September 11, 2011 Sermon

I don't think I've ever shared a sermon I've written online.  But since some of you asked, here is the sermon I preached yesterday at St. Paul's Church in Benicia.  Luckily, I didn't know until after the service that the Rev. Dr. Linda Clader, CDSP professor of homelitics, was in the congregation (she introduced herself and was very complimentary, although my heart still jumped into my throat when she said her name!).  But in any case, here is what I said.


Ten years ago today our lives were changed forever. The course of history was changed forever. September 11th is now and will probably always be a holy day – a day set apart for special remembrances, observances, and tributes. For those of us who were old enough to retain a memory of that day, the story of September 11th is a sacred story, one that is as central and formative to our lives personally, emotionally, and spirituality as any other momentous life experience has been. And because anniversaries like this are an important time of memory-keeping and story sharing, what I’d like to do is start with giving us a chance to give voice to those sacred stories. I’d like to invite you to turn to someone sitting near you – who doesn’t already know the answer – and share very briefly the answer to these two questions: where were you on September 11th and what were you doing?



Giving voice to this moment is really important because it’s a literal turning point, a place where a dividing line exists in space and time in our lives. On September 11th, I was about two weeks into my first year of seminary at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. I had set my alarm to get up several hours before my first class so that I could do some reading. This was unusual for me because I was definitely not a morning person. My alarm went off and I turned on my radio. Instead of hearing music or the silly goings on of morning radio programs, it was CNN. It took a second to process and figure out what they were talking about, but once it registered, I turned on the TV to see those images that are the consummate symbols of September 11th – the twin towers in flames. Within seconds of flipping on the TV my then boyfriend (now husband) called. “Do you know what’s happening?” he asked. He was thousands of miles away in Florida, but we stayed on the phone both watching TV, stunned, horrified, helpless. Miles apart, we watched the towers fall together. From the moment I turned on the TV, a nausea set in that I don’t think went away for days if not weeks after that moment.


Yale prides itself on never, ever canceling classes for any reason. A flurry of emails went out stating that classes were still on. As much as I didn’t want to go, I went to my classes. I have no memory of what my professors lectured about that day. I doubt they do either. I found myself wondering what the purpose of making us sit in class at a time like this was, and it taught me that sometimes it’s good to take solace in a routine, but sometimes we need to stop and take care of ourselves and each other. My seminary insisted on the former when we really needed the latter. But, we mostly pressed on through the day, ending with our Episcopal colloquia. There, the Dean shared with us that our Dean of Students, Sandy Stayner and her husband David, had been at Trinity Wall Street with Rowan Williams, and they had all run for their lives. They had made it to Stanton Island and were traumatized but safe. He led us in prayer and let us go, the first act of generosity and mercy we had experienced that day.


This is the context in which I began my studies and formation for ordained ministry and was truly fundamental in shaping everything since in my career serving God and the church. My seminary classmates and I prayed that the unity and hope that was September 12th would be the beginning of a new era. We hoped that the leaders of our country would not seek to repay violence with violence. We prayed that the people that packed our churches, attended candle light vigils and panel discussions – all those searching for the answer to WHY did this happen? – would see this as an opportunity for a new understanding and a new beginning. We prayed that this would lead to peace and eventually a reconciliation unlike any ever known before.


Of course that’s not what happened. We launched into wars. We shopped and spent our way out of our emotional depressions – only to land in a fiscal one today. Divisions between people have grown. Our distrust of foreigners and desire to close our borders has intensified. Our churches are struggling more than ever before to share our message of God’s love and thereby keep our ministries alive. So, what does all this mean? How can we make sense of the last ten years? I think one of the most poignant lessons has been to recognize the difference between the way the world responds to events such as September 11th, and they way Jesus calls us to respond to events such as this. Because more often than not, there is a huge difference between the two.


