Sermon, September 11, 2002
The One Year Anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Gospel: Matthew 24:3-8

In the wake of the attacks on this day last year, millions of Americans from many walks of life expressed their solidarity and hope by displaying the symbol of our republic, the American flag. It’s a powerful symbol – the separate stripes and stars woven together into an expression of unity. It speaks a profound word – "We’re all in this together."

A few weeks later, I ran across another expression of that sentiment in a more global context. It is blue flag with a photo of our planet taken from outer space – the famous "big, blue marble" – encircled by those words: "We’re all in this together."

On September 11 our country experienced the shock of violence targeted at civilians, a terror that haunts so many other parts of our world. Now we have tasted some of the bitterness that our neighbors in Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, Columbia, Africa and so many other places have been living with for many years. Now we can open our hearts with a new empathy for those people like us who live with terror and threat in places that seem far away. It is a smaller world. What happens in distant lands like Afghanistan really does matter to us as well. We’ve been invited into a painful solidarity that is a byproduct of shared vulnerability.

This moment in history offers us an invitation to grow. It’s a chance to learn from others. We really are in this together. Old boundary lines between nations and religions have become very porous. We have to work together to bring justice, peace and security.

Maybe the most shocking thing about last year’s attack was that it was done in the name of God. Religious people of all beliefs, especially Muslims, have been quick to say that such actions are not the acts of God and to declare so is a perversion of Islam and every other religion. Maybe you read our Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s words: "Invoking God in support of violence, murder and various patterns of oppression is nothing new, and Christianity is not immune from having been used for untoward ends. In the course of history, a common temptation has been to identify God with the interests of one’s own particular group, be it a religious body, a tribe, or a nation. The uncritical assumption that my concerns and my perspectives match those of God has caused untold harm and suffering across the ages." (From "Episcopal Life" September, 2002)

I believe that now we have a new opportunity for religious people to discard old animosities and realize that we are all in this together too. The religions of the world have been invited into a promising solidarity that is a byproduct of shared militant religious extremism.

In Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and now even Buddhism there are competing expressions of our faiths. Each of our religions has a moderate and tolerant tradition that invokes the virtues of universal compassion, mercy and love. But each religion also has an extremist, intolerant tradition whose mercy and love are exclusive for its own, reserving only conversion or judgment for others. When taken to its logical extreme, it can even justify violence in God’s name.

It is time for the most mature expressions of our varied religions to join hands to challenge and inspire the least mature expression of our faiths. Episcopalians need to join with other mainline Christians to challenge the exclusivist, tribalistic preachers and to promote the highest form of our religion of Jesus. After all, Jesus’ love and healing during his earthly ministry transcended national and religious boundaries. There is a struggle for the heart of Christianity. Will we be a religion of love or of law? Will we recognize God in all people or only in ourselves?

There is a struggle for the heart of Islam. Powerful extremist versions like the Wahabi tradition and the militant Shiites are perverting a noble religion. But one of the hopes for the Moslem world is the witness of a healthy and free expression of Islam in America.

There is a proverb that comes from our Native American tradition. A Cherokee elder tells his grandson about an internal fight he's having between two wolves. One is evil and full of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, inferiority, false pride, and superiority. The other is good and full of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, faith, and compassion. The grandson thought for a minute, then asked, "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee replied, "The one I feed."

We’re all in this together, and people of good-will from many religions must join together to honor and respect the most healthy expressions of our faiths – our shared allegiance to compassion, mercy and love in the name of the divine.

That’s what has been happening throughout this year at Ground Zero. Two Sundays ago I told the story of Joe Bradley, a crane operator who has been working every day as a volunteer to clear the World Trade Center site. He says he "never knew anything about Episcopalians or Presbyterians, or gays, or people with nuts and bolts through their cheeks, or those Broadway people, but now I know them all. ...They’ve cried and prayed out loud for me. I never thought I’d have a family like this one." (From "Spirituality & Health, fall, 2002)

Last May we sent a team of twenty-five from St. Paul’s and St. James’, Eureka Springs to help with the relief work at the other St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the one at Ground Zero. John Babbs said of their trip, "our goal is to create love, harmony and beauty" at that place of unimaginable horror. He spoke of the ordinariness and holiness of the heroism of those who are working there. "Ordinary persons just like you and me. No different. They just happened to find themselves at a particular moment in history, a juncture in time, where circumstance simply has asked them to do their duty. ...It is difficult to express in word. I am hesitant to express it in words. But it seems that in the midst of our brokenness God bursts forth." (From our July Newsletter) Out of evil has emerged good. That is the true strength of our people.

In times of threat and crisis, in times of insecurity and fear, it is tempting to give in to that internal wolf of anger and resentment. If we do so, those who attack us have succeeded. Last year I said that "the real battleground for us is in our hearts. We must not let them triumph inside of us by surrendering our compassion, our love, and our peace. Beware of trying to slay the dragon, lest you become the dragon." (Sermon, 09/16/02)

The true triumph of humanity is the resilience of our highest spirit. In Christianity we tell about that through the story of the Resurrection of Jesus. We believe that we are part of God’s work to restore all people to unity, literally to heal the world. May our experience of vulnerability, like the cross of Jesus, become a source of blessing for our planet. May we unite with all people of good will to raise our humanity to a new consciousness grounded in such powerful love and compassion that it overcomes all barriers of nation, race and religion. If we can do that, indeed a new world will rise from the ashes of September 11. We will have truly triumphed over the ill will of all who seek to terrorize.

In closing, I invite you to pray with me a prayer that was recovered on a piece of wrapping paper left by the body of a dead child in Ravensbruck, the largest concentration camp for women in Nazi Germany. Let us pray.

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