The memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sunday (Sept. 21) functioned as a stand-in for Sunday worship. The service officially started at 11 a.m. local time, but several Christian worship artists sang hymns and contemporary worship songs for two hours before that as people entered the football stadium that’s home to the Arizona Cardinals. More worship songs came during the official service amid tributes to Kirk and speeches by President Donald Trump and several other Republican politicians.
Headlining the singers was Chris Tomlin, one of the biggest worship artists today and whose songs are sung in thousands of churches every Sunday. Other worship singers and songwriters on stage included Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, Kari Jobe Carnes, and Cody Carnes. Their two hours of songs before the official start of the memorial served to frame everything that followed as part of a church worship service. And their songs intermixed with the various political speakers during the five-hour service kept sending the message that Kirk’s politics were from God.
For those in the crowd and watching on TV or online, Tomlin and the others created a connection between well-known and beloved worship songs and the political agenda of Kirk. Such worshipwashing of Kirk’s ugly politics is hurtful to the Christian witness.
Kirk: “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s.”
…God, You are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power. Our God…
Kirk: “MLK was awful. OK? He’s not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn’t believe.”
…What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this…
Kirk: “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up new age term that does a lot of damage.”
…’Cause Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life…
Kirk: “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.”
…Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee; How great Thou art…
Kirk: “Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor [Swift]. You’re not in charge.”
…Forever God is faithful. Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us…
Kirk: “I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
…Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free…
Kirk: “We don’t have enough people in prison in America. We need a lot more prisoners.”
…May His favor be upon you. And a thousand generations. And your family and your children…
Kirk: “[The death penalty] should be public, should be quick, should be televised … You could have like, ‘Brought to you by Coca Cola.’ And no, I’m not kidding.”
…Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone…
Kirk: “The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace White rural America with something different.”
…This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long…
Kirk: “Jewish donors have a lot of explaining to do. … Because Jewish donors have been the No. 1 funding mechanism of radical, open border neoliberal quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions, and nonprofits.”
…Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!…
Kirk: “Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a White person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
…Hear Your people sing holy. To the King of kings, holy. You will always be holy. Holy forever…
Kirk two days before Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection: “The historic event will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history. The team at @TrumpStudents & Turning Point Action are honored to help make this happen, sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.”
…How great is our God, sing with me. How great is our God, and all will see…
Those words of Kirk weren’t played during the memorial service, but those lyrics all rang out to honor the man who said those things. At times, as the musicians sang, people even waved red, white, and blue signs featuring Kirk, “Never Surrender,” or “This Is Our Turning Point” as if at a political convention. Later, a Turning Point leader said the memorial was like a Trump rally with the Holy Spirit mixed in. That’s the mashup Tomlin and the other Christian singers blessed, helping suggest the MAGA agenda is God’s will and calling what is bitter “sweet.” Brandon Lake even declared between songs that he couldn’t think of a better place for someone to decide to join what God is doing in our nation and around the globe.
With worship music, the Christian singers sought to whitewash Kirk and make his political views equivalent to what it means to follow Jesus. That’s what Christian Nationalism does. It takes Christian language, symbols, and songs to put a holy veneer on top of a profane political agenda. But notice the flow of the service, starting with worship songs and Kirk’s pastor as the warm-up acts to various politicians until the climax with Trump’s speech. This was using worship songs to point to partisan politics.
Seeing the worshipwashing during the service brought to mind the words of the prophet Amos: “Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” So when it comes to Tomlin and the other artists at the memorial service, I refuse to sing along.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
Spot on, Brian! Thank you for this!