Nicole’s e-Pistle

September 17, 2025

Greetings, Friends,

Yesterday, as I was arriving at the Rotary Club meeting, a member of the community (not a member of our church) pointedly asked whether I had prayed for Charlie Kirk on Sunday or included him in my sermon. I answered that I prayed for all victims of gun violence and then added that all such violence was abhorrent.

I have mentioned before that I have no poker face. While I try not to blast people with my political opinions, I am more successful at times than others. However, it is getting harder and harder not to sound political. I have been inspired by several online pastors that I follow, most of them from other denominations – all of them progressive Christians – who have voiced what I consider to be healthy responses to the murder of Charlie Kirk. I’d like to share a little of what I have heard and read, and I pray it will encourage each of you…

1. Give yourself permission to feel whatever it is you feel and allow others to do the same. When any violent or tragic event takes place, there are stages of grief involved. Different people will have different emotional responses to the event for a myriad of reasons. If you felt deeply sad and empathetic for a husband and father who lost his life while his wife and children witnessed it firsthand, then embrace the fact that you have an empathetic heart. If you felt angry for any reason, give yourself permission to sit with it and try to explore the root causes of your anger. It is a legitimate feeling and response. If you felt indifferent, either because you did not know of him or did not agree with him or for any other reason, give yourself grace to not feel strong emotions.

2. Political violence of any kind should be openly shunned and discouraged from every position on the political spectrum. While we are not new to political assassinations, they should never be applauded or encouraged by anyone. There are civil and peaceful ways to debate our perspectives. Regardless of your opinions of Charlie Kirk, he at least opened the floor for debate with those who vehemently opposed his views. May we all continue to pray for and work toward an end to violence of all kinds, especially gun violence in this country.

3. As for honoring Charlie Kirk in a way that implies he is a martyr for Jesus Christ, I would advise caution, which again may inevitably make me sound politically biased to some. However, Jesus is not a Republican nor a Democrat. (Nor is he white.) There are good people who mean well on both sides of the political spectrum, and the teachings of Jesus transcend modern (or even ancient) politics. Instead of looking for martyrs to support our own causes in the false name of Jesus, we need to remember what Jesus actually teaches us to do as his followers. Anything else is in the name of a false god…

        • Love God.
        • Love your neighbor as yourself.
        • Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
        • Feed the hungry.
        • Clothe the naked.
        • Visit the prisoner.
        • Welcome the stranger and show them hospitality.
        • Do not judge others, or you, too, will be judged.
        • You cannot serve both God and money; give to the poor.
        • Serve others, for the first will be last and the last will be first.
        • Welcome the children; be like children.
        • Lay down your sword, for those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
        • Do not worry about tomorrow… God’s got this.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, by day and night we pour out our prayer to you. We are crying out for justice, yearning for what is right, longing for your peace. Come quickly to help us, O God. Save those who call upon your name. We pray for all those who have lost a beloved child, parent, sibling, lover, or friend. We pray for those who have witnessed horror, for those who are wounded in body or spirit, for each of them is a child made in your image.

God our refuge, give us strength to support the brokenhearted, your grace to be confident in your presence with us, and your light to find our way in the darkness, that we may be bearers of your light and love to all we encounter. Fill us with the peace that passes understanding – the deep peace of Jesus Christ our Savior, in whose holy name we pray. Amen.

Blessings and Deep Peace,