But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Matthew 5:44

Today was supposed to be a day of peace, commemorating a terrible event.

Instead, the day is marked by incendiary rhetoric, as voices on the right and the left call for one another’s extermination! Rarely has the quote above from Matthew, Chapter Five felt more ignored. Yet here we are again, as a nation and as a world.

I had planned to spend some time in prayer today for the victims of 9/11. On that day in 2001, I was in a plenary session for the start of seminary at Andover Newton Theological School. Just before 9 am we got news that a plane had crashed in New York. Our session was ended with a prayer and we were dispersed to our rooms, where many of us watched on live TV as the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

We saw it all, and we would never be the same.

The days after were marked by fear and calls for unity.

“It’s time to unite,” they said. “Everything is different now.” And it was, for a time. People came back to our churches in droves. We worshiped and we had prayer vigils. We prepared to live together, rather than apart, in whatever future we faced.

Until we didn’t. Until we went “back to normal.” It took longer for some than others, but in the end, stability returned, at least here in the United States. People felt safe again. And we got right back to “othering” people we disagreed with. As in, “those other idiots who think we should go to war” versus “those other idiots who think we shouldn’t.”

It went right on until today, the 24th Anniversary of those terrible attacks.

Yesterday, more violence erupted.

The assassination of right-wing public figure Charlie Kirk has sparked outcry. Outcry about violence. Outcry about vigilantism. There has been outcry from the right about the left, and outcry from the left about the right. Once again, people are arguing about guns.

But of all that, It’s not political to say that Kirk’s death is a tragedy. FULL STOP. Murder is wrong. I don’t care whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him. He still deserved to exist. And meeting pundits with violence just proves that you don’t have the ability to debate.

So, yes, I’m still praying for all the victims of 9/11. And I’m praying for the family and friends of Charlie Kirk.

The message of Jesus about violence never changes: it’s wrong. It’s always a failure when we use weapons against each other. It’s always a failure when we assume our views are more important than someone else’s life. When you do violence on another, you’re violating yourself, too. That’s why Jesus had such a high bar as “turning the other cheek” and “praying for those who persecute you.” Because Jesus knew that we were all meant to be together and to care for one another.

In the United States in 2025, it’s time to admit that the constructs of “right” and “left” are no longer serving us. We need new language. We need to stop having to be correct to the exclusion of other people’s right to exist.

Avoid those who share rhetoric about one side or the other. They’ve completely missed the point. Two weeks ago, I claimed from the Pilgrim Church pulpit that the most important pronoun of all is always “we.” If you don’t like “we,” try “us.” For the possessive, I’d go with “ours.”

Because this problem of violence is ours. And we need to be so much better at caring for us.

Prayer

God bless our messy lives. Bless the victims of 9/11 with peace, and help us to forgive without forgetting. Bless first responders who run in when others flee. Bless those closest to Charlie Kirk, and heal us of our violent ways. Help us to see each other the way you see us, as your beloved children. In the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace, Amen.