Dear MRC Family,
Blessings to you, beloved of God, in this season of Ordinary Time
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since the bells of The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine woke me up the morning of September 11, 2001. And still, every September 11 I think of those bells and the landline incessantly ringing. I had just quit two of the three jobs I had been working, and was getting ready to begin a new position as an adjunct professor. That Tuesday was my day to sleep in. My class began on Wednesday. I was exhausted. I ignored the bells and the phone, until I realized the bells weren’t pealing; they were tolling. Something’s wrong, I thought. I grumpily got up and listened to the messages on the answering machine. Family members had been calling and were saying something about planes crashing into the World Trade Center, were we okay, had my stepdaughter Miranda gotten out from downtown, as she went to school right next to the World Trade Center. A message from Miranda’s mother: planes had crashed into the towers and they were walking from Tribeca to our place uptown. I turned on the television, and then I saw it. The towers were on fire. I watched in horror and panic as footage of the crashes kept playing over and over. And then, behind the news commentator’s face, there was a rumble, and one of the towers collapsed. I realized I had just watched hundreds, if not thousands, of people die. And then the second tower collapsed. More death . . . My parents called and told me to get out . . . but we couldn’t . . . the city was locked down.
It was a long four hours before I knew if Miranda was safe, and another two after that before I got to hug her, weeping as I held her close. That night, as I looked out our bedroom window facing toward downtown, I knew our world would never be the same. We had lost so much, and I was fearful of what the next day would bring. For several months afterwards, I lived in a state of low-key fear every time I got on the subway, and if truth be told, I was constantly in a space of lament and grief.
Every 9/11, I lament. We lament. And every year since 2001, I resist remembering. But whether I want to or not, the body remembers even if my mind doesn’t want to. Because the body holds the scars, and each 9/11 I feel every single emotion again that I felt on that day, as I’m sure many people do. As Dan Barry who was on a ferry that morning said in the New York Times, “All of us who were around then have our stories, the memory of what you’d rather not remember.”
It’s been 25 years since that day I’d “rather not remember” and since then we’ve lost even more people to a war that followed that tragic event, and then, a pandemic, and now wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran. And so I cry out to God and in this crying out, I know, I am assured, I am convinced that God is near, and perhaps even God cries out with us through the Spirit who groans with sighs too deep for words. I am most aware of God’s presence when I lift my hands toward heaven and say, “Show up, God!” As one person described this faithfully defiant act of lamenting, “It is in voicing despair that the soul is most keenly alive to the reality of God. The power of hope is enacted in the utterance of despair.” But despair does not have the last word; hope does. As the Apostle Paul said there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so, in our remembrance of that fateful day, we are called to hope because of the love we have from Jesus.
So, come to worship and let us cling to hope this Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost at 10:30AM. It’s Rally Day and our New Jericho Choir and Joyful Noise Choir will be singing; we will bless backpacks and those who carry them; we will receive our Light for the new program year, and we will have a celebratory brunch in the Education Building after worship. Our Scripture reading is Genesis 6:5-22; 8:1-12; 9:8-17 — Noah, the flood, and the promise of the bow — and my sermon title is A God Who Remembers. Also, we will receive our Deacons’ offering for those in need in our church and community. If you are unable to be in person for worship, we will be streaming live on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@mrcafabulouschurchoflove1611.
Of note: Adult Education returns to Coventry House at 10AM & 7PM on September 23. Our topic is Your Questions, Answered. We will be examining the questions you sent in for Stump the Pastor using Scripture, literature, and film. If you wish to know more, please contact me.
Of note: We are having a Rummage Sale October 2 - 3, 9AM - 3PM in the Education Building. Come early to browse, enjoy coffee as you search for treasures! If you would like to donate items, please put them in the Coventry House garage on the tables. Please NO books, records, CDs, VHS, cassette tapes, or large furniture. And during the rummage sale on October 2, there will also be a Free Wellness Screening from Hackensack Meridian Health from 9AM - 12PM.
It is with hope I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday. Keep bothering and following Jesus, beloved.
With gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,
Pastor Trish