“Continual Hope: Ten Years after 9-11”    September 11, 2011

Matthew 5: 3–10        The Rev. Mary A. Pullen

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, O sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child … a long ways from home.”

The words of this spiritual reflect the anguish of those who found themselves in deep grief. Grief that they had been torn away from their country, ripped from their families, taken away from everything familiar, brought to a new land in chains, sold to labor as slaves where once they had known freedom. Maybe their days had started out as an ordinary day, but ended in despair and sorrow.

Days of national tragedy are imprinted on us forever. For the World War II generation, it was December 7, 1941. Two more recent dates–November 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and April 4, 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, was assassinated–impacted my generation, the boomers, forever. And September 11, 2001, forever altered the worldview of my daughter (she is now twenty-six), her peers, and the rest of our country in ways we never imagined.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001? I was standing in the parking lot of the church I served in Greensboro, NC, talking with a colleague after a meeting. I remember looking up at the sky. It was one of those fall days with a hint of coolness, an indicator that summer had ended and winter would come. I went back into the church office and my secretary, who was originally from New York, said to me “Something happened in New York. A plane has crashed in to a building.” We turned on a television and watched the horrible events of that day come into focus. My secretary’s cousin died in one of the towers. He was twenty-six years old. He simply went to work that morning and never came home again, leaving a devastated family.

In the context of 9/11, the Beatitudes of Jesus bring continual hope to a conflicted world. The Hebrew word ashre, translated from the Greek, means “how happy.” The salutation emphasizes congratulations, so in the Beatitudes, instead of blessed, the text could read “How happy are the poor in spirit, how happy are they who mourn, how happy are the peacemakers.” These three beatitudes are the focus of today’s message.

The first, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” reminds us that it is not good works, or money, or rank or power that opens the door to salvation. It is the awareness of “spiritual poverty,” so that our knowledge of Christ can become more intimate each day. Our society bombards us 24/7 with materialistic messages. If you don’t believe it, watch any television commercial, especially those targeted to young people. If we buy more, eat more, work more, look younger, slimmer, or have more possessions, we will be happy won’t we?

Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of the book "Man's Search for Meaning," was imprisoned by the Nazis in World War II because he was a Jew. His wife, his children, and his parents were all killed in the Holocaust. The Gestapo made him strip. He stood there totally naked. As they cut away his wedding band, Viktor said to himself, "You can take my wife, you can take away my children, you can strip me of my clothes and my freedom, but there is one thing no person can ever take away from me and that is my freedom to choose how I will react to what happens to me!"[i] After September 11, many people made different choices, determined to find new faith, authenticity, and forgiveness. Jesus entreats us saying, “What good does it do you to gain the world if you lose your soul?

The next Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” points us to the continual hope that we have as Christians. What does it mean to mourn, to experience the deepest, darkest grief as our nation did on September 11? The Psalmist says that “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion,” because like the slaves in the spiritual, they were captives in a strange land. Jesus stood in front of the tomb of his dead friend Lazarus; he wept. If you have had the experience of caring for a dying person, you know how desolate the grief of losing a loved one makes you feel. Though you know intellectually that the person is going to die, when the event happens, the grief hits. There can be other feelings as well, such as relief that a person’s suffering is over, or comfort that the soul is with God. Grief is part of that.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, in “When Bad Things happen to Good People,” tells of families asking him if they have to observe shiva, which is the memorial week after death, when family and friends come to be with those who have lost a loved one. It is similar to visitation at a funeral home or a wake. “Do we really need to sit shiva, to have all these people crowding into our home?” they ask. “Couldn’t we just ask them to leave us alone? Kushner writes, “Letting people into your home, into your grief, is exactly what you need now. You need to share with them, to talk to them, to let them comfort you. You need to be reminded that you are still alive, and part of a world of life.”[ii]

On September 11, America was plunged into grief for those who died. There was grief for the families left behind, for those who continue to suffer the scars of that day, physical and mental. Grief continues as military personnel, CIA agents, contractors and others lose their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, both wars a result of 9/11. As Jesus stood before that tomb of Lazarus, weeping, he also prayed. Then he called out for Lazarus to come forth, alive! As we look back on September 11, let us not live in hope, not despair! Let us remember that America, though not perfect, has strength, resilience, and fortitude.

