September 16, 2001
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

God's Peace or Our Peace?

CHRISTIAN GOSPEL: No Grumbling Matter ~ Luke 15:1-10

If you are familiar at all with Jesus' parables, you might guess that Jesus is not talking about a shepherd or a woman with coins. Jesus is talking about what God is like, what God is like in contrast to what humans are like. The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "Jesus, if you are so good, spend time with us and leave those folks alone, because they are not worth one minute of your time." Jesus said, "So it is with humans. But, not so with God. For God cares about each and every one." If you wanted to look behind the parables a little bit further, you'll know that there is a handful of salt into the wound, because the shepherds and the women were among the lowest members of the society. When Jesus corrects the Pharisees, and uses an image of a woman and a shepherd to talk about what God is like, he reprimands them all the more.

What is it like to be a Christian in the world? What is it like to be a. Christian in the United States of America? What it is like to be a Christian on this day in this week? I hope that is a question that you have considered. Not "What do humans want to do?" but "What does God want us to do?" Not our peace, but Gods peace. As we struggle to make sense of terrorist attacks, there are those who would say, "Well, it is part of some greater plan of God's. It's not for me to understand or question."

In the book of Romans, in the eighth chapter, Paul writes:

(28) "And we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose."
(Revised Standard Version)

While some have responded with love and compassion, there are many others who have responded with anger and hatred. With hatred every bit as vile as the hatred of the terrorists. This hatred didn't just pop up on Tuesday. This is a hatred that we hold in our hearts. Not just some people, each and everyone of us hold these hatreds in our hearts. Without the strength of God's love, these hatreds can come pouring out. It seems like years ago, but it was only a week and a half ago, when there were reports out of South Africa about the European Union talking about reparation for slavery. Do you remember that in the news? Way back when. There were people on the radio stations here in Seattle who were talking about how inferior the black people are. I could hardly even stand to listen to their words. We are racist. We are bigots in many different ways. This week has been no exception. Among all of the wonderful things that people have done, among all of the rational and sane things that people have said, there have also been callers to radio stations and writers to newspapers, who have said, "Wipe them off the face of the earth." Not just 50 terrorists or 500 in an organization, wipe the Arab people off the earth. Have all of those who are in our boundaries take an oath of loyalty and if they refuse, put them to death. Where was the love of God in all of that?

We would like to say, that's the exception rather than the rule. We would like to say that's someone else. That's not us. But polls show numbers as high as 90% wanting to go to war. 90% of the country wanting to go to war. There are people who sit in church pews on Sunday mornings, there are people who wave the flag who are calling for death and destruction. I'm not talking about justice. I agree that justice needs to be done. I agree that we should do every things we can to find out who was responsible for these attacks, and make sure that there is punishment. That is a far cry from what people are asking for. They want revenge. They want blood. Many of those people who are calling out for revenge are also flying our flag. They are wrapping themselves in patriotism. It' not an honest and pure patriotism that calls us to a higher level, but it is a patriotism that is much more akin to rooting for the Huskies or the Seahawks. It is a fervor, a passion, us against them. We will win, we will dominate, we will be the champions. An irrational devotion to country. Not to the ideals of the country, not to freedom and to justice, but an "Us against Them."

Friends, this is not the United States against the rest of the world. This is not the United States against terrorism. Even though television crews have again and again said "Attack on America," the World Trade Center was just that, the World Trade Center. Filled with people of all different nationalities. Citizenship from all different countries. If anyone was attacked, it was not the United States, but the World. It was people who believe in truth and freedom.

Now some of you, I know, will say, "Surely those people who call out for death and wave the flag of patriotism are the exception and not the rule. Certainly it is good for us to be proud of being Americans. I say, "Yes, it is good for us to be proud as Americans." I am proud to be an American. Some of you are concerned that there is no American Flag here in the Sanctuary this clay. This is part of an ongoing conversation in our congregation and I expect that it will continue. I wasn't going to address it this day, but I feel forced to by a number of people who talked to me before the service.

