Christianity and the Public Square
The last three months have seen assassinations, inexplicable violence, and a maelstrom of bewildering emotions and vehement responses cutting across the geographic, cultural, and social media landscape of our divided country.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination (Sept 10) at Utah Valley University.
Evergreen High School shooting (Sept 10) near Denver left 1 dead and 2 wounded.
Annunciation Catholic School shooting (Aug 27) in Minneapolis left two children dead and 21 people injured, including 18 school children.
Iryna Zarutska (Aug 22), Ukrainian immigrant, was killed on Charlotte’s public transportation.
Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and husband Mark were assassinated (June 14) in their home outside of Minneapolis.
The two words that have come to my mind in these last days, weeks, and months are “madness” and “evil”. Violence has a long history, winding all the way back to the Bible’s second generation when Cain killed Abel. One of the best titled books on the doctrine of sin comes from Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. entitled “Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be”. These last three months have increasingly felt like “not the way it’s supposed to be”.
Three short phrases are rattling around in my soul at the present moment.
(1) Evil is a reality. (2) Lament is a necessity. (3) Jesus is still our only hope.
Evil is a reality. As Andrew Delbanco writes, “A gulf has opened up in our culture between the visibility of evil and the intellectual resources available for coping with it.” I am thankful that our Christian tradition has the resources for naming evil, identifying evil, and (ultimately) triumphing over evil because of the cross of Christ. Our secular neighbors, bereft of the Christian story of redemption, have a much harder time coping with the basic storyline and complex plot of evil in our world. I wish that our culture would take the advice of Charles Haddon Spurgeon when he succinctly suggested, “Of two evils, choose neither.” Yet, that is not the reality of our world. Evil is an ever-present reality in our world.
I don’t know about you, but I am definitely having a hard time wrapping my mind and heart around the madness and the violence and the evil that is taking place in our country. Friends, this is precisely the nature of evil! The nature of evil is inexplicable. Think of the sudden appearance of the serpent (Satan) in the Garden of Eden. How did he get there? In the middle of God’s good creation? In the middle of Paradise? It’s one of the biggest mysteries of the entire Bible, right up there with the Trinity and the Virgin Birth. Evil is a reality yet often inexplicable by its very nature. So you are not alone in being saddened, bewildered, and upset. This is not the way it’s supposed to be.
Lament is a Necessity. I actually preached on lament on June 8, 2025 with these words:
“Why should you embrace the prayer of lament in your life? Because if you don’t suffer in a biblical way, you will suffer in a secular way. You will stuff the suffering down deep into your soul (until it eventually explodes out onto others). Or, you will flit around on the surface and shallowness of life.”
Lament is not despair. Lament is not crying into the void. Lament is bringing our pain, our sadness, our grief, and our questions before God in prayer. Lament prayers engage in a “piety of protest” for justice and healing and the reign of God not to tarry. Lament is a necessity when we see evil encroaching into our world.
“Lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust” (Mark Vroegop). I find myself thinking: “Yes, that’s what I want to do, O Lord, in the midst of evil.” I want to establish a posture of prayer in my life that leads to greater trust in the Sovereign God of Love!
If that’s what you long for, I encourage you to lament:
Lament before you scroll. Lament before you post. Lament before you open your mouth. Lament before you go to see where the latest cultural battle lines are being drawn up on social media. Lament before you watch your favorite TV talk show host.
Friends, evil is increasingly becoming a social media phenomenon. So guard your soul. Pray before you scroll. Do you hear me? Pray before you scroll, especially when evil abounds.
Jesus is still our only hope. “God did not abolish the fact of evil: He transformed it. He did not stop the Crucifixion; He rose from the dead” (Dorothy L. Sayers). The victory of Jesus on Calvary’s cross is God’s gigantic “NO!” to the evil in our world. Evil will cease. Tears will be wiped away. Death is on a short leash held by God. Yet, as we live “in between the times” – we wait.
But here’s the deal: we wait with hope!
Jesus will reign. Jesus will be victorious. Jesus is still our only hope.
That’s a truth that brings rest to my soul. That’s a truth that brings freedom from “trying to figure it all out”.
In my bewilderment. In my righteous anger. In my compassion fatigue. In my conversations with friends. Jesus is still my only hope. That’s a truth that I can take all the way to the bank of eternity.
So friends: do not lose hope. Jesus is still reigning and ruling!
Rev. Dr. Jason Carter
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P.S. In October and November, the pastoral staff at Trinity will be offering a class entitled “Christianity and the Public Square”. See the details below.
Christianity and the Public Square
Community Hour (10:15 – 11:00)
9 Weeks | Sundays in October & November | Seminar Room
Purpose:
Expand our understanding of the biblical and theological basis for Christianity’s role in the public square, including our winsome engagement with our post-Christendom culture as a Jesus follower.
Increase (and practice) our ability to engage others with kindness, understanding, civility, charity, and love with those who disagree with our beliefs on politics and socio-cultural issues with a view towards re-establishing the church as a community which models honest dialogue full of grace and truth for a watching world. We will practicing “hugging it out” at the end of our dialogues together!
Become conversant with a few frameworks and paradigms for understanding the Christian’s engagement in the public square with a view towards talking winsomely about the cultural stumbling blocks in our divided age with grace and truth.
OCT 5: Framework Building Block #1: Christianity and Culture
OCT 12: Framework Building Block #2: Four Approaches to Race, Politics and Gender | The Carter Framework for “This Cultural Moment”
OCT 19: What is a Healthy Patriotism as a Christian? What is Christian Nationalism? (Round #1)
OCT 26: Social Media and the Public Square
NOV 2: What is a Healthy Patriotism as a Christian? What is Christian Nationalism? (Round #2)
NOV 9: Loving Our Enemies | The Sermon of the Mount Applied
NOV 16: A Short History of Revival: Theology, Themes, and Traits
NOV 23: The New Sexual Revolution: A Way Forward with Grace and Truth
NOV 30: Race & the Bible: A Beginning Word on Racial Tensions, Immigration, and the Call of the Christian