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A Love Letter to the COS Grassroots

If I could, I would frame a picture of all of you to hang behind my desk.

A friend of mine sent me a photo from the //Sun-Times// of Reverend David Black of First Presbyterian Church recoiling as U.S. Customs and Border agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago.

“I think if that were me,” my friend commented, “I’d have that photo framed in my office behind my desk, to compete in a ‘who’s the most like Jesus’ olympics.”

But this behavior is nothing like what Jesus modeled. Never did Jesus organize citizens to form hostile blockages to law enforcement regimes of his time. In fact, he did quite the opposite. He told them to go the second mile when forced into service unfairly by those regimes. He called them to lay down their swords, and lives if need be, trusting in God’s power over their own. My colleague Rev. Black might have a nifty “wall prize,” but he has hardly been a good and faithful servant of what Jesus would have taught.

As I contemplated a response, my mind thought of you, the COS Grassroots. If I could, I would frame a picture of all of you to hang behind my desk. None of you has been tear-gassed this week as you protest the legally authorized enforcement of duly processed laws in our country. Your picture is not on the front of the Sun-Times, making your perfectly quaffed hipster hair the center focus of your ideals. No, you patiently do the harder thing in faithfulness to principles you understand as more important than your egos.

You work quietly behind the scenes in peace. You build relationships with our lawmakers. Educating those lawmakers and influencing them to take hold of the rightful power entrusted to them by the Constitution. You endure ridicule, lies, slander, obfuscation, betrayal, and more, but you smile, put your head down, and go back to work. As I spend time with so many of you around our country, I hear the same reasons for why you do what you do. “I am worried about the future of this country for the sake of my kids and grandkids.” Your heart is truly for the “least of these.”

I am so blessed to be a part of this movement and to have a front-row seat watching true patriotism in action. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for your endurance. Thank you for your tireless pursuit of what you know to be right. Thank you for exhibiting the exact kind of behavior worthy of the phrase, “Well done my good and faithful servants.” You are seen and appreciated. Keep your head in the peaceful fight we have dedicated ourselves to. The enemy is panicking and on their heels. Victory is ours, the world just doesn’t know it yet.

Love in Christ,
Rev. Chris Thomas
Director of Mentoring

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Login Required to view?	No
Created:	2025-09-23 20:50 GMT
Updated:	2025-09-30 07:00 GMT
Published:	2025-09-23 20:00 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:06 GMT
Change Author:	Jakob Fay
Credit Author:	Chris Thomas