Isaiah 40:18-31
WTC and Pentagon disaster
9/16/01
That last verse has always been a source of strength and courage for me
in times of trouble.
They are words of strength and courage. Words of assurance.
They are words we need to hear this week!
There are so many things I could have read.
Just look through the Bible and you will find them.
Psalm 46:1 - "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea."
Or how about Romans 8:35f - "Who will separate us from the love of
Christ?
Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril or sword? … No… For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor rulers nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
These are all words that can sustain and strengthen us in the midst of the
horror
and disbelief of the tragedies this week.
We have watched the destruction of American landmarks - important buildings
-
symbolic buildings - buildings that give us a sense of security - a sense of
who
we are.
But even worse has been the awful number of innocent lives that have been taken.
How can we comprehend the terror of being on a plane that is hijacked and
bound
for destruction?
How can we understand what it must be to sit in an office building that is
suddenly struck by a huge plane?
And yet amidst the sheer terror of it all emerge stories of courage and assurance.
There are those who kept others calm - those who called loved ones to say last
words of love - those who fought the terrorists and prevented more evil.
It is sheer terror and madness.
We keep thinking we will wake up and it will be a dream, but we know that is
not
so. The reality is there. We keep seeing it. We keep hearing more.
How can we comprehend this terrible disaster?
How can we begin to understand the minds of people who could do such horrible
acts?
How could human minds devise a plot to hijack several planes in one day and
destroy the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and other places, too?
Who could intentionally overtake these airplanes and aim them at places to take
thousands of human lives - so many innocent civilians?
This disaster has been compared to Pearl Harbor, but at Pearl Harbor, we
knew
the enemy.
Around Pearl Harbor, there was a war raging.
But this week, the enemy struck out of their own hatred and sickness to
humble
the American people - and to attack the whole free world.
Americans are not the only victims!
People of all nationalities and religions are the victims!
We must be very careful not to lash out in hate and fear at any one group of
people - for most of them are innocent victims, too!
We must guard against letting this make us seek vengeance so that we, too,
become the evil we deplore.
Anger begets anger and hate begets hate.
We must guard against becoming a slave to the evil that lurks at the heart of
such
hateful deeds.
We must remember that we are trying to build a better world.
We can take pride in America, but we must remember that God loves the whole
world!
We can fight evil, but we must remember it is a small handful of people who
are
in these terrorist groups.
It is great the way most of the world has rallied together by now.
Not only do we have unity in America, but there is a growing unity in the world
will to fight such evil.
It was heartening to me that in a few days the names of most of the hijackers
were
known and the enemy was being identified and more perpetrators tracked down.
Even in the midst of our grief and disbelief, there were people at work to track
down and capture any others, to bring justice and to end the terror.
While terrorism will not be put down easily, the resiliency, courage, dedication
and assurance of our nation will carry us far.
Diane Sawyer told Wednesday morning of someone who called and said,
"Just remember why America chose the eagle as its symbol:
it is not afraid of the storm."
When a storm comes, an eagle will spread its wings and soar above the storm.
If necessary, an eagle will take her young upon her back to keep them safe.
That is a fitting symbol for Americans - and for all people of faith and freedom
-
to soar above the storm and keep our young safe and protect our citizens.
We can soar above the storm, and work for good and peace.
We can remember: "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Just as an eagle will spread its wings and soar above the storm, so do we
have the
ability to turn to our faith and let it help us through such times of trouble.
This past Tuesday, September 11, 2001 will live in our memories.
We will remember where we were when we began to hear of the hijacked
airplanes and the destroyed buildings and the terrible loss of human life.
The stories of individual victims and survivors will yet come out.
They will be stories of grief and loss as well as stories of safety and wonder.
There will be stories of rescue and helpfulness and mercy!
And they will inspire us.
The stories of courage and love, of goodness and mercy, will inspire us!
For goodness and mercy often show themselves in the face of disaster.
