On Tuesday last week, every single one of us watched in disbelief as the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.
Over and over again, the pictures were shown.
I found myself wanting to turn it off, but afraid of missing anything.
We ached as we saw firefighters battling the blaze in the Pentagon.
Our world changed.
September 11, 2001 will be etched in our minds as a day when it truly felt to our nation that all hell had broken loose.
A day of sadness.
A day of anger.
A day of revulsion.
A day of shock.
A day of each of those feelings, and more, washing over us at the same time.
Some of you remember Pearl Harbor.
Some of you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Kennedy assassination.
We remember the bombing of the Murrow Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
But none of these compare with the sense of seeing our national security compromised – violated would be a better word – in one, single morning.
And now in the aftermath, we wrestle with questions.
What happened to our security systems?
Why did this happen?
Why couldn’t something be done to stop it, and what are we to do now?
We watch reporters ask government officials these questions and hope they have some good answers because we’re not only asking on behalf of the people of New York and the Pentagon.
We’re asking for our own sakes, too.
Whatever sick minds chose their targets chose them well.
Not only lives were lost, but symbols of our identity were literally removed.
What do you do when your security, a huge piece of your identity, is stolen from you and you’re helpless to do anything about it?
And why didn’t God do something?
These are the questions we are left to wrestle with.
Not just this Sunday morning, but for a lot of weeks, and years to come.
Each of our worlds has changed.
Our involvement with our world has changed.
What do we do?
And where is God, our God, in the midst of all this?
I think our government has done well to move slowly and cautiously in searching for the perpetrators of this crime.
A quick response, no matter how gratifying it might feel, would almost certainly make things worse, involving more innocent lives.
Our leaders are being cautious in the answers they give.
This is one case where, as people of faith, we would do well to follow their example.
In both international diplomacy and religion, quick answers tend to be bad answers.
As we try to decide what we will think and where we believe God to be, let’s set aside some of the quick and the bad.
Bad Answer Number One. “It’s an act of God.”
This is NOT an act of God.
This is an act of terrorism.
This is an act of war against innocent human beings.
God does not cause airlines to be hijacked.
God does not cause buildings to fall.
God does not cause suffering in order to achieve some greater good.
There is no greater good to come from such a meaningless act of murder.
Bad Answer Number Two. “It’s God’s will.”
This is not God’s will.
We pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Who could imagine that God’s will might be done in heaven in such a horrendous way?
Bad Answer Number Three. “God’s speaking to us.”
This is not a message from God to our country.
It might be the message of terrorists, but let us not equate the voice of God with the voice of terror.
God does use human events to communicate.
But God uses human events to communicate the love, peace, and justice of the Gospel.
We celebrate that we are one nation under God, and as a nation under God we realize that the world is under God’s sovereign rule.
God’s message to the world is Jesus Christ: his love and his redemption.
If this act of violence brings a message from God to us, then let it bring the awful news that as innocent people suffer, God suffers, too.
God weeps to see such destruction.
Let the message of this violence go out that we, as a nation under God, care for one another, that we care for peace, and that we will not bow down to the shadows of terror.
Bad Answer Number Four. “Our nation is being punished for our sins.”
This not God punishing our nation because we are sliding down the slippery slope of sin.
God would not cause thousands of people to die in order to stop the Emmy Awards, the Latin Grammys, and a Madonna concert.
God is not mad at us for being capitalists.
God is not angry that we’ve under-funded our military, that we’re more open-minded than we used to be, or that not enough Americans attend church on Sunday.
Despite what people on both sides of the political flag may think, New York City and Washington D.C. are not Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jesus Christ died two thousand years ago for our sins.
God has been out of the punishing business for a long time.
Bad Answer Number Five. “It’s the end of the world.”
This is not a sign of the end.
For centuries, false prophets have generated huge profits with tales of woe and Armageddon.
History has had its dark ages, times when entire continents were plagued and suffered.
But God does not, God will not abandon us.
Nations may rise and fall, but God will not be defeated.
Of those end days, scripture says, no one knows, either in heaven above or on earth below, not even Jesus himself.
Let us turn a deaf ear to those who claim to know more than Jesus.
Bad Answer Number Six. “God has abandoned us.”
God has not abandoned us.
Some people ask, justifiably so, “Where was God in all of this?”
Couldn’t God have reached out a hand and smacked away the jet liners?
No.
If you want to see where God is in all of this, stand beside a firefighter who carried the living and the dead over his shoulder.
Look into the eyes of the woman beside you in line to donate blood.
Hear the cries of the anguished as they repeat the refrain of scripture and of song, “How long, O Lord, how long?”
“How long will the nations rage?”
The mighty acts of God are found in the tender mercies of a loving Savior, who gives a cool drink of water, who comforts those who grieve, who prays for us.
That is where God is.
Let us pray that the Spirit of God is with our nation’s leaders as they lead us and make decisions on our behalf.
