With the intial comment "God be with us all" Joretta Marshall wrote on the morning of September 11, 2001
What is the pastoral word we bring in the midst of chaos, confusion, and fear? Today, as we hear of the tragic news carried on our televisions, radios, and internet servers, we are aware of the stories and feelings that confront us. Along with a personal sense of incredible loss, grief, and alarm, our congregations might also face fears unnamed and unknown to us. As pastoral leaders we are called to respond not only to the concerns of our individual congregations, but also to the cries of the world. We are called to respond to the soul-full concerns of one and all.
The incredible silence of grief will give way to the laments and cries of everyone of us who has lost something on this day: the loss of lives, the loss of visions of justice and peace, the loss of security, and the loss of hope for a global community that knows not violence but peace. Let us receive those laments in our congregations, full of the knowledge that there is a God who rages at human violence and who cries the tears of grief and loss with us.
In our grief and lament there will be individuals and communities who will seek isolation and revenge. As pastoral leaders, let us not allow these sentiments to so shape our response that we lose our ability to be mindful of the God who may be as appalled as we are on this day. Instead, let us lift the concerns of the world as we gather in prayer, aware that we do not always understand the complexities of the world around us, yet we must remain present within it.
Our communities call us to hold onto the vision of a God who is present in our incredulity of the world around us. This is the God who is full of mercy and grace, abounding in steadfast love, even in the face of incredible disasters. Although our vision may be clouded in this moment by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, we are called to remind those whom we serve that violence and fear cannot be the last word. Perhaps one of the words we need to speak on this day and the days to come reminds us all that we are called to be bearers of mercy and grace in our search for justice and peace.
God is with us all.
Dean Joretta Marshall (email to Marshall,
Joretta)
Eden Theological Seminary