South Tower by Erik Slutsky, oil on canvas on wood
Sept. 11, 2011, 13th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 14:19-31
Matthew 18:21-35
Where were you on this date 10 years ago?
Sept. 11, 2001 is one of those “I was…” dates for many of us in Canada and around the world. A day when the impossible happened. The defenses of Fortress North America were defeated from within. It wasn’t a nuclear attack or chemical warfare. Missiles didn’t rain down from the stratosphere. It was as simple as object A striking object B with enough force to destroy both. To kill many. To consign many more to life – without and slow death.
Did we still think deep down inside that God was on our side? The 9 – 11 terrorists were convinced God was on their side. A graffiti artist in Manhattan wrote, soon after that day, “Dear God, save us from the people who believe in you.”
As people of faith, we’re conditioned to believe there are everlasting arms beneath us. When disaster strikes we can’t help feeling God has let us slip. We soon talk ourselves out of such ideas. But we never lose the sense that our relationship with God has changed. We thought we were safe from the terrors so many others in our world live through. We also thought the powers the Pentagon and World Trade Centre stood for would stand forever and for good. Did we confuse those powers for God’s power?
Our first reading today tells a tale of God destroying one nation, or at least its power, for the good of another nation. God strikes terror on the Egyptian army before drowning them. We learned this story in Sunday school, and we were told it was good news. As adults it makes us uncomfortable enough to want to push it to the margins of our canon.
The men who hijacked the airplanes this day 10 years ago believed they were striking one nation for the good of another, and that God called them to do it. Handle the old story with great care today, or you’ll be standing with those who still rejoice over the destruction and carnage of 10 years ago. You’ll find yourself among those on our side who authorized a war of vengeance 10 years ago. And those who danced when bin Laden’s death and the barbaric, blasphemous treatment of his body were announced.
You won’t be far from Israel on the safe side of the sea, rejoicing over the deaths of so many. Or the servant who conveniently forgot his dependence on grace and showed no grace to another.
Resist the temptation to wriggle out from under the gospel, saying the command to forgive without limit only applies to internal relations in the church. Jesus didn’t submit to attack and accept death to protect one nation from another. Or to show whose side God was on.
Our ancestors in faith formed their understanding of themselves and their purpose through a narrative of divine violence. Our formative narrative hinges on the death of an innocent One. The only One, we say, who was ever wholly innocent. Maybe it’s true that there’s no liberation from captivity in this world without someone suffering. Without some act of human violence, whether it’s against Pharaoh’s army or a sacrificial victim.
This does not tell us God is violent by nature. It does not authorize our violence or our vengeful reaction to the violent dreams and terrible actions of others.
Doesn’t Jesus’ death release us all from the downward, deathward spiral of violence? Doesn’t his resurrection show us that it is God’s way to give life and to make things new?
The heroic saga of the Exodus includes Moses’ lover’s quarrel with Israel, who soon forgot the cost of salvation and the source of providence. Our heroic saga through the last 10 years has unfolded in blunt – edged vengeance, rough justice, and grim determination to rebuild fallen idols and restore lost confidence. Maybe we’ve confused the powers for God’s power after all.
Dear David Harris and Andrew Faiz,
Sincerely
Emily Gayle Aitken
Dear Presbyterian Record,
“Jesus didn’t submit to attack and accept death to protect one nation from another.” Yes, I agree that the “old story has to be handled with great care.” I would go one step further. I would refer to the “reported” attacks of 9/11 and the “reported” death of bin Laden. While I do not personally take a stand on the validity of the “official” story September 11, 2001, I do think we ought not to turn away those who do.
An important part of what the Presbyterian Church in Canada means to me is that it welcomes people who have questions. If it didn’t, I would never have come back and stayed. It also welcomes diversity. Reaching out to other faiths was very much in evidence when St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in downtown Toronto welcomed overflow crowds for the State funeral of Jack Layton in August. The church, some said, had not been filled like that in a generation. The service was a triumph in bringing together diversity, aboriginal Canadians, Muslims, rainbow communities and other non-mainstream groups.
To reach out to these people, we need to respect their questioning of the status quo. Recently, the Record has gained recognition for respecting diversity through its respected article on Islam. Abed Daggaz, in his letter published in the September issue, called it , ”A truly unbiased article that does not judge one faith over the other but shows how religion can be a commonality among us all.”
The “official story” of 9/11 has allowed a lot of hatred and violence and has been used to try and show “whose side God is on.” It could be a continuation of the Crusades when Europeans used the banner of Christianity to pillage Muslim countries, enjoy temperate climates and amass fortunes to secure their families’ prosperity for generations. Let’s not go back there.
In studying the Gospels, I’ve been reminded that while they don’t necessarily agree, they all show different sides of the truth. In bible studies, I have been surprised and saddened by fellow adherents who share opinions that I perceive as unquestioning acceptance of biased and opinionated reporting by mainstream media as gospel truth. The primary “ brand attribute” of the Presbyterian Church, I’ve been taught, is moderation. We need to welcome dissention.
Isn’t asking questions in love the best way to find answers and community?
The Toronto Star has published the article “Are all the facts in?”
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1048939–are-all-the-facts-in
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