Blood On Our Screens
My Life for Yours, Not My Life or Yours
In This Episode:
Tomsées (Tom says): A brief reflection on the shedding of blood
What Happened Recently at The Row House? A trio of events and one set of twins!
What’s Next? Everything.
It’s in the Blood
So many scholars and pundits have covered the shooting death of Charlie Kirk that I’d be foolhardy to weigh in with too much opinion on him.
My friend JM was distraught about the assassination and texted me the news in real time. Kirk had had an impact on my friend: His political views as well as his outspoken confession of Christ.
Had I been aware of Kirk, I likely would’ve admired the respect he showed his interlocutors on college campuses. Likewise I would’ve been irritated by his lock-step alliance with the the MAGA movement.
As the aftermath of his killing unfolded on cable news stations, I felt no gumption to watch the gruesome video. Perhaps you saw it, regrettably. Though I’m not overly squeamish about images of blood, real or staged, I’m glad to have missed it.
To learn that some people took to social media to mock, celebrate, and call down victories on Kirk’s demise points to how dark certain corners of our population are.
At-One-Ment
A strange corollary to all this news news is my local church’s recent dive into the book of Numbers in the Old Testament where bloodshed is a recurring theme.
Amidst all the fastidious numbering of Israelite persons and the prescribed sacrificing of animals in the tabernacle, a picture of their God emerges which stood in contrast to the prevailing gods of the ancient near east.1
The Israelites weren’t allowed to just waltz up to God like he’s a buddy unless some sort of cleansing took place. The ceremonial purification was earthy and real, yet it pointed to an even deeper, spiritual need for reconciliation.
Numbers demonstrates the fundamental beauty and anomaly of the biblical faith: Moses’s God is alive with wild holiness and hot desire for intimacy with his redeemed people.
Yahweh brings the blood himself, and eventually would give his own blood to atone forever those who would come to him by faith.
Yahweh wasn’t the god the Israelites expected or even wanted half the time. He insisted on not burning their livelihood to the ground with his purity. Instead, he drew near with a rich tapestry of flame, aromas, and gold. He gave them priests to mediate his gracious presence. He never asked them to sacrifice themselves or their babies. He gave them an altar and a mercy seat.
The blood of pure animals was a stand-in for the lifeblood they owed back to him. So were their firstborn children, his by right, that he gave back to them in exchange for a sacrifice. These children as well as the Levite priests were vivid “living sacrifices” in their midst, reminders that God loved them. Even the animals were blood-let, not slaughtered in the impersonal, industrial ways we think of today. Their flesh was valued for its aroma and taste, nothing wasted.
Every one treasured.
My Life For Yours
According to Bethel McGrew Kirk’s death was made doubly tragic by President Trump’s unhinged “eulogy” at his funeral. He spoke of Charlie looking down from heaven and pivoted to make it about his lack of assurance about going there too. He also mocked Kirk’s penchant for forgiving his enemies, something the Donald boasted he simply couldn’t do.2
His lot can’t imagine the possibility of any motivation that’s not centered on self-love. One of our recent forums implicitly challenged such a my-life-or-yours way of seeing the world. Catherine Ricketts reminded us of the majesty of motherhood which, when you get right down to it, is the genesis of each of our lives:
Someone gives their blood for us, literally, sometimes fatally, that we might emerge into this waking world.
Each second of the day in delivery rooms worldwide the mundane meets the unfathomable: Existence, where a loving smile awaits us, as Esther Meek reflects on in her latest book on philosophical formation.3
There’s definitely a corollary between our own sense of value to God and how we value others. For the one who is gripped by God’s my-life-for-yours version of affection, a door swings open up to die a thousand small deaths for others.
One of my desert island books should have the last word:
(I)n our daily routines we are playing out the Drama of Charity, which eludes politics and its calculations. The commonplace of household life are parts of the rite in which we celebrate the mystery of Charity—and it is indeed a mystery, full of outrageous absurdities like obedience being a form of liberty, and self-denial a form of self-discovery, and giving a form of receiving, and service a form of exaltation. Politics boggles at mysteries like this…4
What Happened Recently?
We welcomed Benjamin and Andrew Norquist from Chicago, IL and Providence, RI, respectively, and had a wonderful evening Forum immersed in the large illustrations Andy made of ancient trees. His brother interviewed him about the process and passion behind these works. The next morning we enjoyed a brunch and discussion with Ben who recently penned his first book: Every Somewhere Sacred: Rescuing a Theology of Place in the American Imagination (IVP Academic, 2026).
Listen ⬅️ Look ⬇️
What’s Next at The Row House?
1. The Front Porch Journal #26
Want to contribute something to our by-yearly journal for Members & Sponsors?
We’ll take your reflections on our recent events, poems, recipes, photos, artwork, prayers, stories, spreadsheets, found scraps, Post-It Notes, or whatever you’ve got!
The next journal will be printed in January and will be available at our Feb 13th Forum.
Share your idea by leaving a comment, and Tom will get back to you.
2. Upcoming 2026 Forums (save the dates)
All at The Trust Performing Arts Center at 7:00 PM
Jan 09 | Kids and Incarceration
with Diana Vuolo, Executive Director of SWAN (Scaling Walls a Note at a Time) and a guest law enforcement officer
Feb 13 | Re-Imagining Kensington
with Jeremy Chen, interns, volunteers, and students of Klean Kensington Philadelphia, mentoring at-risk youth through paid gardening and friendship
Mar 06 | Dr. Curt Thompson
Psychiatrist, Author, and Founder of The Center for Being Known Keynote Address at Square Halo Books Conference | Very limited seating | $25/person
Apr 10 | Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark: Mysticism, Art, and the Path of Unknowing with James K.A. Smith, PhD
Calvin University professor of Philosophy, Author, and Former Editor of Comment Magazine and Image Journal
May 1 | Beauty x Justice: Creating a Life of Abundance & Courage with Mako & Haejin Fujimura
co-hosted by The Open Discourse Coalition at Bucknell University
Want to attend our Forums with a friend without buying a ticket? Join our growing group of 90 Sponsors and Members! It’s easy. Here’s how:
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to ❤️ this column, make a comment, or share this post with a friend. See you soon!
*Tomsées is a nod to Pensées, an eclectic collection of writings by Blaise Pascal which was a work of apologetics for the Christian faith, published posthumously in 1670.
For a whole lot more on Yahweh’s singularity, see Craig C. Bartholemew’s opus The Old Testament and God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2022.
From the podcast The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, Justin Brierley, Oct. 14, 2025 (S2 E24).
Esther Lightcap Meek The Mother’s Smile. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2025. We plan to bring her back for a third lecture, in case you’re wondering. 🤓
Thomas Howard Hallowed Be This House. Medina, WA: Alta Vista College Press, 1976.
Thank you so much for sharing some thoughts about the killing of Charlie Kirk. I hadn't heard of him until his murder. All I will say is that I was and remain baffled by what happened and his wife's initial response; it didn't look like real grief to me but I acknowlege that people grieve in different ways. Overall, I enjoyed reading all of your content. If I didn't live so far away I would attend your planned activites.