Stand for Love over Hate Sunday

After the regular morning worship service on Sunday, Aug. 4, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Waukegan gathered to dedicate their new mural of love and welcome.

In June, the congregation’s operations manager arrived at church to find a spray-painted hate message directed at the congregation’s LGBTQIA+ welcome at their entrance. The church’s pride flag sign had also been spray-painted black.

The congregation set about to find someone who could paint a mural over the defaced sidewalk.And on Sunday, the community gathered to affirm the importance of countering hate with love, to bless the mural and celebrate as a community.