“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
I sit here on Sunday afternoon, listening to the beginnings of Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
Though still early in the service, the words already spoken to remember Kirk keep bringing me back to a simple yet ineffable truth: The Word is not simply found in the words we say nor the propositions we proclaim; it is revealed through a relationship of love, a divine love we hope and pray will animate us down to our very marrow and spare us returning to dust in the fullness of time.
For all the words spoken about Kirk over the past week – including the unnumbered words Kirk himself said over his short lifetime on video that are now being shared a hundredfold to all corners of the earth – the words themselves can never fully capture the living example of love Kirk shared with his family, friends, colleagues, admirers … and even his enemies. There was a life force, an energy inspiring Kirk to will the good of the other that was more than just the sum of his words.
“When Charlie Kirk died, you could almost feel this massive energy being released,” Scott Adams recently told Tucker Carlson. “You know, he sort of controlled it, but when it was released, his mortal coil was no more. I feel like that energy just went into people and suddenly tens of millions of people simultaneously said, ‘What can I do? What can I do right now?”
No doubt, those who knew Kirk personally or who closely followed his public life will have a favorite memory of something he said. May they always be remembered.
No doubt, Kirk’s political enemies have been swift to twist selective portions of his words in a warped way to uncharitably judge him a wicked and hateful creature. May they have their mouths shut, their ears opened, and their hearts changed.
Yet, for all the words spoken for and against Charlie Kirk, I’ve come to appreciate the words offered up by those who had never heard of Kirk until after his martyrdom. I can only imagine how many people discovered Kirk after his assassination, only to find a young man who truly loved the Word of God.
“I thought, this guy's a modern-day Saint Paul,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan upon learning more about Kirk.
When I heard the tragic news, I said, ‘I wonder who he was.’ And then all of a sudden, this overwhelming, this overwhelming sense of sorrow and kind of renewal.”
And I thought, I gotta learn about this guy. And the more I learned about him, I thought, this guy's a modern-day Saint Paul. He was a missionary, he's an evangelist, he's a hero.
He's one that knew what Jesus meant when he said, the truth will set you free. … Now, I understand he was pretty blunt, and he was pretty direct, he didn't try to avoid any controversy. He didn't even try to avoid confrontation. The difference is the way, the mode, the style that he did it, always with respect.
I too share Dolan’s sense of Kirk.
It wasn’t so much what Kirk said – though most of what he said was edifying and provocative in a good, true and beautiful way – but how he lived out what he said.
Kirk’s love of the Word and love of his fellow man will continue to shine through all the things he said more than any single thing he said.
Anyone who has given a eulogy knows the bittersweet melody of “final farewell” that sounds in the depths of a grieving heart and tempts the soul to despair – a dirge tinged with the fear that men’s words alone could never conquer death and will always fall short like a “resounding gong or clanging cymbal” as they fade away to nothing.
Yet, through a love of the Word, not only may we find a more abiding love for one another here on earth, enough to forgive even our worst enemies, but a faith and hope that Christ’s undying love for us has defeated sin and death.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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