9/12/25 - Response to Tragedy

After some prayer and contemplation I wrote this out of conversations taking place around me. Primarily written with peers in school in mind however I hope anyone can take something from this.

In the wake of a multitude of tragedy this week, we have seen a variance of responses and takes. Countless students have called for prayer for Charlie Kirk’s family and we all would do good to join in that prayer. My heart breaks for his wife and kids in this season. For many students, they have had the privilege of not seeing or interacting with the grotesque violence in this world as of late. As of this year there have been 46 school shootings across the US, a genocide in Gaza, and even the political assassination of Melissa Hortman earlier this year. But now so many of us are forced to see this dark evil brokenness of the world before our eyes. I believe this marks a point where we have lost the privilege to hide ourselves from the oppression, marginalization, and violence that marks so much of our world. I am grateful that as a community our response to the atrocious violence on Charlie Kirk is to pray for his family. That however is an easy prayer, and beyond that Jesus asks of us something much harder: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Mark 5: 44-45). We as Christians are not just called to intercede for our fellow believers but in this case called to pray for the person who shot Charlie Kirk, to pray for all the ‘disgusting’ people, that we so easily judge, that have glorified or celebrated the violence against Charlie Kirk. That is a difficult prayer.

I also hope this can be a moment for Christians to wake up to the brokenness of the world and act on it, to speak out against it. Paul reminds us of an important truth when he writes “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Perhaps this tragic event can start a pattern of us calling out violence and evil wherever we see it and standing up for the marginalized. As Jesus said in His ministry reading from Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

We are here to provide a voice for the oppressed and marginalized. We are here to speak up for victims of school shootings, Immigrants who are in fear of being deported particularly with denial of due process, the woman and children being systematically killed in Gaza. The world is a broken place, and we are not to sit idly by waiting for Jesus’s return. Instead, we have a responsibility to pray, to vote, to advocate. In Jeremiah’s letter to the Exiles he reminds them their duty to engage in their society, to place themselves within the other cultures, and to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). I encourage you to look evil in the eye now, to seek out the brokenness of the world. It is real and it doesn’t simply go away if we choose not to know about it. Would we continue to pray and intercede for these victims, and would we pray for what we define as our enemies.
In the midst of this brokenness, it is hard for us to remember what it’s all for. And in many ways, there is no real answer for that. The closest we may get is no explanation at all as God reminds Job that God alone is the One that made and put together all of Creation. And this is how Job responds:

“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”

(Job 42:2-6)

Yet, God does not leave us without hope, so I’d like to leave you with one last thing, the hope of Jesus, our final hope through this picture.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Revelation 21:1-5