Response to September 11th
It is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome Klara Tammany, the Diocesan Missioner for Christian Education and Spiritual Formation, here with us today. Normally, I'd just introduce her and get out of her way, but in light of the events that have been unfolding since last Tuesday -- events in New York and in Washington and events in our hearts and our minds and our spirits -- it seemed good to take a few moments to reflect on what has happened, and to reflect as well on the power of Klara's presence here today.
If you were watching CNN on Tuesday or listening to CNS or NBC, you almost certainly heard people -- people with good haircuts, wearing well-tailored suits, people who seemed to know what they were talking about -- we heard people telling us that our lives had changed forever. Beloved in Christ, I am here to tell you that our lives have not truly changed at all.
Now, I'm not talking about how quickly our lives started to "get back to normal", although in many ways we were indeed quick to get schools back open, or to make sure our new furniture would be delivered promptly, or just to get the laundry done. I'm not talking about how we now feel about flying, or whether we are still at ease with our next-door neighbors, especially if these neighbors look or sound different from us, or call God "Allah". Those reactions are ours, and we will be living with them, and in some cases repenting from them, for a long time.
And I'm not saying that certain images won't stay with us for the rest of our lives. They will. Images of planes turned into bombs, or 110-story buildings melting like candle wax will stay with us for a long time. What will also stay with us is the poignancy of calls made on cell phones from doomed airplanes and collapsed buildings.
And I'm not saying that on this Sunday morning we see the world in the same way we saw the world last Monday evening. We don't. Some of our illusions are gone. The illusion that we can put our trust in the economic power symbolized by the World Trade Centers, or the military power symbolized by the Pentagon -- that illusion is gone. The illusion that we control our lives is gone. The illusion that anything in this world lasts forever is gone.
So how can I say that our lives have NOT changed? I can say that as your priest, and we all can say that as faithful Christians, because the hope we have in God's ultimate justice has not changed. The hope that is ours in Christ Jesus has not changed. Our lives have not changed because we can still surrender ourselves, and those we love, in utter and complete trust to the mercy of God. Our lives have not changed because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has not changed. Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and tomorrow. And our lives have not changed because of what St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans. Neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heights nor depths nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing could separate the people on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center from the love of God in Christ. Nothing could separate the people on American Airlines flight 11 from the love of God in Christ. God will not let them go, God will not let us go. We are marked as Christ's own forever.
This is our life. This is our faith. This is our hope. And it is our call as the people of God to keep on telling this Gospel truth. To quote Psalm 78, "that which we have heard and known, and what our ancestors have told us, we will not hide from their children." In the face of disaster and tragedy, we are doing the work God has given us to do. Klara Tammany can help us learn how to do this work, and how to do it with faith, and with integrity, and with power.
Klara, we are yours…