Pastoral message following the attempted assassination of Former President Trump
Dear friends in Christ:
Our divided nation reached a
new low with the attempted assassination of our former president at a campaign
rally in our own backyard. A rally attendee was assassinated, two attendees
were wounded.
Also wounded was our American
Spirit, which has already been suffering beneath the strain of the polarization
tearing our country apart.
In prior sermons, I’ve expressed
concern over growing segments of the population, on both sides of the political
divide, who believe that violence is necessary to fulfill their aims. To those
persons, I ask: what if you or someone you care about were to be killed for who
they vote for? Would Jesus point a gun at your enemies?
American soldiers, police, and
emergency responders sacrifice their lives and die to protect the freedoms we
enjoy, and the safety, security, and prosperity we all take for granted. How
could anyone possibly want more bloodshed? To love your country but hate
your neighbor is to betray everything our nation stands for.
In the aftermath of this
tragedy, I pray that all people will heed the call to repent of the lust for
power and the contempt we have for those different from us. We do well to remember
Luther’s Small Catechism, where, in his explanation of the Eighth Commandment,
he writes: “we are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our
neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead, we
are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they
do in the best possible light.”
We will hear calls for the
nation to “come together,” but reconciliation will never happen as long as one person
says to another, “you’re not one of us.”
This is not the first time our
nation has faced crisis, nor will it be the last. But our finest hours have
occurred within our greatest trials, such as how we came together following 9/11.
Let us pray for our former
president, for David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were wounded, for the
family of Corey Comperatore who died while protecting his family from the
gunfire, and for the family of the shooter.
Let us pray for a renewed resolve
to be good neighbors to one another and see the face of Jesus in those who
look, live, and think differently from ourselves. When we love our neighbors as
ourselves, we will make the future brighter and better for all.
May God bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
+Pastor Jim
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Photo by Paul Weaver on Unsplash |
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