REMEMBERING AND RESURRECTION

REMEMBERING AND RESURRECTION

A Reflection On September 11, 2011

… I’m not convinced that lingering on the tragedy offers a way to transformation any more than staring at Jesus hanging on the cross tells us about the resurrection.

I’ve searched and searched but I can’t find it.  I can’t find the piece I wrote about September 11, 2001. It was my personal experience.  It was my window on the tragedy as I drove north on 395 and came to the Pentagon.  I heard the roar of a jet, looked to my left and said, “My God, that plane is low”. 

The roar, the boom, the fireball, the silence, the debris floating in the sky.  A few days later I made my only pilgrimage to that site. On a hillside I stared into the black hole and twisted metal.  I won’t forget that day or the people who lost their lives, the people whose lives were changed forever, and those who gave everything to rescue who and what they could. I don’t need a week of reminders. I don’t need one more showing of news footage of the World Trade Center, or the Pentagon or the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.   I honor and mourn those who died and how that event has marked us, but going back is not what helps me move forward. 

In many places of worship this Sunday the liturgy will be shaped by what happened a decade ago.  There was quite an elaborate weekend planned at the National Cathedral, that is until an earthquake and a falling crane changed all that.  I don’t know what the best response is to this particular anniversary.  A weekend of special events at the National Cathedral is probably appropriate. I’m not convinced that lingering on the tragedy offers a way to transformation any more than staring at Jesus hanging on the cross tells us about the resurrection.

At my church we will say a prayer to remember those who died and those who still suffer.  We will ask God to protect those for whom this event has led to prejudice and hatred especially our Muslim and Arab brothers and sisters but September 11, 2001 won’t be the cornerstone of the worship.  We will probably give some time to talking with each other about where this decade has led us but we won’t linger on the past.

To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I would go to a place of worship that asked me to relive that day over again.  I would go to a church that asked me what resurrection came to me out of that day.  

Ten years ago there was the roar, the boom, the fireball and the silence.  Debris fell from the sky like burnt angels. I slowed my car, looked at the other drivers as if they could tell what to do.  It took a few hours for the shock to wear off but once most of it dissipated I knew we were called choose transformation or tragedy. I feared our fear, for whatever we do out of fear is never loving or wise.  I feared how our  anger, pain, and confusion would shape us. I feared that "getting the bad guys" would exhaust our energy and imagination for the good. I feared we might not see that this was our moment to rise from the ashes and allow our best selves to show the way.  

When Jesus offered the bread and wine he said, “Do this for the remembrance of me”.  He wasn’t asking us to look back but to look forward.  He wasn’t asking us to linger on the tragedy but reach for transformation. He was asking to re-member his flesh and bone into ours and be God’s dream in the world.  That’s what I want this Sunday, a reminder of the resurrection, the transformation that comes from tragedy, the daring declaration of Jesus who rose from the dead and said, “Peace be with you”.