The Shooting of Charlie Kirk
It was shocking to see the headline, “Charlie Kirk shot and killed.” When I read it the first emotion I felt was sorrow followed by a question. Is this who we are as a country? I fear the answer may be that we are heading in a direction where political violence is more and more common. After all, it was only a few months ago that a Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman was killed in her home and of course we all remember the most recent assassination attempt on President Trump as well. Is this who we are as a nation? It certainly isn’t who we want to be. I read a statistic that 98 percent of Americans believe political violence is unacceptable yet one third believe the party they oppose endorses political violence.
Thinking theologically, I remember that Charlie Kirk is a child of God and I lament that he was killed. Bloodshed is not the way of Jesus Christ and political violence is not the way of democracy. I lament as well for Charlie’s wife and his children. They will be missing him for the rest of their lives. This is a tragedy and it should never happen.
I don’t know about you, but I saw a wide variety of reactions to this tragedy on my social media feed. Some of my friends were posting statements of Charlie Kirk saying, “Jesus died so you can live.” Others were posting very different statements by Kirk like, “We made a huge mistake when we passed the civil rights act in the 1960s.” Those quotes are both accurate and are both ways people will remember Kirk. I’ve done a lot of listening to people in our church. I believe that people came to Christ through things that Charlie said. I celebrate that and I give thanks that God used him in that way. I also believe that other things Kirk said were hurtful to LGBTQ people, people of color, and women and I lament that. Many people are rushing to either venerate or condemn Charlie Kirk, at times it even feels like people are remembering completely different versions of the same man.
This moment reveals something we already knew. We are a nation deeply divided along partisan lines. This divide is expanded by partisan news outlets and social media algorithms which strategically show us content evoking strong reactions to get more of our attention which is then monetized. Rather than add fuel to the fire of division I challenge us to refrain from partisanship and refrain from quickly jumping to conclusions. This allows us to have a more nuanced conversation and acknowledge different forms of grief. Some grieve a person they view as a hero. Others are grieving about an act of unacceptable violence inflicted against someone they disagreed with. Everyone I’ve spoken with is grieving in some way.
Jesus was against all forms of violence. Remember when he interpreted the 10 commandments in Matthew 5:21-22? “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.” Jesus challenges all His followers to not only refrain from killing but to refrain from anger and judgement as well. This is a hard command to follow in moments of grief, anger, and pain.
Some of the responses to the shooting have really disturbed me. “They did this to Charlie!” I wonder, who “they” is? This desire to scapegoat may meet our emotional needs in the moment but I fear this partisan response will evoke more fear and anger, eroding our capacity for healing in the long term.
Where is Jesus in the midst of this situation? Jesus is weeping with the Kirk family and weeping with the Robinson family. Jesus is weeping when he hears calls for revenge and weeping because the bonds of community are being torn apart. I believe Jesus weeps at the political violence in our country and all forms of violence around the world. What can we do to stop political violence and heal from violence of all kinds? I don’t pretend to have the answers but I invite you to begin with prayer. Please pray for the families of all victims of gun violence particularly the Kirk family along with all the others who are victims of gun violence. I also invite you to pray for our country, especially for our leaders to use their power to lead us away from polarization, towards unity. May God give our leaders grace to hear their constituents and create policies that will take steps to prevent tragedies from happening in the future. May the Holy Spirit lead us as we respond. May we not seek easy answers or scapegoats but instead seek to be faithful and share the love of Christ as we grieve. As always, I want to hear from you and appreciate the open conversation, please reach out at PastorMike@SpringChurch.org.
