The liturgy read in churches across America on Sunday said: “Blessed are those who are persecuted.”

What clergy said in many pulpits, reacting to President Trump’s most recent executive order: “Blessed are the refugees.”

The Rev. Roger Gench preaches at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., about the need for Presbyterians to welcome refugees to the United States on Sunday. Photo for The Washington Post by Oliver Contreras

The words of the Beatitudes – the nine blessings recounted in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount – happened to be prescribed in the liturgical calendar used by Catholics and many Protestants for this week’s readings.

After Trump issued an order Friday temporarily barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, clergy across the nation scrapped earlier sermons to build on the lesson and urge parishioners to stand up for what they see as a biblical call to care for “the stranger.”

But at some conservative churches, pastors and parishioners also voiced concerns about how to balance welcoming the stranger with preserving American security.

“We don’t want Christians to be afraid of reaching out to refugees,” said Brad Whitt, the pastor at Abilene Baptist Church, a 2,800-member Southern Baptist church in Martinez, Georgia. Whitt said that Trump’s vow to improve the system for vetting refugees might eventually make churches more comfortable with helping them. He said he supports Trump’s order “as long as it’s not a religious test.”

Meanwhile, the Rev. Roger Gench at the historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., echoed other pastors across the ideological spectrum in treating the order as a Christian call to resist.

“It seems to me that as followers of Jesus, we can do nothing but to resist the actions that have taken place this week that target Muslims, immigrants and refugees,” he told his congregation.

“When (Jesus) talks about people who are mourning, think about the Syrian refugees whose lives have been devastated. When Jesus talks about those who are striving for justice, think about the mothers and fathers standing over the dead bodies of children,” Gench preached at the church in the denomination Trump affiliates that stands just three blocks from the White House.

The executive order calls for barring Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, and prohibits admitting any refugees from any nation in the world for 120 days. For 90 days, no citizen of seven majority-Muslim countries – even those who hold American green cards and have been living in the United States for years – will be admitted without a waiver.

In Roswell, Georgia, the Rev. Eric Lee joined Gench and others, preaching at the United Methodist church Chapel Roswell that followers of Jesus “can’t just turn away and say I don’t care, or it’s not my problem.”

“Granted, for some people, that whole concept of being hospitable to strangers can be unnerving, scary. … Are we willing to take risks on behalf of our faith?” he asked. “Because practicing intentional, even radical hospitality toward strangers is inherent to the Christian ethic.”

At Manhattan’s Riverside Church, the Rev. Amy Butler’s sermon on the Christian call to welcome immigrants drew repeated applause and a standing ovation at the end.

“In the kingdom of God, we open our hearts and our hands; we make extra room at the table; we let the boat dock and the traveler clear customs and the children find safety,” she said

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