Reflection on 9/11
This morning as I thought about what to write for the Thursday Meditation, I thought about the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. Like many of you I remember where I was when this happened. This was a time when I was sitting in my office at work. Not in a home office or on a client site but in my actual office at work getting my day started. I was eating breakfast at my desk and a friend working at the Research Triangle Park, NC location ping me on IM. That ping with a link to CNN changed my day and my perspective on human mortality. As I was in disbelief, I headed to the crash pad to watch the news on the television and the reality of seeing the first tower fall and then the second I sprang quickly into action. I was immediately on the phone calling my sister in Hawaii to let her know what was going on. I write all this to say this was the start of my seminary journey.
Ten years ago during the week of 9/11, I started seminary. We, the class of 2004, did not know what to expect. We were all excited about this journey and connecting with people we had met just a week earlier during orientation. Now this and why now God? This has been the question that shaped us for ministry in a major way. The class of 2004 has been a witness to 9/11, the DC snipers and the start of the war in Iraq. Now we are people living in a state of fear, we are terrified when we see Muslim brother and sisters get on planes or in places we frequent. We judge them based on their name and their appearance. We target them because our country and others are fighting a war on terrorism. The fighting continues but it doesn’t bring back those lives that have been lost. As ministers of the Gospel we must wrestle with this and more.
Today’s meditation is a reflection and a few questions for each of you to answer truthfully.
Are you ready to start the healing process in the community so we can openly discuss what keeps us apart as a community? 9/11? Racism? Homosexuality?
How do we help heal a community that is fearful of people who don’t look, talk or act like us?
What will it take for us to be honest with ourselves for the wrongs we’ve done as a nation to all people?
When we are really honest with ourselves God can start the healing process in us, the community, the land and the world. We can not blame God for all that has happened in life. No we can not blame the devil either. There are consequences in the decisions we make in life. It is up to us to make this life better for the next generation to come.
