We all remember.
Even if we weren’t yet born, we remember because people we love remember the day, 9/11. I remember it as a shaking. Seven miles away from the Pentagon, I was working on my thesis in seminary, and the impact of the airplane shook the library windows. We knew, then, something was wrong.
How big the problem was kept expanding as the day went on, as we estimated the number of people dead and missing, the people who couldn’t get home, the kids whose parents wouldn’t be coming home, the people who couldn’t be home because they worked in public safety or, as clergy, were on 24x7 just to help people cope.
And the expanding awareness of how at war we’d been with an enemy many of us didn’t know hated us. We began to confront the ethical problem of being implicated in things we individually may not have realized we had a part in.
The bigness of the problem of ongoing war continued to show itself and does so still today. In 2014, I was helping a couple prepare for their wedding, but we couldn’t get to wedding planning without first dealing with this Marine’s grief -- his inability to shake the responsibility he still felt for his unit, even though they’d been home for a good, long while.
We all remember. We are forever changed. But, as the beautiful prayer reminds us, life is changed but not ended – in death, but even in life. We are people of the resurrection, not just after our mortal death but now. Hope is the thing with feathers - that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without the words - and never stops - at all.
It is Christ who has been singing in our hearts all along, even when we cannot make our minds work to recall the words of the song. It is Christ who gives us courage to believe in something beyond our ability to manufacture: healing and peace.
As we remember those who died on 9/11/2001, and pray for those who love them, we pray also for those torn apart by war and those who fight to build peace here and abroad. We pray for our friends, we pray for our enemies, and dare to hope for the day we will see the face of Christ in each other.
Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
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