9–11 WORDS

There are times when the words I say or write do not matter. Such was the night of September 11, 2001. We held a worship service in the deep shadows of grief and confusion and rage over the events of that day.

I remember thinking as I prepared my sermon that nothing I can say is going to matter right now. It was important for us to be together in God’s house to feel the love and presence of each other and of the God we trust. I remember only one sentence of that sermon. I said that I was not ready to forgive the ones who had done this. I think it was what we were all thinking and feeling.

But there are some words about that day that matter. One is the word remember. We remember those who died though they had done nothing to the terrorists to killed them and celebrated their deaths. We remember the family members who did not know the fate of their loved ones until they found their cars days later. I remember a friend who worked for Emergency Management waiting across the river in New Jersey, ready with a caravan of ambulances and an army of EMTs. They were not needed. We remember the scars that will never heal.

Another word that matters is the word honor. We honor the fire fighters who rushed into the building in hopes of saving lives with no regard for their own safety or their own lives. They are to be honored and admired for all time.

But what about the word forgiveness? It is one of the hardest things that God ever asks us to do. It is our nature to hate and resent and condemn those who perpetrate evil against innocent people. But God does not ask us to forgive because those attacks were not detestably evil. They were. I think God asks us to forgive in the sense that we will not allow those monsters who planned and committed these atrocities to have the power to still haunt our souls. Forgiveness does not mean that we will ever forget. It just means that we will allow the evil that they have done to take its divine consequences. It does not need to eat us up any longer. God says, “I’ve got this!”

The special word from scripture is grace. We are recipients of God’s love in spite of all the times we have been unlovable. In return, God asks us to measure the vast forgiveness that we have received and then offer grace to those who have hurt us. Check out the lectionary readings for this Sunday. Exodus 15 tells the story of God’s revenge on the Egyptian oppressors. Then Matthew 18 has a parable from Jesus about forgiveness. It is a hard teaching.

Can we ever accept the gift of God to be able to free our hearts of the bitterness of hatred? Is forgiveness one of the words connected with 9–11?