It is very much with us, even if it is not in our faces. Our world is far different from the innocence of that beautiful September day in 2001 at nine in the morning. Men in uniforms with guns watch our cars plunge into the tunnels beneath the river. Citigroup building is mentioned in a Homeland Security warning and people line up with identification to get into the building, there are no cars on the street, and the programs of St. Peter’s continue to feed the hungry, gather the elderly and call out to God in prayer with a renewed urgency. Many who lost employment, businesses, careers in the arts, are still looking for work in a stagnant economy or have given up. Who would have dreamed, on that beautiful September morning before nine that three years later we would be fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, living with the threat of terror every day of our lives, living in a country isolated from much of the world’s solidarity, seeing brave young lives sacrificed in a courageous attempt to help a nation revive after years of dictatorship, yet also embarrassed by images of the torture and humiliation of human beings in the same country?
It is very much with us this September 11 three years later. Almost every time I preach someone waits in the narthex to tell me of a loved one lost, a memory of that day, of a relationship shattered. Several months ago a volunteer fireman on Long Island who was part of the recovery effort at Ground Zero gave me small piece of concrete had had brought home from Ground Zero and asked me to continue to lift what happened to us up in prayer and remembrance. I keep that piece of our sorrow in the pocket of my alb.
From time to time at the liturgy or greeting in the narthex I touch its concrete presence.
The changed world is very much with us. This summer after leading evening worship at Camp Ma He Tu, an outdoor ministry of our synod for young girls and women, a serious faced girl came up to me and asked me if I would pray for something. She is from Transfiguration in the Bronx. Who would you like me to pray for? I asked. She teared up. Will you please pray for my brother, Jose? He has just been sent to Iraq. The camp director, her counselor, and her friends surrounded her in a circle of safety and grace and I prayed for Jose. I have a picture of her on my desk. A piece of concrete. A picture. It is still with us, the tragedy three years ago and the world it changed. It is still with us.
And so is God. “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?...if I make my bed at Ground Zero (Sheol) you are there…if I say, “surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even darkness is not dark to you, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139, selected verses).
Lutheran Disaster Response continues to weave this ubiquitous presence of God into the fabric of our changed world. New Ground camps continue to help our young people to name their grief and fears and claim their Good Shepherd in summer programs throughout our synod.
Visitors from around the nation and the world continue to visit Ground Zero as a spiritual experience through a faith walk accompanied by Koinonia New York and LDRNY. I am personally grateful for this ministry. I hosted the board of directors of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services for a meeting in New York. I have been able to tell some of the story of 9-11 and the response of the faith community in places as diverse as Norway and Moorehead, Minnesota, but at Ground Zero I am speechless. It was healing for me to walk the via dolorosa of Ground Zero with the LIRS board as a recipient of ministry, as someone else told the story and made the faith connections.
Lutheran Social Services, Lutheran Counselling Center, Lutheran Schools Association, our Metropolitan New York Synod and the Atlantic District and other partners continue to be strengthened in partnership with LDRNY to help economic victims, counsel children, walk with the families of the victims, fashion neighborhood ministry.
It is still with us three years later. A changed world, scarred memories, physical and emotional loss, occasional spiritual entropy. But God is here. The church is strong. The Great Commission calls us toward this changed world. At the eucharist we come together for comfort and renewal, and then the eucharist leads us toward the real presence of Jesus in the world. The ultimate Ground Zero of human history, cross and resurrection, stands at the center of the continued witness of Lutheran Disaster Response New York.
A piece of concrete, a picture on the desk, a conversation in the narthex, a prayer in the woods, a walk at Ground Zero……it is still with us. As is Immanuel.
In Christ,
Bishop Stephen Paul Bouman
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When the Romans in ancient Britain pulled their boats to the shore and burned them, the message was unmistakable: “We’re here to stay!” That is the message of Lutheran Disaster Response of New York as we enter a new year. And that is the message of the Gospel. The cross was God’s way of saying clearly to all creation: in life and death, in the tragedy, passion and renewal of all existence, God is present all the way.
That is the message every day of a Christian parish. In the fabric of the community, in its history, on this corner of this neighborhood there is a gate of heaven. “We are here for you…we are here to stay.”