I mean, it is an utterly human response to turn inward in the face of such horror. To cling to those around us who we know and trust. To seek self-protection, safety, security. Who wasn’t desperate for those things after September 11th? Think about the disciples in the face of the Crucifixion. When the Romans showed up to arrest Jesus – they scattered. They hid. They watched him die from a distance, and denied they knew him. They were scared. They wanted to be safe – to not risk happening to them what had just happened to their friend and leader. But Jesus reappears and tells them they have work to do. They can’t hide! They have to go back out there and PREACH THE GOSPEL! Tell people about the love of God, of God’s desire for us to love each other and help each other. And that they have to do this no matter what trials and tribulations they may face. Because the Gospel is a dangerous message. It’s a message that flies in the face of fear and oppression. It brings hope to those who have no hope. It is the message that the things of this world are not all that there is – that there is a God and a life that is more than any of us have here in this place at this time. And so the world can do its worst. We have nothing to fear! Jesus has promised that we will be with God forever. And that is a message of liberation – a message of love. And it changed the course of the history of the world.


But it is a message that is really hard for many of us to believe and accept. Especially in the face of the evil we all witnessed on September 11th and then over and over again – in the face of that evil our human side takes over and often we want vengeance. We want payback. We want that evil to be gone from our world. And yet, what does Jesus tell us? In the Gospel lesson assigned today, Jesus tells us to forgive and forgive some more. Seventy-seven times, to be exact. And the moral of the parable is: if you have been forgiven, then you also must forgive. And friends, because of Jesus, WE ARE FORGIVEN! So each of us is already in that must-forgive boat.


And yet, this for many of us is easier said than done. When we’ve witnessed something unspeakably tragic, forgiveness is often the last thing one wants to consider. And yet, this is Jesus’ message to us, on this day. FORGIVE. You’ve probably heard the saying that to hate someone is like drinking poison and waiting for the person to die. Point being: you’re only hurting yourself. Holding onto the anger and the fear is the same. In many ways, that’s what has happened with September 11th. It’s hard to get past, it’s hard to let go of those emotions.


And yet there have been moments of hope – moments of people reaching out to those in Afghanistan, seeking understanding with our Muslim brothers and sisters, projects committed to healing and peace. Indeed, what time and history teach us is God has not forsaken us. Shortly after September 11th, my Old Testament professor, Dr. John Collins, pointed out that when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, it was a similarly horrifying and tragic event. The Temple was the center of their lives, their worship, their politics – everything. And the destruction of the Temple was not just about losing a building – it meant God no longer had a house on earth, and therefore had fled the world. I mean, now we read about the destruction of the Temple in the Bible and it’s just a thing that happened. But Dr. Collins emphasized, this event was nothing short of cataclysmic. And yet – they got through it. What we know now is God did not forsake the world, and the Ancient Israelites didn’t stop believing or worshipping God. And God continued to reach out to humanity.


While the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the events of September 11th are not perfect parallels by any means, for people of faith the takeaway message is: out of tremendous sorrow and pain, out of those questions of ‘where is God?’ and ‘why would God allow such tragedy to occur?’, comes a new day. God is still here. And we can move forward and rebuild. As people of faith, we have these sacred stories, long-held assurances of God’s presence throughout history. And the reality is people make bad choices, and do bad things. Even catastrophic things. That is going to happen. But God has never forsaken us and never will, and offers us a way to be different – to not allow our hearts to be overwhelmed with hatred and grief, but rather to rise above, to seek forgiveness, and to start again at the beginning – in God’s boundless love. And because we know that love, we know the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness he offers us, we must share that at all times and in all places so that we can be agents of peace and reconciliation. The world will not do it on its own – people are too flawed, too angry, too scared. But with God healing can occur, and we can emerge stronger and better for it.


This has been a tumultuous decade and now perhaps we are in a place that we can pause, take stock of where we have been, what has worked and what has not, and put ourselves to the task living as disciples of the Gospel: with the good news that there is nothing to fear! We are forgiven, we are loved, and we can let that love embrace everything we do and all of our interactions henceforth. This is how we can – as Paul says – overcome evil with good. We owe it to those who lost their lives on September 11th and in the time since then, to strive for nothing less. Jesus teaches us to forgive, to be healers, and to love all people. He set aside his fear and won for us eternal life. I pray that on this solemn 10th anniversary, we his followers can carry on his example because this is a world that needs him – needs us. And together we can do it in his name. Amen.