They are like balm to a fresh wound.
After the bombing in Oklahoma City, people gave of themselves to help save
Lives, to bring comfort and food and medical help.
Rev. Don Alexander of Oklahoma City said at that time, "Tragedy does not
produce goodness, but sometimes it can reveal it."
I go back even further to the flood of 1993, when I lived a short ten miles
from the mighty Mississippi.
Many church people I knew worked to help keep back the waters, to save what
properties they could, to take food to workers, to give blankets and blood and
whatever was needed - and to help in the rebuilding afterwards.
People at our General Assembly meeting in St. Louis had the first Assembly
work
day, helping to build sandbag walls that kept some folks dry.
It was the beginning of the Volunteers in Mission.
But it wasn't just church people who helped during that flood.
Some of the more inspiring stories came from other sources.
Members of rival gangs in cities along the raging rivers worked side by side
in
peace to try to bring some semblance of order to life in the midst of the raging
waters - and in the process they made peace with one another!
And even before that, I remember after the Challenger disaster in 1987,
how
horrified and struck people were - but the voice of then President Ronald
Reagan came over the air waves with these words,
"The astronauts have reached out and touched the face of God -
and it is covered with tears!"
I do not know what madness produces tragedies and destruction, but I do
know
the source of goodness that brings help and healing in the midst of trouble.
Psalm 46 again tells us:
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter…
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." [from vss
1,6,7]
The spirit of goodness - the spirit of America - the spirit of the unity
of all good
people - will not be destroyed by attacks - they will only be strengthened.
The spirit of faith and goodness will prevail.
In light of this, our question now should be "What can we do to help?"
There are several things we can do to help.
We can, first of all, as many of you have already, join in the army of prayer,
lifting up our nation and world peace, praying for all who are touched by this
tragedy - all the injured, all who have lost loved ones.
We can pray for a sense of order and direction and wisdom to take over, to
organize the clean-up, the rebuilding and the justice.
Prayer is bold work of the people of God.
It is a bold thing to pray for the spirit of justice and mercy to prevail.
It is an act of courage and assurance to be able to pray for the reconciliation
of all
the world's people - to pray for a willingness to live together in peace.
And in that process of prayer, we must pray for all people to have faith that
will
sustain them whatever trouble comes along.
We can also respond with acts of giving.
We can give blood - to build up the nation's stores of blood and keep it stable.
We can give monetary gifts to the Red Cross or to the Week of Compassion.
Yes, our own Week of Compassion will be on hand through this crisis as in any
other, to give aid in many ways.
Johnny Wray, Director of Week of Compassion has said that money is needed -
for now and for the long run of helping the disaster victims.
We can take a special offering and send it in to WoC for New York and
Washington D.C.
But there is one other thing we can do.
We can nurture our faith and the faith of others.
We be agents of courage and confidence and peace and goodwill.
We can give strength to the weak; we can give healing to the injured - not just
in
this tragedy, but in all times of trouble!
We can bring reconciliation to the estranged; we can give hope to the hopeless.
I quote Johnny Wray: "One of the most important things we can do is to channel this great desire to help (as well as the swell of anger, confusion, fear, frustration, etc. that surely grips every citizen) into concrete opportunities of compassion within our own communities. So, go build a Habitat house, organize a mission trip to a neglected neighborhood or to Nicaragua, shelter a homeless family, work with an at-risk youth, volunteer at the local food pantry or women's shelter. 'Practice resurrection' as Wendell Berry says. . . .whatever we can do to make our communities and world better, safer, kinder, healthier, fairer, freer, gentler, stronger - which, I believe, in the final analysis is the only way we will ever rid the world of the scourge of terrorism and violence."
We are a people of faith and we must live by our faith - with the courage
and
confidence of eagles lifted above the storm by the everlasting love of God.
Rise above the evil, and be ambassadors of God's goodwill and compassion,
with courage and assurance!
And God bless you all!
Diane Clark