A United Church in a Divided World | October 2025
Sadly, the past few months have been marred by political violence in our nation. The vicious attack on Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and the murders of Charlie Kirk and legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, are heart-breaking. These despicable acts have brought this issue to the forefront of national news once again.
Recently, in our study of Revelation, we have met and discussed God’s arch enemy, Satan, who is also our arch enemy. He is described as a bloodthirsty, violent, and deceptive being who starts a war in heaven and gets cast out as a result. Then, Revelation 12 tells us that heaven’s gain will be the earth’s loss. Why? Because the evil dragon Satan is now on earth and waging war. There is no doubt that this vile and violent enemy is the spiritual source behind what is happening in America today.
So, what should we do? First, we need to put on the full armor of God and pray like crazy (see Ephesians 6). We need to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. In short, the battle is not against each other or against the secular forces in today’s political arena. No, this is a spiritual battle that can only be won by godly Christ-followers using the spiritual resources that God has provided.
So, as we take up our spiritual armor and enter into this war, we desperately need to unify as the body of Christ and specifically as Calvary’s body of Christ. The bible places a huge priority on unity within the church and we should too. We must realize that together we are far stronger than apart. Calvary is a unique church in that we are more politically diverse than most evangelical churches. Throughout her history, Calvary has found a way to stay united and to respect our differences both politically and theologically. We must continue down this path as it has resulted in one of the most welcoming, kind, generous, and mission-minded churches that I know. A church where Republicans and Democrats and Independents and conservatives and progressives all work together in the name and power of Christ for the glory of Christ.
Recently, I had the privilege of studying the practice of fasting with some of Calvary’s men. Fasting is a spiritual practice that helps believers to draw closer to Christ, amplifies our prayers, breaks spiritual strongholds, and helps us to better identify with the poor. We also learned that for much of church history, the Christian church fasted together on Wednesdays and Fridays from sunup to sundown. So, as your pastor, I would like to invite you to join me on either Wednesday or Friday of this next week to fast and pray for this issue. Pray that through God’s power the spiritual strongholds of political violence and the divisiveness that creates it will be broken. Pray that we, as his church, can stay unified and model peace-making for a watching world. And one final suggestion, if you join me in this challenge, consider fasting from either social media or political news for the day as well. Together, we want to hear one voice and one voice only. And that voice is the voice of God through his Holy Spirit.
United for the Kingdom,
Scott
