If there was anyone who was hoping for a calmer, more normal year, then those hopes have been thoroughly frustrated by yesterday's calamitous events. In the aftermath of such chaos and violence in the seat of our nation's government, how we should respond? Specifically, how ought Christians think about and answer what we witnessed in the United States of America? I will give my imperfect, incomplete answer in two parts. In this post, I will deal with what I see as more preliminary issues, then in part two, I will provide my analysis of what this event means.