Pr. Doug's Sermon on 9/11 Anniversary

It was a brilliant morning on the East Coast.
Boston, New York and Washington were stirring to life under cloudless and deep blue skies.
The day ahead was full of promise – or at least of routine and certainty.

And then within a matter of minutes, that pristine beauty was shattered… Shattered by airplanes used as human missiles…
And with it, assumptions about a way of life were shattered.
Assumptions about an island called North America – free from the deadly reach of terrorist destruction. – SHATTERED.
Assumptions about a dangerous world only existing in other corners of the globe. - SHATTERED.
Assumptions that THEY could never get us…. SHATTERED.

Four commercial airplanes later and over 3,000 dead…America and the world simply stopped… At this very hour, 10 years ago today, our collective heart stopped beating for a moment…
We were shocked at the severity and the magnitude of such carnage and devastation.
We were shocked at the site of massive destruction that looked more like a bombed out German city of World War II than a bustling metropolis of the 21st Century.
We were shocked at the reality of our vulnerability.

There we sat for days, transfixed by endless video loops of the attack… stunned and afraid: Just waiting for the other shoe to drop...
For some other attack to occur.

But slowly we began to emerge from our bunkers of fear trying to make sense of all that had happened. And for a time, an entire nation of brokenhearted people came together with a mixture of fear, rage, sadness and confusion in this season of crisis and public mourning.

Over time however, as seasons do, this season changed. The red and yellow leaves of lament devolved into a stark season of vengeance.
Manhunts began…
Public leaders climbed into their bully pulpits taunting terrorists to attack us again with words like, “bring it on”…
And if your ethnicity just happened to resemble that of those who attacked us on 9/11, you quickly got a taste of what life was like for an entire segment of our population in the days before civil rights laws were enacted.
Over time, even some churches took their cue from this season of vengeance by publically condemning those of other religions: Especially those of the Muslim faith.
If you were a pastor of another Lutheran denomination, you were not allowed to participate in ecumenical and interfaith prayer services…
And some crusading churches even threatened to burn Korans.

Sadly, since 9/11, many have found it impossible to see God’s presence in their Muslim neighbors. Communities have fought the building of mosques and many Muslims still experience prejudice and threats.

Pillars of fire that began consuming the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon 10 years ago today, still consume us:
The longest war in U.S. History still rages because of these pillars…
Citizens are still encouraged to look upon other citizens with paranoid suspicion and to report them to authorities.



One of the most disturbing dimensions of the events of 9/11 was the fact that the terrorists who attacked that day were doing so in the name of God.
Sadly, killing for God’s sake has been one of the ugliest legacies of the human story. If you don’t share my faith, you don’t share my humanity. You are a lesser human of a lesser god.

So where do God’s people turn in the midst of the flames?
Where do followers of Christ, the Prince of Peace go from here?
As followers of the God who calls for swords to be beaten into plowshares and forgiveness of enemies to be offered freely, what words do we speak to a world hell-bent on living under the pillar of fire called “vengeance?”

Maybe, just maybe, there is a different pillar of fire that offers us hope.
A pillar of fire and cloud… not so unlike that found in this morning’s story from Exodus.
In Exodus, the pillar of fire and cloud separated enemies. There is something powerful in that. It came between and touched the army of Egypt and the army of Israel…and one did not come near the other all night we are told.
For there in that pillar and in that cloud God was working out something new…
Readying his people for a new journey – a journey marked not by fear and vengeance, but of trust and covenantal blessing.
A journey undertaken by those who had been wounded and terrorized and yet were led to a place where they could be a blessing to others…
“Wounded Healers” as Henri Nouen would put it.

“Wounded Healers” led by God to be a blessing:

You know something pretty amazing happens when fire is mixed with water…. Especially the waters of Baptism.
When fire mixes with Baptismal Water…
A cloud of grace is formed.

And from that cloud of grace, new eyes emerge.
New Eyes that see in that mysterious pillar of fire and cloud, an unpredictable God who will not be manipulated into adopting our biases and our agendas…
New Eyes that see in that mysterious pillar of fire and cloud, God’s Divine finger print leading us into lives (as wounded as we may be) of serving our neighbor…
New Eyes that see how that mysterious pillar of fire and cloud not only separates enemies, but ultimately connects them by freeing us from the shackles of paranoid suspicions and fearful bigotry…
New Eyes: Christ’s Eyes…
That see God at work in every faith and people.
There is an old Hasidic tale told by an ancient rabbi that goes something like this:

The angels were rejoicing over the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea. They were playing their harps and singing and dancing when one of them said, “wait…Look, the Creator of the Universe is sitting there weeping!” They approached God and asked, “Why are you weeping when Israel has been delivered by your mighty hand?”
“I am weeping” said the Maker of the Universe, “for the dead Egyptians washed up on the shore- somebody’s sons, somebody’s husbands, somebody’s fathers”.

A long time ago, Jesus was asked by Peter about the mathematics of forgiveness. “How many times must I forgive when someone does me wrong?” I can just imagine the look on Peter’s face when Jesus responded: “Everytime – without limit – That’s how many times you forgive”.

These last 10 years have revealed to us that our grief is far from over and may never be. – but even in the midst of grief, there is room for healing and yes, even room for equation-defying forgiveness. For we are followers of a God who not only hears our cries, but whose son, The Prince of Peace, has worn our flesh, experienced our suffering and put a stopper in death itself.

Listen to what is said at various remembrances today and you may very well hear the drumbeats of vengeance. For it is so easy to let our anger and our grief get the better of us. An eye for an eye makes a lot of sense to the world around us.

But deep down inside: You and I know that that is not the answer. You and I know that Jesus has shown us still a more excellent way!

You and I know in our heart of hearts that now more than ever, the world needs peacemakers – and who better to be peacemakers than those who follow in the footsteps of the One they call, “The Prince of Peace?”