Where were you when news that became known as 9/11 began to break? I was on Stalybridge railway station in Greater Manchester picking up my friend Chris who was coming to stay. We knew from conversations something was happening. To come home and watch two towers being hit by a plane then collapsing was like watching a disaster movie, except this was real, possibly my first taste of 24 hour rolling news as the towers collapsing was played over and over.
I remember later that evening Churches Together in Mossley where I lived, hastily calling a prayer meeting and I remember it was Harvest the following Sunday which we altered the order of service for to make to include a moving time of candle lighting.
Twenty-five years on, we live in a world shaped by 9/11. Our lament will never end for those who died in the attacks, those who gave of their lives in the days and weeks following, and those who still suffer.
We also mourn that, since that day in 2001, our common life has been deformed by division and fear of one another. Sometimes it seems that the chasm has become unbridgeable. The presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States has written this today: “ Even in the face of unimaginable evil and suffering, God calls us to be repairers of the breach and restorers of paths to dwell in. I pray that this commemoration of 9/11 renews our commitment to answer that call in our own lives and communities, and together as the body of Christ in the world.”
I recall that in the most tragic of scenes there was hope and there still is hope. But first we have to acknowledge this is not where we want to be. Rowan Williams wrote a powerful little book reflecting on being there called Writing in the Dust. When asked where God was that day, he said God was pretty useless really. . He reflects on the emptiness felt after trauma. He writes beautifully about the importance of resisting the urge to “ease the tension” by filling this void with actions and explanations. He argues that this is important “breathing space”, needed to grieve, to let our collective heart rates slow and the adrenaline dissipate, before anything else happens. It’s worth watching this interview with him.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lfqqAYUDu5U
After shock, maybe the Christian hope indeed the hope of all faiths kicks in… Read this account of the nearest church to the towers below…
In the months after 9/11, St. Paul’s Chapel, a small, undamaged church sitting 100 yards from where the Twin Towers once stood, quickly turned into a relief center for recovery workers. Known as the “Little Chapel That Stood,” the church kept its doors open 24/7 for nine months, providing food, prayers and support to responders in between shifts.
The Rev. Phillip A. Jackson, rector of Trinity Church, St. Paul’s parent Episcopal church, said the chapel’s disaster response was tied to its long history of supporting the Lower Manhattan community in times of trial.
“When 9/11 happened, it was in our neighbourhood, and so we responded to that. The physical proximity, the scale of the disaster … it made us realize that this neighbourhood is not just an abstraction, it’s our place … that we have a fundamental role in caring for it, in caring for its people.”
Has the world changed since 11 September 2001? Yes! There began a war on terror, year after year of conflict centred around Afghanistan which never really sorted anything, an emergence in the world of fear of the other which still lasts today - look at those protesters this week on the south coast against people on boats coming to our country. Look at how we use language about people different than us twenty five years on. It’s scary —- and yet I do think there is a goodness in the world that responds to atrocity and says “enough, we have to change things.” Gordon Brown’s theory in his new book is that we are rising up again in community especially when narrowness and evil are currently dominating. That’s good news today.
A prayer from Discipleship Ministries shared by the United Methodist Church today:
On this day of solemn remembrance:
May we honour the lives that were lost in this tragic act.
May we give thanks for those who served and saved, rendered aid and assistance.
May we give comfort to those who live with loss.
May we seek justice and peace where it is within our ability,
and rely on you when the ability escapes us.
On this day of solemn remembrance:
May we build what has been torn down.
May we mend what has been broken.
May live Your love when hate seems to reign.
May we bear witness to the cause of peace. Amen.
