Your Pastor's Heart on Recent Events
Published September 23, 2025
When the World Feels Heavy
These words reflect what was shared on Sunday, September 14 in our weekly services. It was asked to be shared online. While I felt these words were for our congregation in a particular moment, I do hope they are helpful to anyone who is struggling to make sense of things in our world today.
Blessings in Christ, Pastor Steven
This week has been a hard week.
Friday night I was talking with Angie, and we just held each other.
I can’t speak for all of you, but I know some of you were deeply affected by Charlie Kirk’s life and, therefore, by his death. Personally, I didn’t know much about Charlie before this week. He isn’t part of the usual sphere of people I follow or keep up with, but I spent some time learning more about him. Although I don’t agree with everything he believed or the way he sometimes communicated it, I do know this: Charlie shared the gospel of Jesus clearly and intellectually—and, from what I’ve seen, with love and sincerity.
Whether he was killed because of his love for Jesus and his public profession of the good news, or because of his political beliefs, it doesn’t really matter in light of the reality that a man’s life was taken in a horrific way in front of his family and a crowd full of young people.
Friday night I was talking with Angie, and we just held each other.
There’s a lot to process.
From the murder of Charlie Kirk and the horrific violence many of us saw on the subway with Iryna Zarutska’s murder, to children being shot in what has become such a regular occurrence. Notice I didn’t say normal—it’s not normal. But it is regular. It’s not unusual.
I can’t speak for all of you, but I know some of you were deeply affected by Charlie Kirk’s life and, therefore, by his death. Personally, I didn’t know much about Charlie before this week. He isn’t part of the usual sphere of people I follow or keep up with, but I spent some time learning more about him. Although I don’t agree with everything he believed or the way he sometimes communicated it, I do know this: Charlie shared the gospel of Jesus clearly and intellectually—and, from what I’ve seen, with love and sincerity.
Whether he was killed because of his love for Jesus and his public profession of the good news, or because of his political beliefs, it doesn’t really matter in light of the reality that a man’s life was taken in a horrific way in front of his family and a crowd full of young people.
When Tragedy Sparks Doubt
In our current series we’re talking about doubt, and this week is a clear picture of what often causes it.
- Why did God allow someone who boldly professed Jesus to be shot for the world to see?
- Why did God allow a young woman to be brutally murdered?
- Why did God allow those children to be shot in their own classroom?
- If there is a God, why does He allow horrible things to be said and done in His name—and horrible things to be said and done against His name?
Those very questions can drive us either toward God or away from Him.
What We Know for Sure
This is the hard part of being a pastor—because sometimes, often, I don’t have any answers. But here’s what I do know—please hear this slowly and let it sink in:
God sent His Son for Iryna.
God sent His Son for the man who killed her.
God sent His Son for Charlie.
God sent His Son for the young man who killed him.
God sent His Son for those children who were shot. And every child who has faced senseless violence just for attending school.
God sent His Son for every Republican and every Democrat and everyone in between.
God sent His Son for those whose lives overflow with the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And God sent His Son for those who actively resist Him.
God sent His Son for the man who killed her.
God sent His Son for Charlie.
God sent His Son for the young man who killed him.
God sent His Son for those children who were shot. And every child who has faced senseless violence just for attending school.
God sent His Son for every Republican and every Democrat and everyone in between.
God sent His Son for those whose lives overflow with the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And God sent His Son for those who actively resist Him.
God sent His Son for people like me—people who sometimes reflect the character of Christ and sometimes look far too much like the Pharisees.
That’s the gospel. That’s the unshakable truth we cling to when everything else feels like it’s crumbling.
Our Response
Because of that truth, we pray.
Let me offer some pastoral advice: it might be wise to spend less time searching for information to figure out why and who’s responsible, and instead recognize the cold, hard truth. We already know who’s responsible: Satan.
I don’t say that flippantly. This isn’t the fault of the left or the right, the person you unfriended this week, or the person who unfriended you, Fox News, MSNBC, celebrities, video games, guns, young white males, black men, or social media. It’s the devil. And he can influence or use any of those—even us.
So we pray. We ask God to make us look more like Jesus—not the version of Jesus we’re most comfortable with, but the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. The Jesus who is both the Lion and the Lamb.
Church, the world—whether they know it or not—is looking to us. So we must not show them us. We must show them Jesus.
We pray for God to work—starting in our hearts, in our homes, in this church, and in this community.
Let me offer some pastoral advice: it might be wise to spend less time searching for information to figure out why and who’s responsible, and instead recognize the cold, hard truth. We already know who’s responsible: Satan.
I don’t say that flippantly. This isn’t the fault of the left or the right, the person you unfriended this week, or the person who unfriended you, Fox News, MSNBC, celebrities, video games, guns, young white males, black men, or social media. It’s the devil. And he can influence or use any of those—even us.
So we pray. We ask God to make us look more like Jesus—not the version of Jesus we’re most comfortable with, but the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. The Jesus who is both the Lion and the Lamb.
Church, the world—whether they know it or not—is looking to us. So we must not show them us. We must show them Jesus.