I read with great heartache Sunday’s commentary by my sibling in Christian ministry, Nathaniel Brown. Noting first that yet another word from the Black experience, woke, has been coopted by white men, there comes the name of the organization for which he seems to be recruiting, Reconquista.

Historically, Reconquista is used to describe the forced conversion by white European Christians of Muslims and Jews or be slaughtered. To align oneself with such prejudice, religious conceit, and ethnic cleansing is a choice, and not one I would make.

Their website says they are dedicated to “Scripture alone,” yet they seem to have trouble with churches that follow the words of Jesus, likely printed in attention-grabbing red in their Bibles.

Mr. Brown says “the misuse of our churches to support movements such as (BLM and Pride) is a great dishonor to the original congregants … ” I agree with him. Those who helped found my own congregation, some of whom enslaved other humans, would wonder why we’ve “misused the church” by no longer supporting chattel slavery with the Bible. Certainly, there are other interpretations of Scripture that warrant reevaluation. He asserts that we “do not represent what the Church stands for.” I stand firm in the truth that we do represent what Jesus stands for.

As an Episcopal priest, I will follow the teachings of Jesus who gave us the commandment to love and who was killed because he cared too much about the marginalized and the oppressed. I follow a faith that was made known to every ethnicity under heaven on Pentecost, to a Black gender minority in the Ethiopian Eunuch, and to women who dared to preach the Gospel. Jesus literally asked his disciples to “stay awake,” and toward that goal we who have been pejoratively called “woke” will continue to strive.

— The Rev. Dr. Steve Pankey is the Rector of Christ Episcopal Church.