It has become clear to me that we’re entering an intense period of recovery. Far from being a distant memory, the tragic events of September 11, 2001, are looming larger than ever in the lives of its victims. A pastor tells me that he has just returned from visiting a widow of this tragedy in the hospital, who tried to take her life. The economic victims are struggling to find jobs, keep apartments, locate food, care for children in the midst of the hardest economy in recent memory. Many of the private and public disaster institutions are moving on, and many of the religious organizations have ceased giving any money for direct relief or funding of programs.
A theology of the cross and the generosity of our brothers and sisters in Christ keeps LDRNY in the midst of the comfort and renewal, working with others to help keep hope alive.
At True Light Lutheran Church in Chinatown, an LCMS congregations, renewed hope took the form of a new program to reach out to Fujianese immigrants, the most hard-pressed economic community in the wake of 9/11. Leaders from local Chinese institutions and the city of New York joined us for opening ceremonies. LDRNY is the catalyst for many to come together in this effort. This collaboration of LDRNY and Lutheran Social Services-Metropolitan New York will be the boat burning on the shore of this disaster, a sure sign that “We Are Here For You -- We Are Here To Stay.”
In this new year, may your faith and the life of your congregation be a sure sign that our Immanuel, “God with us,” is here for the life of the world, and is here to stay.
In Christ,
Stephen P. Bouman, Bishop |
Election year political currents sweep through our city, our state and our country three years after the terrible events of Sept. 11, 2001. Everyone seems to have a finger to point at someone to thank or blame. The September 11 Commission indicates there is plenty of blame to go around. And in truth, deep and pervasive problems persist. The tendency is to get stuck there.
But for Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, it has always been about Comfort and Renewal for the sake of the Gospel hope that sustains us. Of course we’re on guard, we’re aware, we have local anxieties. We’re far different three years down the line from who we were on Sept. 10, 2001.
However, thanks be to God, we have found our hearts and minds and spirits opened wide in ministry to the "least of these" for the past three years -- we have experienced The Comforter. We’ve had to depend on the grace of God daily. We’ve learned how to follow Jesus. His grace is sufficient unto us.
We’ve been learning what it means to be the Body of Christ. As the dust and ashes of mourning are remembered on this third commemoration, we pledge never to forget. But central to our remembrance is the Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for us. Central to our remembrance is the strength of common action on behalf of hurting humanity granted to us as the Body called to action. Central to our remembrance is the connective tissue of our common Lutheran bond. Central to our remembrance is the frailty of the human condition and our desire to leave no one behind. And central to our remembranceis the undying commitment of LDRNY to bring comfort and renewal for years to come.
May the Peace of God that passes all understanding be yours in Christ Jesus on Sept. 11, 2004.
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A Message of Love from Rev. Dr. David H. Benke
and The Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
A Prayer for America
Oh, we’re stronger now than we were an hour ago.
And you know, my sisters and brothers, we’re not nearly
as strong as we’re going to be. And the strength
we have is the power of love. And the power of love you have
received is from God, for God is love. So take the hand of one
next to you now and join me in prayer on this
“field of dreams” turned into God’s house of prayer:
O Lord our God, we’re leaning on You today.
You are our Tower of Strength, and we’re leaning on You.
You are our Mighty Fortress, our God who is a Rock;
in You do we stand. Those of us who bear the name of Christ know that
You stood so tall when You stooped down to
send a Son through death and life to bring us back together,
and we lean on You today.
O Tower of Strength, be with those who mourn the loss of loved ones;
bring them closer to us day by day. O Heavenly Father,
we pray at this time that
You might extend Jacob’s ladder for those who ascended
the stairways to save us, as others escaped the fire and flames.
O Tower of Strength, open innocent and victimized hearts
to the sacrifice of the Innocent One; pour Your consolation
upon the traumatized, especially our children. O Heavenly Father,
un-bind, un-fear, un-scorch, un-sear our souls; renew us in
Your free Spirit. We’re leaning on You, our Tower of Strength.
We find our refuge in the shadow of Your shelter.
Lead us from this place--strong--to bring forth the
power of Your love, wherever we are.
In the precious name of Jesus. Amen. |
