*This blog was originally published without the following disclaimer.*
**This blog was written as the opinion of Jacob Clagg, Director of Communications for the CGGC but does not reflect or represent the beliefs of the CGGC, her staff, pastors, churches, or members.**
The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk on September 10th, 2025 provides us all with an opportunity to respond.
Will we Christians abide in Christ or wade into violence? Will we take refuge and draw others to the shadow of the cross or take up our own swords and drive others from it?
Our path is made straight in the shadow of the cross. Beneath the spread arms of the martyred Jesus, our eyes are fully opened to the depth of suffering of even one lost child of God, and our hearts swell with the love for every lost child of God.
With a sword in our hand, our paths are wild and waste. In a call for vengeance, our circle of enemies grows ever wider and in naming them we cut them off from the possibility of God’s redemption and salvation.
Christians, in the face of such political violence, choose to do as the disciples and first apostles, cling together beneath the shadow of the cross.
______
In the shadow of the cross, suffering is not an end but a paradigm shifting catalyst. With our eyes fully open to the ramifications of violence in this act, we might likewise have our eyes open to the ramifications of violence all around us, both preceding Charlie’s death, and the violence to come.
That is to say, Charlie Kirk’s sudden, shocking, and horrifying death ought to also shake us loose from the apathy which has clouded our sight and dulled our senses.
We have become deeply numb to the violence inflicted upon children in this country, and the outrage for Charlie, justified as it is, reveals our shocking lack of outrage for the school shootings that are perpetrated here monthly. In fact, the very same day, another school shooting happened in Evergreen, Colorado. And another two weeks before.
If we are reckoning with the death of Charlie Kirk, then we should also be reckoning with the violence that erupts in our streets, schools, and neighborhoods almost every day.
If we can rightly identify the impact that the demonization of enemies had in the death of Charlie Kirk, then we should be awakened to the ways in which we have demonized our enemies in the past, and how we are tempted to do so now.
If the political violence inflicted on Charlie Kirk justifiably angers us, it should also awaken us to political violence the world over, which is justifiably angering people we might deem our enemies.
________
I had the misfortune of finding out Charlie Kirk had been shot by watching the video that showed in detail the moment the bullet hit him. There just aren’t sufficient words to describe it.
I immediately put my phone down and began to pray for his health. At the time he was in critical condition and the outcome was unknown.
In a desire to not be insincere in this post, I can share that I didn’t much appreciate the style of Charlie Kirk’s public speaking. I found his style of debate to often be demeaning, and the arguments themselves to be not particularly well researched. But all of that is entirely inconsequential to the fact that Charlie Kirk was a child of God, and that when I heard he died, I was deeply wounded.
As I put my daughters to bed that night, I prayed for each of them like I do every night, and with each of them I said an additional prayer for Charlie’s children, who didn’t and won’t have a father to pray with them.
But in praying that prayer, I’ve been awakened to the fact of the many fatherless or motherless children, or the many childless fathers and mothers in places like Gaza, Israel, and Ukraine, and of course, right here in the United States.
Just like with the video of Charlie’s shooting, there aren’t sufficient words to describe the wanton bombing in Israel in October 2023, nor the nearly two years of bombing and destruction of Gaza since. Or in the nightly missile attacks in Ukraine which almost always kill someone. There aren’t sufficient words for any of these things. So, in the shadow of the cross I’ve been praying for them too.
________
To our Pastors and church leaders, who we know are a significant part of our readership, we ask you to be in deep prayer as you prepare for this Sunday’s service. If you choose to address this moment from the pulpit, recognize that this Sunday’s worship service may be a moment which shifts or sets the direction many hearts in your community will be set upon. During their grief and anger, people are looking for answers to cling to, and maybe enemies to grab.
Will you center suffering and frustrated people on the sacrifice of Jesus?
Will you remind people that on the cross a convicted man found salvation and redemption in Jesus?
Or will you remind people of scriptures like Roman’s 12, which speak of the righteous Christian response to persecution and violence, like Roman’s 12:
"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Whatever you do, whether as a church leader, or someone sitting in the Pew, choose to draw people closer to Jesus, and if they are suffering, into the shadow of His cross.
CGGC eNews—Vol. 19, No. 37
Login To Leave Comment