonner of the DC Against Trump Coalition, believe D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has failed to do.
“[Bowser’s] administration has taken the position that if we collaborate with [President Donald] Trump and do what he wants, that will preserve some local autonomy. But we know that giving into fascism and … a racist agenda will never preserve anything. Trump is going to do what he wants to do,” Bonner told The Informer.
Bonner also highlighted the efforts of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has openly condemned recent threats from Trump to expand federal occupation into the Illinois city.
“That’s what we want Bowser to be like,” said Bonner, who’s also a member of the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “If she can’t be like that, then she needs to get out.”
Thus, the next step, as touted on the pulpit by Free DC’s Paige Davis, was prioritizing joy, followed by taking up space, practicing solidarity and organizing.
“Do so strategically, do so in numbers. Do so in a way that is inclusive of all people,” she told the congregation.
The Rev. Delonte Gholston, lead pastor of Peace Fellowship Church, encouraged congregations to host peace walks within their own jurisdictions. He challenged the more than 24 organizations to each find a job for at least one youth.
“If we can get kids in summer youth employment, then we can figure out a way to employ our 8-year-olds to 18-year-olds after school and on Saturdays,” Gholston said.
Bego and Peebles both agreed that the day of prayer was just the beginning of a forceful shift in both the church and broader community.
Bego told Fox 5 his hopes to see the Trump and Bowser administrations invite clergy and community-based groups to help “restore the element of trust that has been lost,” while Peebles shared his vision for achieving “global prosperity.”
“We will not be puppets, we will not be distracted by circus antics and we will not bow to fear or manipulation,” Peebles declared. “Instead, [we will] rise with holy boldness, uniting across as races, parties, and classes to defend the freedom of God’s people.”
This story originally appeared here.