Dear Friends in Christ,
We are living in a season marked by grief, anger, fear, and deep division. Acts of violence and loss of life have captured public attention and stirred powerful reactions. Once again, we find ourselves pulled into conversations that quickly become polarized, emotionally charged, and difficult to navigate with grace or clarity.
This is not new.
Across human history, moments of violent death have often become turning points. From the assassination of Julius Caesar in ancient Rome, to the killing of Abraham Lincoln at the end of the Civil War, to the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that helped ignite a world war, history shows a recurring pattern. Human beings take real and tragic loss and load it with meaning far beyond the event itself. Grief becomes certainty. Fear becomes blame. Tragedy becomes fuel for division, retaliation, or sweeping conclusions about entire groups of people.
Our own time is no different.
What may be different is how quickly these moments now move us from sorrow to outrage, from reflection to accusation, from prayer to hardened positions. Too often, our public conversations are driven less by careful thought and moral discernment, and more by fear, threat, identity, and tribal loyalty. Once those forces take over, listening becomes difficult, and humility is usually sacrificed early and often.
The Church is not immune to this.
As Christians, we must be honest enough to acknowledge that many of us are being formed more deeply by political loyalties, media ecosystems, and cultural narratives than by Scripture, worship, prayer, and the way of Jesus. Without realizing it, we can begin to filter our faith through our politics, rather than allowing our faith to shape and challenge our politics. When that happens, faith becomes an accessory instead of our foundation.
Scripture offers us a clear and demanding alternative. In Micah 6:8, we are told what the Lord requires of us: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
This simple sentence exposes a common temptation of the human heart, especially in times of conflict. We tend to want justice for “them” and mercy for “me and my team.” We want accountability when the wrong is committed by those we fear or oppose, and understanding when the wrong is committed by those with whom we identify. We demand clarity, punishment, and consequences in one direction, and context, patience, and grace in the other.
The gospel will not allow that double standard.
Justice is for all.
Mercy is for all.
And humility is not optional.
Humility is the prime virtue because without it, justice hardens into vengeance and mercy collapses into excuse. Humility reminds us that none of us sees perfectly, none of us is morally self-sufficient, and none of us stands above the need for grace. We follow a crucified Messiah, not a conquering ideology. The cross forever calls into question our certainty that we alone see clearly and rightly.
To confess Jesus Christ as Lord is to give our highest loyalty to him alone. That loyalty must come before any political party, ideology, movement, or national identity. Politics matter. Laws matter. Policies matter. Christians may disagree, in good faith, about how best to pursue justice, order, freedom, and the common good. But none of these things can save us. None of them carry the weight of ultimate truth.
The kingdom of God is not on the ballot.
Jesus refuses to be claimed by any political agenda. He stands above them all, calling us not first to outrage or allegiance, but to repentance, humility, truth, and love of neighbor. When Christians speak or act as if one party, one platform, or one leader has a monopoly on gospel truth, we have confused conviction with certainty and allegiance with discipleship.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to something deeper and more demanding.
We are called to grieve every loss of life without turning grief into a weapon. We can mourn deeply while resisting the temptation to exploit tragedy for our own arguments. We can seek justice without surrendering ourselves to outrage or contempt. Grief that hardens into hatred, or certainty that leaves no room for humility, has already begun to distort the heart.
We are called to refuse fear as our primary guide. Fear narrows our moral imagination. Fear demands enemies. Fear pushes us toward simplistic answers and sweeping blame. Jesus addresses fear not because danger is unreal, but because fear makes us incapable of love, truth, and wisdom.
We are called to walk humbly with our God. Humility slows us down. It teaches us to listen before we speak, to examine our own hearts before judging others, and to remember that faithfulness is measured not by political alignment, but by Christlikeness. The question for Christians is not, “Whose side are you on?” The question is, “Are we becoming more patient, more truthful, more merciful, more courageous, more self-giving?”
If our political engagement consistently makes us less like Jesus, then something is wrong, no matter how righteous we feel.
Finally, we are called to remember that the calling and cause of Christ are far greater than any political agenda. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, to pray for our enemies, to speak truth without cruelty, to pursue justice with humility, and to bear witness to a kingdom that does not rise or fall with the fortunes of any nation or party.
This does not mean withdrawal. It means reordering our loves.
In a time when many voices are shouting, Christians are called to be people who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We are called to be cautious of the pressure to choose sides too quickly, to listen carefully, to grieve honestly, and to act justly without surrendering our souls to fear or contempt.
May we be a community shaped first and last by Jesus Christ.
May our politics be informed by our faith, not the other way around.
May we seek justice for all, extend mercy to all, and walk humbly with our God.
Grace and peace to you all.
Pastor Chris & Pastor Sean