May God be seen, as well, in their actions and their words.
Those are only a handful of the bad answers.
It may take a long time for good answers to come.
Like you, right now, I have a lot of questions.
The head of Pastoral Care at the UT Medical Center, Rev. George Doebler, is a good friend.
As a hospital chaplain, George has seen more suffering (and more hope) than I could imagine.
He reminds me – questions are always more important than answers.
I don’t like hearing that.
But in my heart, I suspect it is true.
Answers bring us to a conclusion.
Questions lead us on.
And right now, as a nation, we need to be led on.
We need to be led on through this valley of the shadow of death.
We need to be led on to hope.
To care.
To seek justice tempered with maturity and with mercy.
Another friend of mine, who lived through Pearl Harbor and served in World War II, called me last Wednesday.
He was mad.
He said he was still so mad he could barely speak, and he figured he could at least talk to his minister.
And for a few minutes he shared how mad he was.
And he got me going.
I shared how mad I was.
And then we both shared how mad we both were.
Heck of a phone call. That’s not the way they taught us to do it in seminary.
I wish I could say both I and my friend felt better for venting our anger.
Maybe for a few minutes, we did.
As he tied up the conversation, this man who had seen more suffering and more hope than I could imagine sighed.
And he said, “Life goes on.”
Life does go on.
Our questions will lead us on.
The God of mercy and truth, the Lord of compassion and of justice, the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, leads us on.
We will go on.
And as people of faith, we will bear each others’ burdens.
We will shed tears for our brothers and sisters.
We will pray for each other.
We will do what we can.
We will find the face of Jesus in unexpected acts of grace.
And we will know that God is with us.
God cares for us.
God stands beside us, even, and especially, in the worst of times.
Beyond the dark days of our nation, beyond the unanswered questions of our frail humanity, God will lead us.
God will lead us on.
To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Lord, we confess that we are a nation in pain. We have witnessed the unthinkable, and we are confused, we are hurting, we are angry. We are sad. We confess that all our strength cannot save us, and that you alone are our God – our security, our savior and our redeemer. Grant us your mercy in a time of national crisis. And hear us as we pray for ourselves and our church, for our nation, and for our world.
Lord, we pray that our gathering this evening may be a light of hope in a sinful world. May your Spirit bring us together, not only with those here tonight, but by your Spirit unite us with all those – around the world – who this night are gathered in prayer. We lift our voices, our thoughts, our prayers with them. Together may we be strong. Together may we make a difference in this increasingly small, and increasingly dangerous world.
Lord, we pray for the victims of the terrorist acts: in New York City, in Washington D.C., and in Pennsylvania. We pray that their spirits may now rest in eternal peace with you, in your heavenly kingdom. But even as they are with you in perfect love, we pray for their families and friends, who are suffering unimaginable pain. Keep them each in the knowledge of your tender mercies and loving care. We pray for those who are alone this night because of yesterday’s horror. We pray that your Spirit will join with them, granting them comfort where there are no words.
We thank you Lord for the work of rescue workers: for the firefighters, police officers, paramedics, doctors and nurses who are searching for and tending to the injured. We lift up their selfless service and pray that their bodies as well as their spirits may be strengthened for their work.
Lord, we pray for our nation. Never before have our shores been so violated. Never before has our country known such a massive act of evil. We know we have been blessed until now. We face our future with many questions. We know our world has changed, but we can’t yet say how. So in the face the unknown, grant us your wisdom.
Lord, we pray for our nation’s leaders. We pray for President George W. Bush, for all his cabinet and staff. We pray for our Congress as it ponders declarations of war. Let them face these decisions in confidence and hope. May their decisions reflect your justice as well as your mercy. We pray for the men and women of our armed forces and our reserve forces. Grant them brave hearts as they prepare to perform the skills they have only practiced until now.
Lord, we pray for the smallest and the youngest in our country. We pray for our children. We pray that we would know the right things to say to them when they turn from the T.V. and ask us what it all means. Give us courage where we lack answers. By your grace, may their world grow safer instead of more dangerous. May future generations never need to gather as we are tonight.
And Lord, we pray tonight for our enemies. You told us, Lord, to bless those who curse us and to pray for those who abuse us. We confess, Lord, that in the wake of tragedy, this is very, very hard. We ask that you would soften the hearts and heal the minds of those who plot evil. We pray that their relationship to you and to your children around the world would be healed. We pray for our Muslim brothers and sisters, the vast majority of whom are just as shocked as we are. Wherever people are divided by race, poverty, wealth, or nationality, we pray for your healing peace, that we might come to see and respect one another, sharing the abundant blessings of your earth, growing in wisdom, maturing in faith, and living in peace.
Lord, for ourselves, for our church, for our nation, and for our world, we ask your blessing. We make our prayer in the name of the Lord of Lord, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church
3805 Maloney Road
Knoxville, TN 37920