Rev. Raphael Warnock delivers the first sermon at Atlanta Ebenezer Baptist Church since his projected Senate victory

“Who would have guessed that in the state of Georgia we would see the people of Georgia rise and send an African American man who grew up in public housing, the pastor of this Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King preached, and a young Jewish male, son of an immigrant, to the US Senate? “Warnock said.

Church services were held without a personal hearing and posted online because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Warnock, the senior pastor of the church where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, was designed on Wednesday to win the Georgia Senate run-off election against Kelly Loeffler, who conceded the race. The election results are expected to be officially certified later this month.

Warnock grew up in Savannah, Georgia, in a public building, the 11th out of 12 children. He is the first graduate of the family, having attended Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta.

Warnock calls the Capitol riot “the ugly side” of American history

Warnock centered his sermon on the story of John the Baptist, the “truth teller” who was beheaded for speaking out against the powerful ruler Herod.

“He created a lot of problems for himself in the process. Telling the truth will get you into trouble, but there can be no transformation without truth,” said Warnock. “We cannot and will not change until we face or are faced with the disease of our own situation. This applies to individuals, this applies to institutions, this applies to nations.”

Warnock also quoted the Book of Matthew, which says: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence”.

He said the tensions in that verse – that something as sacred as heaven still suffers violence – were seen in the same way on Wednesday, when a pro-Trump crowd invaded the United States Capitol within hours after Warnock’s electoral victory.

“We witness this tension in such a powerful and tragic way,” he said. “The moment we were trying to put on our celebration shoes, the ugly side of our history, our great and great American history, started to emerge. We saw the rude, the angry, the disrespectful and the violent invade the home people.”

When the old order wears off, people sometimes respond with violence and despair, he said.

“So there is victory at this point, there is violence at this point, there are fantastic opportunities and fierce opposition, and it reminds us that there is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

He urged listeners to combat the violence of prejudice and fear, the violence of poverty and the violence of our politics.

“Violence in this world is real, don’t be dishonest about it, but violence doesn’t have the last word,” he said. “God is still up to something in this world. So don’t give in to cynicism, don’t give in to fear. Don’t give in to hate, don’t give in to intolerance, don’t give in to seeing xenophobia because violence will never have the last word.”