The bullets rang out at a Trump rally yesterday. President Biden is calling for calm and peace, not this senseless violence. Trump was carried off the stage, having been hit in the right ear by a twenty-year old assassin’s bullet. Even as the Secret Service put him in his car, he encouraged more violence by raising his clenched fist, and shouting, “Fight, fight!” As the images of January 6th returned to my mind, Trump doesn’t seem to care about what he is calling for in a second attempt to keep Americans divided. All ready, his bloodied face, his clenched fist, and an American flag have become the rallying cry for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee for the next three days. As I have commented on for many of my blogs, we have become what we fought against after 9/11: a violent nation, no longer “the beacon on the hill.”

As much as I have tried to calm my fears and doubts about this nation, this morning I turned to one of my favorite contemporary Christian songs to help make sense of the violence, anger, hatred, and malicious language that are controlling our nation’s soul: “Above All.” God created this beautiful world years ago above all powers, all kings, all nature, and all created things. He is above all wisdom, all of the ways of man, all kingdoms, all thrones, and all of the wonders of the world. None of man’s wealth and earthly treasures can compare with God’s worth to us as a nation and as a world. Christ was crucified and laid behind a stone; He lived to die, rejected and alone. He was the crumpled rose on the ground, but He took the fall to place our lives above His own.

So why, Lord, has America sunk so much into darkness that we can no longer see that loving is what we need to be towards one another? Have violence, anger, hatred, and malicious language become who we truly are instead of realizing the power of love and the power of God to solve our problems? Was this shooter another one of our troubled youth who were not identified, sitting alone, in the back of the classroom, while all kinds of demons swirled in his mind? There were children in that crowd yesterday, some crying and screaming, some with blood on their clothing from one who died and the two who were critically injured by this disturbed youth. Will it take a former president almost being killed, within an inch of his brain, for assault rifles of all kinds to finally be banned in this country?

All I know is that You, Lord, are above everything in this world. Nothing is impossible with You as our Lord and Savior. If we learn anything from this year’s election process, we all need to come together to turn our country back to God, not man’s selfish desires. We need to make our nation one where all citizens can feel safe and protected, even those we do not agree with. Fear and doubt will continue to divide America until we all ask for Your forgiveness, for it is in the forgiveing that we will find our hearts again. My thoughts, words, and deeds belong to You, but I pray that all Americans will come together as a Christian nation to realize that with love, all things are possible, even a return to civility and domestic calm. For that, I pray for You to heal our hearts; only You can do that. We need You more today than ever before. Please hear this humble woman’s prayers and the prayers of all in our nation. A-men.

Anna Hartt