As I mentioned to the children a few moments ago, we were given two reminders of those characteristics as we grieved and cried during the aftermath of 9/11: when the Firemen in New York City raised an American flag amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center, and when Firemen and Military Personnel draped a large American flag over the side of the Pentagon where Flight 77 had gone into the building. Once again, as it has so often in so many other places and times, seeing our flag still flying no matter what, served to boost our spirits, to remind us that we, as a united people, have the power, endurance and determination to overcome trials and tragedies, no matter how great, no matter how painful.

I saw another reminder of how powerful a symbol our flag still is, a symbol of unity and of recovery. Over this past Fourth of July holiday, I was back home in Southport North Carolina, where we have a beach house. It’s the largest Fourth of July celebration in the state, drawing over a hundred thousand people. The National 9/11 flag came to town this as part of the festival. People could come by to see it and to sew a stitch or two to help repair this particular flag–which had been recovered from the World Trade Center rubble. It was sewn back together seven years later by survivors of a tornado in Kansas. The lines to get inside and see this flag stretched around the block and were so long, I couldn’t get inside to see it. But I knew it was there and I know what it stands for. It stands for a unified people who don’t quit, who continue on, no matter how much they grieve.

The final Beatitude for our consideration is “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” When Jesus was born, the angels sang of Peace on Earth, and after the Resurrection, he said to his disciples, “My peace I leave with you,” his final gift to them. Peace is central to the teachings of Christ. Peace is one of the basic Christian tenets. Some Christian denominations are pacifist, because their theology teaches that to participate in war is wrong. Peace is an elusive state. Our individual daily lives are sometimes not peaceful, are they? When we quarrel with a spouse or a child, a sibling or a fiend, we live in a state of emotional conflict. It is not peaceful.

A nation’s collective life can be either conflicted or peaceful, with peace always the goal. Military missions can be peacemaking missions, not just combat operations, such as the one I served on in Haiti. Such missions can be very meaningful experiences.

On 9/11, many first responders and military personnel lost their lives as they tried to save others. Jesus tells us that there is no greater love than this–and I believe, no greater act of peace–than that one person lays down his or her life for another. The greatest peaceful act of all was when Jesus gave his life on the cross for the sins of the world. The painful death that he endured gives us continual hope! Hope that the grave is not the end! Hope that one day, in God’s Peaceable Kingdom, we will dwell eternally with those who have gone on before!

As we participate in a few minutes in our September 11 Remembrance, let us remember those who died on that day, those who sacrificed, and those who have continued on with their lives in the decade since.  Most of all, let us remember that Christ calls us to stand, not in darkness at the foot of the conflicted cross, but in the Easter light of the peaceful Resurrection! Go in peace, now and forever, Amen!

A CANDLELIGHTING ACT OF REMEMBRANCE

Please observe least fifteen seconds of silence between each phrase. A somber tolling of a single bell will introduce the liturgy, be rung between each phrase and be rung at the end.

• For the passengers on American Airlines Flight 11and United Flight 175 which were flown into the World Trade Center.
• For all the workers who perished in the World Trade Center and neighboring buildings.
• For the firefighters, police, and rescue workers who died trying to save others.
• For the passengers on American Airlines Flight 77 which was flown into the Pentagon.
• For the military personnel and civilians who were working at the Pentagon.
• For the heroic passengers on United Flight 93 which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
• For those who have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• For our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and our hesitance in repenting, seeking forgiveness, and restorative justice rather than retribution.
• For all who have suffered since the events of September 11, 2001.