Heather Curtis
WMAL.com.

WASHINGTON – Wednesday members of the Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale and strangers worked side by side cleaning up swastikas & other graffiti spraypainted on the church overnight Monday.

The church’s Pastor the Rev. David Lindsey said between 40 or 50 volunteers showed up to get what he called “vicious language” off the building.

“It was very encouraging. It’s a reminder that God’s love is bigger than the hatred and the violence we can throw at each other as people, and that love comes shining through people no matter where they come from in life,” Lindsey said.

Much of the graffiti on the church’s windows was removed, but they may have to hire a professional to clean the bricks that were spraypainted. The church isn’t fundraising, but some people have already sent in donations to help defray cleanup costs.

The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia was also spraypainted with hateful words and symbols overnight Monday. Executive Director Jeff Dannick said earlier this week they would be using a power washer to remove the graffiti.

Lindsey doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that the church and JCC were vandalized during the start of Holy Week and Passover and isn’t surprised that his church was targeted.

“Since our founding in the mid-1950s as a racially integrated church, back in the segregated days of Virginia, pastors before me have gotten death threats. They’re gotten hate mail for a host of things, and so it’s nothing new there that I would have to deal with this,” Lindsey said.

Previous pastors have had to deal with death threats and hate mail because the congregation has a history accepting all people. The church allowed black people to worship in the 1950s when Virginia segregated. A lot of current members are part of the LGBTQ community.

Saturday night the church is hosting a community-wide vigil to allow people to heal.

Fairfax County Police and the FBI continue searching for whoever defaced the church and the JCC.

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