All of us remember exactly where we were on September 11, 2001. For Americans, that day has forever marked each of our lives. Some sitting in this room lost friends and family members on that day. Others in the room have had friends and family since deployed on military tours all over the world.
Ten years later, all of us struggle with what to say or what to feel. American philosopher, Edith Wyschogrod, in her work, An Ethics of Remembering (1998), says that the greatest challenge in the wake of a cataclysmic tragedy is “the building of shared experience.” An Op/Ed columnist poses the question: “How do you say anything at all about 9/11 without veering into bellowing banality or genteel understatement?” Even today, there is controversy over the placement of and the content in the 9/11 Memorial. Questions were being raised about the commemoration service: Should there be prayers offered? Are we paying too much attention to honoring the families who have died? Or, too little? Editorial boards of newspapers, magazines, and television stations are discussing the fine line between commemoration and exploitation.
As a Christian minister approaching a worship service that falls on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, I wondered: “What should I say?” “What is appropriate or inappropriate?” “How do I create the spiritual and emotional space for people to experience all sorts of feelings from fear to anger, from grief to relief, from despair to hope?” Is there a prophetic word that should be uttered by a Christian minister who is quite disturbed both by a patriotic nationalism that has crept too far into the Christian church and by a generation of younger Americans that does not seem to appropriately honor and respect those that have fought, bled, and died for the freedoms that we as Americans enjoy today? I am not sure that there is an easy and simple answer to these questions.
But I do know that we have a couple of statements made by Jesus that could possibly shape a Christian response to 9/11. My hesitation in sharing a couple of extracted verses of Scripture on a gravity-filled day of commemoration is that they could somehow be misconstrued or used inappropriately. However, I believe that I am honoring their spirit and their intent:
· “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b).
· “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45).
Here we see that Jesus (1) recognizes that the world is broken and takes a long view of its healing and restoration, (2) commands us to love our enemies, and (3) implores us to pray for those who persecute us, (for God himself blesses even the unrighteous).
Recognizing the World is Broken and taking a long view of its healing and restoration
9/11 has granted Americans an important opportunity to stand in solidarity with people all over the world who experience a 9/11 every single day of their lives! At the hands of tyranny, oppression, religious persecution, slavery, war, climatic calamity, socio-economic disparity, and so many other societal and national ills, people everywhere are suffering all of the time. When suffering like this reverberates on our own soil, as Christians, we should seize the opportunity to prayerfully empathize with people in our neighborhood, in our city, in our state, in our country, and in our world who “face death every single day” (Hebrews 11). For instance, in places like Iraq and Iran, in Israel and in Palestine, in North Korea and in Sudan, men, women, and children buckle under the trauma wrought by political tyranny, military occupation, and generalized civil unrest. How often do we pray? How often should we pray? What could we do? What should we do? 9/11 sharpens our answers to these questions.
What is more, Jesus did not merely recognize that the world is broken, but he came as an instrument of healing and peace—his response to the brokenness and the suffering of the world was to be sacrificially broken by it. It is the normal and right impulse to honor and revere heroes, who, in their severe sacrifice, were broken by the events of 9/11 and their aftermath. People lost love, limb, and even life in putting others’ needs above their own. We think of people like the passengers of United Flight 93, police officers and firefighters, volunteers that combed through the wreckage, soldiers who have subsequently done 1, 2, 3, and 4 tours overseas, and their families who scraped, saved, and have waited and still wait for them to come home. We pause to honor each for not merely recognizing, but for acting, and we reflect upon the ways that sacrifice heals and restores our world.
Loving our Enemies
Anyone can love friends and family. Anyone can love the in-group. Anyone can love someone who looks, acts, and talks like them—who believes and thinks like they do. But, who can love their enemy? This is what Jesus calls Christians to do. Do we as Christians exhibit genuine empathy and compassion for our enemies, those who live near us and those who do not? Have we sought to slip into their sandals—to walk a mile in their shoes? To understand how they view the world and why they view it that way? The ten-year anniversary of 9/11 and Jesus’ command to love our enemies present Christians with the perfect opportunity to examine the 2x4 in our own eye before we seek to brush away the speck in someone else’s.
Praying for those that Persecute Us
If you have ever tried to pray faithfully and consistently for someone that has wronged you, it remains virtually impossible to not forgive this person. Forgiveness does not necessarily imprudently restore a new line of credit to this person, but it is indeed your way of paying down their debt and zeroing out the ledger. The ten-year anniversary of 9/11 is the pregnant opportunity to pray for those that have wronged you (and that you have wronged), and also, to stand in solidarity with those who have been persecuted and wronged all over the world by praying for them. This is a prayer that we pray for Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews, for those who are agnostic and atheistic—it is a prayer for anyone and everyone who has not been granted the dignity and respect that is due them as one who is created in the image of God by a Creator, who we as Christians also acknowledge is our Messiah. The Christ who himself has a long view of restoration, who loves his enemies, and who prays for those who persecute him!
Prayers of the People for 9/11/11
God, we pray for ourselves, that we would be patient and longsuffering just as You are—that our view of history and our hope for healing and restoration would align with yours.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God, we pray for those near and far who experience a 9/11 everyday. At the hands of tyranny, oppression, religious persecution, slavery, war, climatic calamity, socio-economic disparity, and so many other societal and national ills.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God, we honor those heroes who, by their sacrifice of love, limb, and life, gave themselves to the good in the face of evil and destruction in such a manner as would be becoming and pleasing to you, Lord Christ.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God, we ask for your grace and your mercy to increase our capacity to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters all over the world who are persecuted and “facing death ever single day.” We pray for their peace and deliverance, we pray for your intervention and healing.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. Amen.*
*My thoughts stem from reading a couple of magazines, Newsweek and Time, and some articles in the NY Times. Some of the phrasing here is not original to me, but simply formatted and developed from the perspective of a Christian minister.