We Need to Pray for our Leaders
It does something good in us, too
The murders of a Minnesota state legislator and her spouse this past weekend were shocking and sobering and awful. I lack the words to fully express my horror, but no elected official deserves to die, no matter how much one may disagree with them. I’m sure more will come out about the shooter showing he has mental illness or became radicalized, but this kind of violence, while shocking, is increasingly common.
Members of Congress have resigned because of harassment like SWATTING. Nancy Pelosi’s husband had his skull fractured by an attacker looking for the former speaker. Representative Steve Skalise was shot playing softball with other House members, and January 6th is never far from my mind when considering present-day political violence.
Several social media connections of mine shared heartfelt posts about their time serving in the state legislature either as staff or elected officials that reflected my own feelings. There are a million things to be said about these murders, including the importance of defending our elected officials.
Yesterday, I saw something that reminded me of the ways in which God has humbled me in how I think about those with whom I disagree that I thought was worth sharing.
Politicians are humans, too
Over the weekend, there was a middle-of-the-night mass shooting in downtown Columbus, Ohio. In a story detailing the incident, the mayor was quoted: “Violence in our city – particularly involving and impacting young people — must stop. Columbus Police are doing their part by actively patrolling our neighborhoods and downtown… I need parents to do their part – know who your kids are hanging out with, set a curfew in your home, check your kids’ rooms for weapons and check their social media for unsafe activities.”
I lived in Columbus for most of my life. Raised in the suburbs, after I married and had a family, we chose to stay in the city because we loved it. We loved our proximity to downtown, the fact that we could walk or bike to restaurants and stores, and that our kids could walk to school.
Living in the city still had its drawbacks though. Think what you will of Columbus (I realize people from other states still think Ohio is only cornfields), but it’s a large and growing city. There’s more traffic than you’d ever expect, there are real problems like unaffordable housing, the schools, transportation, etc. - common problems in growing American cities. I found myself criticizing and/or complaining about the mayor and the city council often on social media and to my friends. I just felt so annoyed that they couldn’t figure out how to take care of things like clearing snow from the streets in winter.
I don’t remember when exactly this happened, but I remember texting a friend of mine and saying, “I’m always so annoyed with the mayor, but I was praying the other day and I felt like God told me to look for something he was doing that I could support.” Being a pastor, she responded, “that sounds like something God might do.”
So I paid attention, and when I felt frustrated, I prayed for the leaders of my city. I tried to refrain from posting criticism online and from venting my anger and frustration to friends. I managed to break my habits and instead consider that I didn’t know how I would do it differently if I were in their position, nor should I assume that I could do better - why would I assume that I could? Arrogance? I chose instead to assume they were doing their best.
I also lost interest in the pursuit of finding a thing to support and kind of forgot about it, to be honest.
Fast forward a year. Like most major cities immediately post-Covid, Columbus experienced a serious uptick in crime. The homicide rate in 2021 was a record high (which thankfully has since dropped) and the rate of cars stolen and then wrecked by unlicensed, underage kids rose as well, with increasingly fatal consequences.
The mayor gave a press conference one day in 2022 following such an incident in which someone had died as a result. I couldn’t quote what he said, but it was something to the effect of feeling like a grieved parent over what these kids were doing. “Parents need to know where their kids are and ask questions about what they are doing,” I remember he admonished the public. It didn’t feel to me like a lecture - for the first time I considered that as a person, he cared that young people were making such huge mistakes with permanent, fatal consequences, and he knew that it didn’t have to be that way.
And that was the moment I realized God had done something in me.
I didn’t feel anger. I felt compassion. For a politician I didn’t like.
I only wanted to assume he was doing his best - not out of ignorance, not out of idealism - because I knew he was human, just like me. But with a lot more pressure and responsibility on his shoulders.
Here’s my point: we can wring our hands all day about what a mess our country is in. We can blame the president, we can blame Congress, we can choose to blame “the other party.” We may even be right in some of those cases.
But every one of those positions are held by people. Humans, just like you and me, doing their best - but with a lot more responsibility on their shoulders.
Who am I to think I know better, or that I know I would do better?
I don’t know, and I can’t know that. Because I am not them.
If I am going to make assumptions then, I’m going to assume they are doing their best - that they are men and women who have done the work to get elected and serve their country, making the best decisions they can.
Could I name some lawmakers who feel like notable exceptions to that right now? Sure.
But I’m not gonna.
Because what I have learned is that God cares as much about my humility and how I live my life surrendered to God as he does about theirs.
Pray for our leaders
I Timothy 2:1-3 (the Message translation) says this:
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.
It’s so hard. It is so hard. It is SO hard - but what I am telling you that I have learned is that we have to choose, as believers, to trust that God is taking care of things that we cannot see and may never know anything about. It feels good to protest; it feels good to march and to voice dissent and to make our opinions known. It feels better, at least to me, to know that I’m doing all I can to change things I don’t like.
But God is not limited by our action or inaction. God works in all things - and that includes in us.
Sometimes we have to focus on allowing Him to work in us and trust that He is working in others, too. Even when they are in a position of authority, and even when we disagree with them.
Sometimes we need to ask God to change us when we don’t understand what is happening in the world.
Will it fix the world? Almost definitely not the way we expect it to.
I was shocked to learn that God really had changed my heart toward someone I believed I deeply disliked, especially because I did so little to get to that place.
In a moment where it feels like what we desperately need is more control, I encourage you to consider that in fact we need to surrender control to God. In changing us, we have no idea what He could do and what it could mean for those around us and our country.
I am thankful that the schemes of this most recent shooter were stopped when they were and more blood was not shed. And I pray for the family of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and their extended family. May God have mercy.