•Homily for September 11, 2003 •
The second anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks

Two years ago we experienced a horror that can never go away. In the days that followed we didn't know if our world could ever be the same, and though we tried, we couldn't put all the pieces together again, such was the rip in our hearts and lives.

Lots of attempts were made to get us to be "normal" again – the one phrase we used was "we didn't want the terrorists to win". The Mayor of the city of New York urged us to go to ballgames – or else the terrorists win. Even a car company suggested that we should buy new cars – or else the terrorists win. We were to go about our daily lives as we had before – dining and dancing, traveling and spending without fear – or else the terrorists win.

Yet we all know that the measure of our winning is not to be found in our consuming, but in our loving. And two years ago we pledged ourselves to love like we never loved before. We would not take one relationship for granted. We would greet each day as the gift of God that it was and squeeze every moment of living out of it. We would tell our families we loved them, we would forgive our grudges and we would even – as insane as it sounds now – joyfully let other cars ahead of us when we were vying for the same road in traffic.
We would go to church more and pray every day; we would give generously to charities – not only our money, but our time and talents as well. There was no way that the power of evil that had crashed into our lives would get the better of us. We would be better than we ever were. Our best would show the terrorists that they never ever had a chance of winning anything.

And for some here tonight, that's how it's been. 9-11 was the beginning of your new life and new way of loving. It's been a challenging but thrilling couple of years as you live free from what used to hold you down. You are bringing so much healing and peace and wholeness – holiness actually – to the people in your life.
For others here tonight, the fulfillment of our earliest desires has not been successful in our eyes. Our best intentions got swept away by the busy demands of life. Or in many cases, the pain of having lived through September 11th 2001 chipped away at our hearts and we found ourselves frequently wet with tears and unable to smile or eat or hear or talk. Clear days like today were still cast over by a two year old cloud – a lingering smoke that we cannot exhale from our lungs or souls. All that talk about praying more or loving more or giving more seems so far away from the empty feelings that echo inside of us.

Who can save us from this, except the one who saved us for all eternity? Who can save us from this except the one who gave his life for us? Who can save us from this except Jesus?

And how does Jesus save us from our national terror and our personal pain? Well, let's go back to what he knew about terrorism. And he did know terrorism. Jesus lived in a land under occupation. And his people were detained and imprisoned, raped, tortured and abused, stolen from and force to compromise in so many soul-stealing ways. So Jesus knew about living with terror. And he knew about dying in terror. The night before he died as he prayed in the garden, "sweat like drops of blood" fell from his brow. This was terror sweat as he contemplated the death he would endure. And then the attack began.

He was innocent of all charges, yet he was captured and tried and proclaimed guilty. If he expected any justice in the religious system of his time, he found none. Then he was brought to Pilate – the civil governor . If he expected any civil justice, he found none. His friends ran away – if he expected any loyalty, he got none. And as he was tortured to death, he calls out in prayer, "my God, my God why have YOU abandoned me." If he was expecting any comfort from above, he experienced none.
But tonight's gospel is not about this death. Tonight's gospel is filled with Jesus's words AFTER his death, after his resurrection.

He comes back from the terror of his death not filled with words of revenge, but of forgiveness and peace. He rallies his disciples and sends them forth – "Go, you've got good news to tell!!" Just as Isaiah promised fertile land where there was once desert, now, Jesus says, there's good news to tell everyone who was oppressed by terror.

And then he says this: "My disciples will drive out demons; they will speak new languages; they will pick up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them."

My sisters and brothers, THIS is the good news I share with you tonight: For the past two years we have been haunted by demons, we have been bitten by serpents and have been given poison to drink. And that explains why we're in the shape we're in on those days when we can't eat or sleep, when we're nasty and short-tempered, when we act selfishly and when our souls feel empty. We've been surrounded by demons and serpents and poisons (oh my) ….demons and serpents and poisons (oh my)…demons and serpents…serpents and poisons.

But we're still here! We're not dead. We're not crushed. We can still love. We can still believe. We still have hope. We can still go on! Jesus is right. Though we've been haunted by the demons of death, we can drive them away and we do drive them away! Though there are serpents from within and without that will not let us rest, we can handle them, Jesus says. And we DO handle them. And though poisons of pessimism and powerlessness get into the pits of our stomachs, Jesus says we shall not be harmed. And we're beyond harmed.

And this is no Polyanna platitude. These words of Jesus are spoken only after he suffered, after he faced death. He didn't tell his disciples then and he doesn't tell us his disciples now that we would survive just to give us false hope. He told them and he tells you and me tonight that in him we win and survive and even thrive because he knows how to conquer death. He knows how to live life to its fullest and because he loves us deeply, he wants to share that with us. Now!

Don't you know that when, in a few minutes, you receive the Body of Christ and drink his Blood that you have his saving power in you? That whatever the days and nights since 9-11 have done to you and me that right now Jesus has the desire to heal us and set us free? That his body received into our bodies, that his blood coursing through our veins is enough antidote to the poisons that we have been forced to drink?
That's what we heard Saint Paul assure us tonight. Paul said, "Because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and the way you feel."

I invite you to accept this peace of Jesus tonight. Do so and then, what have the terrorists won?