Looking toward September 11^th

How shall we remember?

by Doug King

One of the most important words we heard during the General Assembly in Columbus may have been Douglas Ottati's call to us - Witherspooners, progressive Presbyterians, and Presbyterians in general - to engage in serious theological thinking about the state of our church, our calling in the world, and the world itself. Not to mention who God is and what our faith in God is all about.

Tall order, that. And not one that I will satisfy here - although the Witherspoon Society is trying to do its little bit in that process by sponsoring a series of mini-conferences to look at the Confession of 1967, asking what relevance it may have for us today, and how we might reformulate our faith in these early years of a new century. 

But Ottati's call leads me somewhere else right now, as people begin to ask how we should "remember September 11^th" a year after those terrible events. Can our Reformed (and always reforming) theology offer any light or hope or direction as we look back to 9/11, and look ahead toward another war looming in the Middle East?

Three theological beacons might guide our thinking in the midst of the gloom.

God as Creator

First, we live in one world. We always have. It is the world shaped and breathed into life by the divine Creator, the eternal Lover. It's a world riven by differences and divisions, and tormented by fear and hatred of those who are "other." And the God who created all that teeming diversity loves it all. So we're invited, called, and maybe even enabled to follow the Creator's example, and love the whole cacophonous mess. Yes, maybe even enjoy it, as our Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us. There are divisions in the human world, for sure, but the creating and loving God transcends them all, and urges us to see the world's profound unity beneath all the hostilities. We must not allow the world to be seen merely as divided in two, in the good-vs.-evil model we hear so often today.

Humanity as fallen and redeemed

Let's be clear theologically: The world did not change on 9/11. We do not live in a different world. We sometimes-naïve Americans may see the world a little differently, but it's pretty much the same place it always has been. My goodness, anybody who reads the Bible must know that the world is messy, teeming with people driven by fear and envy and resentment and religious certainty into doing terrible things to other human beings. But the Bible-reader also knows the world is sprinkled with a good dose of brave, capable, loving people who are ready to risk their lives, even give them up, for something greater than themselves. And in spite of our President's frequent claims that such actions are shining examples of patriotism, we know theologically that those deeds are more than that, for they grow out of love for other human beings, and commitment to the well-being of the world that sometimes can outweigh our normal everyday commitments to ourselves-above-all - the me-first attitude that we can thank in large part for the current mess in corporate America.

God as love, calling us to love

And finally, the world's greatest Lover invites us to find our way lovingly through this tormented world, spreading healing balm where we can, and planting seeds of peace in the midst of the unending conflict. As we remember the terrible events of a year ago, and all that has followed from them, love invites us beyond the remembering into acts of healing and peace-making.

It is appropriate to honor the heroes of 9/11, but let's also honor the countless women and men who have labored heroically since that day: healing the injured, comforted the bereaved, providing food and shelter to thousands of refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan, venturing into the battlegrounds of Palestine and Israel to work for peace, visiting Iraq and Colombia and other places to make known the harm being done by America's use of its power.

~~~~~

Ottati was right: We need to think theologically, trusting our tradition to give us perspective on there hard times. And in light of that tradition, perhaps we can steady ourselves and move forward in the world, bringing healing to the hurt and peace to those at war - including our own nation.

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