At TFG today we marked ‘9/11’ in a very powerful way and reflected on what we have lost or gained in the past 10 years as a result of 9/11.
We looked at a wide variety of messages of condolences to the USA from Nobel Peace Prize winners – (not all Christians or people of faith), but particularly we thought about the Dalai Lama’s message ‘I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence … But how do we deal with hatred & anger which are often the root causes of such senseless violence?’, We then thought about Christ’s message of forgiveness in today’s gospel reading from Matthew 18.
However, we acknowledged that we could never speak for those who had lost someone in the Towers, as we could not place ourselves into the depths of their grief.
Our songs included traditional hymns about hope and forgiveness, and we also used the Litany of Prayers written by Rev. Eileen W. Lindner and Rev. Marcel A. Welty of the National Council of Churches in America and lit candles in remembrance. We closed with ‘Sing to God new songs of worship’ and were deeply moved by all we had considered.
Deacon Olivia
As part of our discussion we posed the question how today's reading (The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant) speaks to 9/11. There are no easy answers, and thank you to all who contributed to our discussion. However, the quote above from Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama invites us to reflect again on our own scriptures and the life of love to which they are calling us. If Matthew 18 has nothing to say to us on such occasions as this 9/11 anniversary then Christian faith falls silent faced with massive public suffering - which surely cannot be the case. Any further thoughts very welcome ...
Peter King
PS Further reflections on the passage and its coincidence with the 9/11 anniversary here The Dr Seuss story "The Butter Battle" mentioned in the discussion can be seen and heard read on youtube here
