In the aftermath of the horrifying murder of Charlie Kirk, my social media feeds have been filled with video clips of the slain activist’s past speeches and appearances. I found one—a testimony of his Christian faith--doubly powerful. Powerful first because Kirk spoke so passionately about his belief in the gift of God’s grace. Kirk’s words about receiving grace we neither earn nor deserve affected me more deeply when I recalled that President Barack Obama used almost identical language a decade ago after a different episode of tragic political carnage.

In a viral video now making the rounds, Kirk explains the Gospel in first in four words, then in three words, then only two and finally just one:

The Gospel in four words is ‘Jesus took my place’. Three words is ‘Him for me’. Two words is ‘substitutionary atonement’, and one word is ‘grace’. Grace you cannot earn. Grace you do not pay for. It doesn’t matter how much money you give to the hospital; you can’t earn it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good person, it doesn’t matter if you’ve always done the best you can because what’s different about Christianity is that it’s a gift for all of humanity to receive--regardless of everything we have done and your life will be transformed. [Emphasis mine.]

I immediately realized I had heard a very similar message in sadly similar circumstances. On that occasion, the words were delivered from the pulpit of the Emanuel African Episcopal Church by President Obama. On June 26, 2015, the President came to Mother Emanuel to deliver the eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pickney and 8 of his congregants who just days before were shot to death in their own church by white supremacist Dylann Roof. As he sought to comfort and lift up a church, a community and the nation, Obama focused on that same one word.

This whole week, I’ve been reflecting on this idea of grace. The grace of the families who lost loved ones. The grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons. The grace described in one of my favorite hymnals -- the one we all know: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.

According to the Christian tradition, grace is not earned. Grace is not merited. It’s not something we deserve. Rather, grace is the free and benevolent favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Grace. [Emphasis mine.]

But President Obama did not limit his discussion of grace to the divine grace bestowed by God. The President spoke at length about the grace we can and must offer each other, grace we didn’t earn and grave we don’t deserve. And among its recipients was the very man who perpetrated the slaughter at Mother Emanuel:

We do not know whether the killer of Reverend Pinckney and eight others knew all of this history [of Mother Emanuel Church]. But he surely sensed the meaning of his violent act. It was an act that drew on a long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not random, but as a means of control, a way to terrorize and oppress. An act that he imagined would incite fear and recrimination; violence and suspicion. An act that he presumed would deepen divisions that trace back to our nation’s original sin.

Oh, but God works in mysterious ways. God has different ideas.

He didn’t know he was being used by God. Blinded by hatred, the alleged killer could not see the grace surrounding Reverend Pinckney and that Bible study group -- the light of love that shone as they opened the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. The alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court -- in the midst of unspeakable grief, with words of forgiveness. He couldn’t imagine that. [Emphasis mine.]

And the grace of forgiveness the faithful of Mother Emanuel freely gave the killer who they had welcomed into their Bible study, Obama suggested, was an example the American people badly needed to emulate.

The alleged killer could not imagine how the city of Charleston, under the good and wise leadership of Mayor Riley -- how the state of South Carolina, how the United States of America would respond -- not merely with revulsion at his evil act, but with big-hearted generosity and, more importantly, with a thoughtful introspection and self-examination that we so rarely see in public life […]

As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other -- but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway. He’s once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.

In this dangerous time of accusations of blame, demands for censorship and calls for retribution against perceived “evil doers,” Americans would do well to reflect on the words Charlie Kirk and Barack Obama spoke about grace. We receive grace, but can also reflect it in acts of forgiveness, generosity, and compassion. As President Obama called on us ten years ago, “It is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.