What's Left to Say? (A Reflection on the 12th Anniversary of 9/11)

What's left to say?  Here we are twelve years later.  Most of us remember where we were when, but a lot has happened since.  We have been through wars, elections and economic recessions since that morning.  We have watched the benefits, the tributes, and some of us have visited the memorial in New York City.  We have come to recognize God Bless America as a regular part of the seventh inning stretch at baseball games, and the events of 9/11 have long since come become a piece of movies and television.  Our kids are no longer small children, they are going to high school, driving cars, and learning about that day and what followed in their social studies classes.  Yet, I still remember the tears, the fear, the feeling of disbelief as those towers fell right before our eyes.  I still remember sitting in the sanctuary at University United Methodist Church, in Denver, Colorado as Bishops from all around the world gathered to do all they knew to do in the face of such evil...pray.  So here we are, twelve years later...

In my heart, though, I feel that there is something still left to say.  I sensed it this morning as I read part of the Gospel of Matthew and as I prayed the words that Jesus taught, ...thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  I wonder if gently, across these 12 years, God has been trying to tell us something.  I wonder if in our fear, our sadness, our anger, our confusion, we have not been able to hear.  I wonder if today, something new is stirring in our souls, something that makes us wonder, dream and see the world with new eyes.

In teaching the disciples to pray for God's Kingdom to come on earth as in Heaven, Jesus was reminding them and us that this world will carry pieces of God's great Kingdom.  There will be times when we glimpse the beauty and depth of God's love and God's own heart, moments when we see peace triumph over violence, and events where grace wins the day over hate.  Indeed the world is an imperfect place and there will be much darkness, but there is something greater breaking forth, something beyond our sense of normal, something that I think we are sometimes afraid to even dream of for fear that it is "too good to be true".  Yet, in the Gospels, we learn that Jesus' primary message was this, "the Kingdom of God has come near, right now...so change your heart and life!"  (Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:17) 

Do we really believe this today?  Are we willing to live as if each moment, each person carries the potential of God's Kingdom breaking through?  I think for many people, the events of 9/11 turned their hearts and minds in the opposite direction.  They had an eye for all of the things that were wrong in the world and saw the danger of each moment, rather than the potential.  It made some people angry and bitter, and others it led to hate and to gross generalizations of people and religions.  For many it reinforced the belief that violence was the most powerful force at work in the world.  For some these were normal stages of grief, for others they became a way of life.  To all of us Jesus says, "Open your eyes and your hearts...the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!"

So now twelve years later maybe what is left for us to say are the words that Jesus prayed and taught us to pray, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Maybe the greatest way we can honor those who died twelve years ago today is to live beyond the darkness, the sadness, the fear, and the anger and to live into the truth of this prayer.   Maybe instead of looking for all of the things wrong in the world, this day we will look for what is right and good.  We will look for those moments and events where God's Kingdom is breaking forth. 

These moments will be quiet, and gentle and often unnoticeable...they will come in the compassion of a friend or stranger, in the heart of a child who collects canned goods for people in need.  They will come in the voices of modern prophets who ask us to consider practicing peace with the same intention that we practice war.  It will come in the example of those who love more than they hate, who build bridges where there is separation, and who seek to understand rather than simply criticize.  It will come in those who live by the heart and spirit of Jesus.  

There is much left to say and our lives will now speak the words; sometimes in what we say but most often in our actions.  Will we see the world with hope rather than with despair and cynicism?  For the Kingdom of God is very near, we see glimpses in the stuff of our everyday lives. 

So on this 12th anniversary of September 11, I close with words from the Gospel of John:  the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  (John 1:5)  May our lives from this day forward show the truth of these words!  May our lives speak what remains to be said!

You are the hands and feet of Christ,

Brett