[The following essay came out of a recent seminar for resident chaplains in
the Carolinas Healthcare System, entitled "Ministry on September 11."]
What we say from our pulpits is important, as well as what we do not say. It
is equally important to think about the pastoral implications of the experiences
of our people. Clinical Pastoral Education emphasizes learning from reflection
on experience, and studying what Anton Boisen referred to as "living human
documents." I think we can learn something about how to minister on September
11, 2002, from remembering and reflecting on September 11, 2001.
Where were you on September 11? Who will ever forget where they were that day,
and how they learned of the events? It befell my lot to break the news to our
chaplain residents that the United States was under terrorist attack. Even as
we were trying to absorb the blows of the crash at the World Trade Center and
at the Pentagon, we watched incredulously as a plane flew into the other tower,
and then one by one the twin towers collapsed. Our role then was to go to our
ministry assignments in the hospital and see how we could offer pastoral care.
In the waiting rooms people were standing around the televisions, mostly in
stunned silence. Others huddled in the corners, their anxiety about loved ones
temporarily shielding them from world events. I felt like Ezekiel when he first
joined the exiles, "I sat there among them, stunned" (Ezekiel 3:15).
I break off my story at this point. Each of us has our own. One of the needs
that people will have this September 11 is to remember and tell their story.
Pastors know the importance of anniversaries of traumatic events, and of the
need to remember…and to renew hope.
Two ministry events stand out for me in the days following 9/11. The chaplains
led an outdoor service that was attended by hundreds of hospital staff. It was
a service of prayer for peace, using prayers from many religious traditions,
including Islam. The other event I remember is my pastor's sermon the following
Sunday. I recall little of what she said, but I remember her title and refrain,
"I Can Only Preach Peace." These responses were not just "made
up." Ministers drew on their own spiritual formation and the leadership
of the Holy Spirit in their response to this event.
As pastors, we need to encourage expression of feelings-anger, grief, fear,
etc. The lament psalms, especially the communal laments, give us a language.
Granted, some express a desire for vengeance, but praying out vengeful feelings
can help to avoid acting them out: "'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,'
says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). This verse is part of the epistle lesson
for September 1. I remember last September how lectionary texts seemed to fit
the needs of the moment.
People will have a host of other memories. Some lost family and friends; some
have lost their jobs; others watched retirement savings plummet. Some soldiers
at Fort Bragg were flown out to Afghanistan to root out terrorists, and several
of those upon their return are alleged to have murdered their wives. We fear
that terrorists may strike again this year, and we fear that our own government
may strike terror in the hearts of the people of Iraq (cf. The War on Terrorism
and the Terror of God, by Lee Griffith).
One year later, people are still searching for ways to deal with all of this.
Bank of America's corporate headquarters is turning out all the lights in its
60-story tower in uptown Charlotte. Duke Energy has no plans, at this point,
to turn out its dramatic neon light display. Some airlines are offering special
rates to those who fly September 11. Others are canceling flights. US Airways
has just declared bankruptcy.
In his book, Writing in the Dust after September 11, Rowan Williams offers wise
counsel that still applies today. We should not rush to fill in the empty spaces
left in our lives any more than we should rush to re-build at Ground Zero. Reinvestment
is one thing; replacement is another. We cannot replace what we have lost, especially
those who have lost loved ones. We must reinvest in what we have left. One of
the encouraging signs is the way people even at a great distance from New York
City have invested their lives in cleanup efforts. A team from Park Road Baptist
Church in Charlotte spent a week in lower Manhattan helping provide for the
needs of workers engaged in recovery efforts. Lives have been changed forever,
and people are investing themselves differently. Some have de-invested in their
work, and are investing more in their families and communities.
When we rise to speak this September, let us preach peace: "How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings
good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns'"
(Isaiah 52:7).
Robert Richardson, Chaplain
Carolinas Healthcare System
August 25, 2002