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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
September 16, 2001"Finding the Right Prayers"
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
On Tuesday morning, our Assistant Minister, Father Richard Maxwell, was hastily preparing a special service for those who wished to pray for the victims of the terrorist attack.
Father Maxwell went through the Book of Common Prayer to find appropriate selections for our service -- but he found nothing. He even consulted an earlier edition of the Prayer Book; still he could find no prayers that were really appropriate for this situation.
There were prayers in case of war, and natural disasters, and sickness, and death. But while the events on Tuesday were all of these things, they were something terribly new. Something horribly different.
- we were not in a war, though the attacks will lead to military actions.
- we were not victims of a natural disaster, though the events were marked by the elements of nature: earth, air and fire.
- these weren't individual "accidents" -- although many individuals were irreparably harmed, and we feel the pain of these events as individuals.
We are praying to the Christian God of love and forgiveness. That means, by logical necessity, we're also praying to the "Abrahamic God." We are praying to the God of the three faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The God of Jacob -- Abraham's grandson -- who later was called Israel. The God of Jesus the Christ. The God of the Prophet Mohammed.
This God is a God of love. There can be no doubt of that. Our God will welcome all those innocent victims who were slaughtered this week; he will open the gates of Heaven to them and bless them and give them rest and peace.
God will also welcome those who gave their lives to help others. In our prayers, we can commend the rescue workers who have died. And here we can use the language of thanksgiving. We know who the real "martyrs" are, and we thank God for them.
But our words of prayer are also addressed to a God of justice. Those of us in mainstream Protestant traditions don't often refer to the "judgment" of God.
We talk of the need for justice "in the world." We preach that it is the will of God's that justice prevail over greed and prejudice.
But we shy away -- rightly -- from basing our whole faith on God's judgment. We know that obsession with supposed divine judgement promotes aggression and war and terrorism. As Bishop Sisk said in his statement on Tuesday, "This event has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with people overcome with the venom of hatred."
The words of our own prayers today and in the weeks to come must never be tainted with the "venom of hatred."
If they are, then the bad guys will have won. We really will have been "terror-ized."
Nevertheless, we in the mainline churches can't ignore entirely the judgement of God. When our prayers reach out to the God of love, our words also must oppose that which is not loving. A love which desires the best must at the same time condemn the worst. We have certainly experienced the worst this week.
We in the liberal tradition also stress that God is merciful. Our prayers to a God who is merciful ask for God's perfect judgment tempered by his infinite love. Nevertheless, even God's mercy includes judgment.
Now we all know what these theological truths have to do with our present situation. We don't expect that God will welcome to the gates of Heaven the souls of these murderers.
The terrorist seem to have believed that God would approve them; we can't believe that. While it's nice to avoid "judgmentalism," it isn't possible to avoid judging.
If we believe there is good, we must also believe there is evil--and we can't avoid acts of judging which is which. So the right prayers include prayers for mercy and comfort and peace. And also prayers for judgement.
The Prior of the Holy Cross Monastery north of the city happened to be an eye-witness to many of the events in lower Manhattan last Tuesday. At the end of the day, he observed that "we had seen things no human being should see."
The Prior's words are also true, I think, for those of us who have watched the endless loops of videotaped terror.
No human being should have seen the images we have burned into our minds -- images which we see inwardly as we offer prayers to our God who is unseen. Psychologists talk of "processing" a traumatic event so that it becomes something a human being can cope with-so that the event becomes meaningful and manageable. But against such images as we have seen, words have a tough time.
"Processing" the events of last week will be more than a matter of psychology. We may struggle for years to find the right prayers to honor those whom we pray for -- and to ask for the help we need to be healed.
So as we offer prayers today, as we remember the innocent, and we honor those who gave their lives in the rescue efforts, we also ask for the strength and wisdom to escape the emotions that enclose us. We ask for prayers for a fallen world, and we offer them with all our hearts to a God who is just and merciful. To a God who sent his Son through whom, as St. Paul said, "God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven."
"O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home."
And now unto God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever. Amen.