Editor’s Note: On Wednesday afternoon, September 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University. Kirk’s shooting is a developing story.
Update: President Trump has announced on Truth Social that Charlie Kirk has died.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
Our world feels mired in destruction, fear, and anger.
And I fear this moment will become a powder keg igniting our worst national demons.
We confess we are a people who have lost our imagination.
We have lost our way and struggle to see conflicts in anything other than solutions of power-over and might makes right.
We have lost our ability to see the image of God in one another, especially when we believe the ‘other’ has created so much hell on earth by not seeing the image of God in us, or those for whom we care.
We confess we scapegoat and write one another off.
We acknowledge that in times of conflict, we often seek ‘peace’ through shows of force and violence.
Help us to learn another Way.
May mercy and grace pool like water at the point of greatest need for all God’s beloved children.
May Charlie and all who care for him find Christ a Companioning Comfort in affliction and sorrow.
May the shooter find Christ as one who extends mercy to all who turn away from death-dealing and mutually assured destruction, and toward the Prince of Peace.
May all be called to turn from ways of demonizing others and repair the violence created or perpetuated in the world.
May we find creative ways to process and heal in this moment.
Not doubling down on the old ways of scapegoating others, but ways that compel us to creatively see the humanity in one another.
We confess we are circling the drain of a world addicted to mindless algorithms, violence on demand, and ego-inflating echo chambers…
To whom else would we turn but Divine Love, as our world feels it is daily spinning more dangerously out of control?
Anchor us to your Love, may we learn of its healing and transforming power.
Teach us what it means in this moment to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
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Pastor of Community & Teaching at Vox Veniae Austin.
