New York Hispanic Evangelical Pastor Gabriel Salguero Prays at Democratic Convention

Rev. Gabriel Salguero delivered the opening invocation for the Democratic Convention’s final session.  He is the pastor of the Lamb’s Church in New York City and is president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.   It advocates liberalized immigration policies and legalization for illegal immigrants.  Last year Salguero endorsed the “Circle of Protection,” which was a coalition that effectively sided with President Obama during the federal debt ceiling crisis by opposing limitations on social welfare and entitlement spending.  Salguero acknowledges that most Latino evangelicals are pro-life and pro-traditional marriage.  His website cites a quote about evangelical Hispanics as “big government social conservatives.”

(photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Here is Rev. Salguero’s pray from earlier today:

Let us pray.

All mighty God, we have come to this place mindful of our absolute need of you. We confess that America has always needed your guidance, your strength, and your protection. Lord we acknowledge that we need your direction so as not to stray too far from the shores of your purposes. As we walk into the autumn of elections, we pray that you continue to guide this great nation. Help us all, Republicans, independents, and Democrats, never to tire in the work of justice and mercy.

Help us always to be mindful of the most vulnerable among us: the child, the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Give us the courage to face the giants that threaten our life together. Help us to forge the future of our democracy from the better angels of our nature. Lord we know we still have work to do but may our work reflect your character. May be it hewn out of love, compassion, justice, and civility. May we never be satisfied until every son and daughter of God has an opportunity to flourish and strive.

So Lord we confess that we can only march on by your immeasurable grace. From New Mexico to North Carolina, from our farms to our towering cities, from our soldiers to our stay at home parents, we pledge to move forward in faith, a faith that believes that the whirl winds of division and the storms of despair are not greater than the sun light of love, hope, and freedom. God help us to do our work together: the affluent and the economically challenged, women and men, the elderly y los jóvenes. We recognize that we are our sister’s and brother’s keepers and that together we can do more.

So give us the solidarity and ingenuity to respond to some of today’s relentless challenges. God, we are marching on! We are moving forward and we desperately need you. Help us not to relent until our nation seized the day when justice rose down like the mighty stream and righteousness like a mighty river. In this we pray in the name of the ones, the ancients call wonderful counselor, mighty God, and prince of peace. Amen.