September 16, 2001

 I want to share with you a few thoughts this morning about what our faith tells us at a time like this.

 Moments after we heard about the tragedy, after watching the devastation on TV in the parish house, people started calling: "Is the church open?" they asked. "I need to come in to pray.  Will there be a service tonight?  I need to do something.  Someone said to me right  before our prayer service on Tuesday night, I don’t know anything right now except this is where I’m supposed to be.

 At times like this, our faith tells us we need God, we need each other,  we need the church.

 It is here that we have a place where where we can mourn and weep and shake   our heads in disbelief and despair and know we’re not alone..

 It is here that we give and receive comfort - there’s been a powerful need to be with other people all week, to touch one another  to express what   words cannot express - we began each prayer service this week with hugs and   we held hands during the hymns. The comfort we receive by being here as God’s people is immeasurable. Through our prayers, through our singing,   through hearing God’s word, somehow it helps.

 Being together in church,  being together in God’s presence also gives us a place   where we can share all that is in our hearts - all our different emotions and   feelings - anger, sadness, grief, doubt but - we can  share all these things, lift them up  to God and know God is listening to our pain.

 We began each of our services this week with the hymn "Our God our help in ages past to remind us that God is our refuge and  our strength, our very present help in trouble - especially at this time.

Another thing our faith tells us and I think most people believe this but it needs to be mentioned anyway, is that this tragedy was not part of God plan.  God did not do this. i was watching the Today show when Matt Lauer, after listening to someone describe their reactions to this tragedy and at the end Matt shook his sad with great empathy and said, "It’s all part of a larger plan."  And I wanted to shout, No!  This is not part of God’s plan! This is not how God wants us to live, this is not how God wants the world to live.  If we want to know what God’s plan for us is we have only to listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah:
 

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

God’s intention for us, for all of humanity is to find a way to live together peacefully - in all our diversity.   What happened was not God’s will.  The people who did this horrible thing were not acting according to God’s plan.
 God’s plan for us, for all of us, is life - it is getting up each day and living to the best of our ability, like God wants us to live - as children of God, faithful disciples of Christ.  Respecting each other’s differences, accepting one another for who we are, caring for one another.   This is God’s plan for us.  Not what happened on Tuesday.

And if we’re wondering where God is now in the midst of all this - all the pain and suffering, the answer is God is here with us.

 There’s a story told by William Muehl.  One December some time ago a group of parents stood outside a Sunday School classroom waiting to pick up their children after the last pre - Christmas class.  As the children ran down the hall each one carried in his or her hands the brightly wrapped surprise which the class had been working on for weeks.  One small boy, trying to run, put on his coat and wave to his mother all at the same time, slipped and fell.  His ‘surprise’ flew from his hands and landed on the tile floor with an obvious ceramic crash.  The child’s first reaction was one of stunned silence.  Then he began to sob.  Someone trying to minimize the incident and comfort the boy, patted his head and murmured, "It’s all right.  It really doesn’t matter."   But the child’s mother dropped to her knees on the floor, swept the boy in her arms and said, "Oh but it does matter.  It matters a great deal."  And she wept with her son.

 Our faith tells us that our God is not one who dismisses us with a pat on the head, or sits far off barely acknowledging our pain. Our God is a God who falls to the ground beside us, sweeps us up in his arms and weeps.
 

What happened to us does matter to God, it matters a great deal.

 Our faith also tells us that though at times it may not seem like it and this is certainly one of those times, the truth is...that evil will not win, cannot win.  This is the message of the cross, one of the basic tenets of our faith; when God raised Christ from the dead, the powers of hell were vanquished that day.  Death did not win, evil did not win then and it will not win now.  Love is stronger than hate, there is a light in the darkness says the gospel of John and that light is Jesus Christ.  And that light cannot be extinguished.

 On Tuesday evening, as we gathered for our first prayer service, the candles that evening were barely flickering.  Just a little bit of light in the darkness.  And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, we forgot to put wax in the candles!  What if the light goes out?  For a moment it looked like - and that night - it certainly felt like darkness would overcome us.  But it didn’t.  The candles stayed lit and the next night they shined bright and on Friday noon they were brighter still.  The light that is Christ cannot be extinguished.

 Yes,  there is still evil and it will certainly overwhelm us at times, but it will not win.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it, writes John.  And will not overcome it.
 
 

 The stories we have heard, the pictures we have seen are testimony to this truth: People lining up for hours to give blood the day of the attack, New Yorkers off the street showing up with shovels to help dig people out - thousands and thousands of rescue workers, fire fighters, police, construction workers, iron workers, Red Cross and other emergency personnel - people responding physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually.  Senators and congressmen and women gathering spontaneously  to sing "God Bless America".  A national day of mourning,  candlelight vigils and prayer services held all over the country, in this small town - people stepping out of their homes, wherever they are at 7 o’clock on Friday night to light a candle as a symbol of hope - people mobilizing everywhere to make sure evil does not have the last word here.  And it won’t...with God’s help.

 Which brings me to the last thing I want to share with you about what our faith tells us at a time like this: and that is...we must never stop being peacemakers.  This is what we are called to do this is who we are called to be.

 Politicians talk about political mandates, well this is a biblical mandate.

 "Blessed are the peacemakers," says Jesus in his sermon on the mount in the gospel of Matthew, "for they will be called children of God."

 In the gospel of Luke, it is written that God has raised up a mighty savior for us to give light to those who sit in darkness, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

 And from the first letter of Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples: "let them turn away from evil and do good;  let them seek peace and pursue it."

 We are called to be peace makers.  To work toward a nation, to worked toward a world in which all are free from violence and injustice, poverty and hatred.
To love God with all our heart and mind and soul and love our neighbors as ourselves.  In the midst of everything we are feeling, anger, outrage, sadness, shock,  it is still our mandate as Christians to work for peace and justice.  Now more than ever.

 If you’re wondering what to do,  how to let your light shine in this darkness, think about gathering with others to talk about it, to come up with something constructive and unique to be of help.  Or write your senator or congress person, write the president,  let them know what you’re thinking, what your feeling.  Offer your support and encouragement.  Come to church, what better place to talk about and work for peace and justice.  Take peace making to a new level!. And above all else, keep doing what you’re doing.
 Keep praying, keeping holding each other close, love your family and friends.  Now, especially...for our selves, for our children, for our world.

 Our closing song for today - and it’s the one we closed with at our prayer service on Wednesday night is "Let their be peace on earth".  The first line of it is this:  "and let it begin with me."  Because this is where it starts.  Right here with you and me.  God help us.