The holy work of resistance
December 18, 2025
By Rev. Riz Prakasim
“Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
–Deuteronomy 27:19
Dear Church,
Scripture speaks with unmistakable force about our responsibility toward those who are vulnerable. God does not bless indifference or neutrality. Instead, we are commanded to protect the dignity of those whom society pushes to the margins. Today, these words confront us as we witness the persecution of Somali communities by the current political administration. Policies and rhetoric that target Somalis with suspicion, intimidation, and cruelty are not simply political missteps, they are moral failures that stand in direct opposition to the heart of God.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” When policy becomes a weapon, when leaders normalize harm, resistance becomes more than an option: it becomes holy work. Holy resistance is the courageous refusal to participate in systems that degrade human life. It is the spiritual discipline of saying “no” to injustice so that we may say “yes” to God.
Our Presbyterian heritage affirms this calling. The Belhar Confession, part of our constitution proclaims:
“We believe that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need… witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
To stand by our Somali neighbors today means naming the truth plainly: what we are seeing resembles “administrative ethnic cleansing,” the intentional use of bureaucracy and fear to marginalize an entire people. This is not merely a political concern. It is a spiritual crisis that tests whether we will live out our faith or retreat into silence.
Martin Niemöller’s warning echoes through history:
“First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Niemöller, who once supported the Nazis, later recognized the devastating cost of his silence. His words remind us that injustice gains ground when good people remain quiet.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to speak before there is no one left to speak. We resist not out of anger, but out of love. Love for God, love for neighbor, and love for the vulnerable communities God entrusts to our care. Resistance is holy work because it aligns us with the God who liberates, heals, defends, and lifts up the oppressed.
May we be a church that chooses courage over comfort, justice over fear, and holy resistance over complicity, trusting that God walks beside us as we stand with our Somali siblings in faith, hope, and love.
In Resistance,
Rev. Riz