LOST AND FOUND
Sermon following terrorist attack on America
September 16, 2001

Never before in the history of this country has such a singular event brought such pain and anguish to so many. The tragedy of September 11 has scarred forever the national psyche and we shall never be the same people again. The magnitude is cataclysmic and we are so numbed by the shock that it will take months and even years before its full impact plays out in life of our country and in our own lives.

In our gospel lesson today, Jesus talks about losing that which is precious to us and how we would diligently search for what we have been deprived. In the gospel analogy it was a lost sheep and a lost coin. This week for most Americans it was something more precious. We have lost our innocence, our sense of security, the shallowness of American life based on false values, misdirected priorities, and escapist entertainment. What was once important to us now fades into irrelevance like so many scraps of paper, memos, ledger sheets, blown through the canyons of New York. There are some who have lost whatever spiritual foundations they had—they have lost their God in the rubble of the crumbled towers.

We have been changed forever as individuals and as a nation. We will never see things in the same light again. Our perspectives, our world view, our values are forever altered. We have lost more than buildings and our national pride. The deaths of more than five thousand persons— men, women, and children, people some of us have known—touch our lives and leave gaping holes. How are we to cope with such enormous tragedy and devastating loss? If we are to rise from the ashes of this catastrophe we must learn how to deal with it so that instead of shattering our lives, we become, as Hemingway says, “stronger in the broken places.” Faith is tested upon the anvil of suffering.

Healing will come when we recognize what is happening to us and trust in loving God who holds all things together. A little child does not understand profound tragedy; his or her world is based on knowing and experiencing the love of a father and mother. The storms may rage, but as long as those comforting arms are there, the child is safe. We need to know that God does not forget us and that God holds us in the palm of his hand in the midst of all our tragedy.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross says that there are five stages to dying. She may or may not be right, for not everyone experiences them, but they are useful in helping us understand our reaction to tragedy.
When we first heard about the news there was obviously denial. “This can’t be happening.” “It’s just not possible.” How many times have we heard the words “incredible” or “unbelievable” used to describe the event? The ego-defense mechanism of our psyche jumps in to protect an overload of trauma by denying the reality of what has occurred until such time that we can adjust to it. And some people never adjust. They may have post-traumatic stress, and some close to the horror, such as police, firemen, and rescue workers, may be emotionally scarred for life. All of us will bear a portion of this psychic pain.

I know it is the nature of Pennsylvania Germans to tend to keep things to themselves, to avoid talking about that which hurts them, and stoically move ahead as though nothing has happened. We need to face the reality of this in many ways, on many levels, and over a period time. That is why we had a Prayer Vigil on Tuesday night and Friday at noon, and why we will have a community service this afternoon. That is why the church will continue to be open this week for prayer and opportunities to talk to one another. Michele Dugan and other psychologists in our congregation have offered their help for those who need to process their thoughts. There will be discussions and sermons and prayers and expressions of grief, solidarity, and support. And it will all help in the healing.

There is a stage of grieving in which anger is normal. We become angry at God and ask why God was not present, and how can a loving God permit such enormous evil to occur. Our rage is understandable. We have been left helpless and vulnerable. We are angry at ourselves for permitting this to happen, but mostly our rage is for those who have perpetrated such an act. We need to be very careful here. We must recognize that it is natural to feel angry and we should not feel guilty about it. But we must channel our anger creatively lest it come back and wound us again. The immediate enemy was destroyed in the suicide bombing and we have put the face of Osama bin Laden on the target of our hatred. However, we are dealing with an invisible enemy with a thousand faces in a thousand places. Unlike Pearl Harbor, the enemy is unnamed and we must be careful against whom we unleash the dogs of war. Let the efforts to eradicate world terrorism not be motivated by blind rage, but by the resolute conviction to make the world a safe place for all people.

One must move through the stages of denial, guilt, anger, and grief, before one comes to the vision of a better world. Hope is fertilized in the ashes of our despair by the tears of our grieving. The shepherd does not begin to look for the lost sheep until he realizes that it is missing. The woman does not look for the lost coin until it is needed and the desire for it becomes strong. You do not find the Kingdom of God until you become aware that you have never lost it. It is within you, but forgotten. We have resources that we are not aware of. We may ask where God is in all of this tragedy, not realizing that God is present in the towering inferno and among the burning debris. Where was God? God was in Father Judge giving the last rites to a fireman before he was killed. God was in airline passengers who tried to thwart the hijacking. God was in those who gave their lives to save others. God was with each person who met his or her death in these apocalyptic days. God is in us when we rise above this present darkness to build a better world. God is with us as move toward healing, a sign of which will be the ability to forgive. We will never really become whole persons if cannot or will not forgive. How can we accept God’s forgiveness of us if we cannot grant it to others? As Sidney Simon says, “Forgiveness is accepting that nothing we do to punish them will heal us. . . .Forgiveness is moving on.” It may take some time to reach that point, but for our own sake we need to move toward it.

We are going through hell right now, but as Winston Churchill said, “When you are going through hell, keep going.” That’s the important thing: we are going through it; we are not staying there. God is with us. The terrorists may have destroyed the buildings, but they did not destroy the foundations. They are still strong and secure. The foundation of our faith has not been shaken. And when we rise from the burning rubble and the ashes our yesterdays, we will begin again. Our alabaster cities will still gleam, undimmed by human tears. The paradise of our past has been lost, but it will be regained in a more exalted form.

The last lines of Dante’s inferno, words which I have kept on my desk, remind us of our hope and our ultimate victory: “And so we emerged, and once again beheld the stars.” We have God’s promise that we shall not only survive, we shall prevail in building God’s realm on earth.