The Rev. Howard-John Wesley is no stranger to speaking hard truths from the pulpit. His Sept. 14 sermon at Alfred Street Baptist Church — one of the nation’s oldest historically Black congregations — placed him and his church at the center of controversy. But his congregation at the Alexandria, Virginia-based church, has his back.
The tension of the week and the possibility of protests were the result of Wesley’s sermon, “Lead Me to the Rock,” which focused on the overabundance of injustices against Black people in this country and how the weight of it all leaves him overwhelmed. Wesley masterfully handled the scripture text, Psalm 61:2, interwoven with one of the hottest news topics of the times, the killing of Charlie Kirk, hailed by President Trump as “our greatest evangelist for American liberty.”
Wesley told the congregation that Kirk did not deserve to be killed. “But I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half staff, calling this nation to honor and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land,” he said…