I expect that you would say, "Surely it is a matter of respect for those who have died." If it was a matter of respect, it would be one thing. I have respect for our country. An American flag flies outside our home. Our son Matthew serves in the US Marine Corps. Those of you who were here for Veteran!s Day know that I have a respect for those who fought, for those who gave their lives in defense of our country. We honored Veterans, deceased and living in a Veterans Day service here last year. But we are here, first of all, as a people of faith. As Christian people. We need to take care that our love of country does not get in the way of being a faithful people. There are questions to be asked. We look to a different source for guidance in our lives. For all the people who say that the flag is a matter of respect, I could point out to you the many ways the flag is a way to perpetuate hatred. We need to take care as a Christian people, that we share God's love, and not give into a Nationalism that can be very destructive.

I'm not the only one who will take such a position. A hundred. religious leaders across the country, different religions, different Christian denominations, including our own president of the United Church of Christ, came together early in the week to make a statement. Praying for the families, individuals who died, giving thanks for heroic actions. But also calling us to take care in how we respond. To be thoughtful and considerate. To make sure that we are doing what is right. The terrorists and their hatred of America are seeking either a response in which we would pull in tight to protect ourselves, or strike out in the same fear, anger, and hatred that they feel in their hearts. Either one would accomplish their goal of minimizing the power of the United States. The statement from the church leaders is available on the table outside, as well as recommendations about how to talk to your children.

Before I get to that point, if you hadn't heard the news earlier in the week, the extremes of patriotism and Christian flag waving, came out in an interview between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, on Robertson's television program. The reports say that Falwell, a Baptist minister and chancellor of Liberty University, in Lynchburg VA, said Thursday on Robertson's religious TV show, the 700 Club, that he blamed the attacks on pagans, abortionists, feminists, homosexuals, the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way. "All of who have tried to secularize America. I point a finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen."' On Thursday, Robertson issued a statement on the attack and said America had insulted God and lost divine protection. "We have insulted God at the highest level of our government. Then we say, why does this happen?" he wrote in a statement released through his Christian Broadcasting Network. "It is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us." I disagree, vehemently, with the things said by these two men, who live their lives as Christian clergy. Instead of speaking of the love of God, they have drawn the lines to say who is in and who is out. Their judgments pour hatred on our country.

The statement mentioned earlier, signed by 100 clergy leaders, stands in sharp contrast to Falwell and Robertson. Listen:

"We can deny [the terrorists] their victory by refusing to submit to a world created in their image. Terrorism inflicts not only death and destruction, but also emotional oppression to further its aims. We must not allow this terror to drive us away from being the people that God has called us to be. We assert the vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life, which lies at the heart of all our religious traditions. America must be a safe place for all of our citizens in all their diversity. It is especially important that our citizens who share national origins, ethnicity or religion with whoever attacked us, are, themselves, protected among us."

I believe that the statement made by the religious leaders-was very important. But, it was one step short of going where it needed to go. It talks about our need to respond, as people of faith, with reason and with restraint. But, it still doesn't ask the question that needs to be asked. If you look on the Internet, you'll find people asking the question, but it never makes it on the radio. It never makes it onto the television screen. To suggest the question, let me move away from this event. Let me offer another example. What if there was a company, that was losing -employees. Let's say it's a hospital and the nursing staff are leaving. As CEO of that company you could say, "Well, if they don't like it here, let them go and good riddance to them. We'll hire new people in their place. That will address the problem. And move us back to status quo." Now, is that a reasonable response for a highly paid CEO? Is that the right response? What is the right response? Any of us here, who are rational people, would say, "Why are the nurses leaving? What's wrong with the working environment?"

George W. Bush, believing that he has to be strong like his daddy, says, "We will go to war. We will not only punish those who carried out this attack, but we win punish any who are harboring them. We are in for a long, long battle." I'd suggest that George W. is saying, "Well, if they don't like it here, let them go and we'll hire more nurses." What is the right response? Justice is one of the right responses. But another right response is, "Why do these people hate us so? What drives someone to give his life in a suicide plane crash, because he wants to bring down our country?

A friend of mine passed along an email that some of you may have received during the week. It's a statement that's attributed to the spiritualist/doctor Deepak Chopra. I don't really know if he wrote it, but whether he wrote it or not, the sentiments are exactly to the point.

The Deeper Wound

As fate would have it, I was leaving New York on a jet flight that took off 45 minutes before the unthinkable happened. By the time we landed in Detroit, chaos had broken out. When I grasped the fact that American security had broken down so tragically, I couldn't respond at first.

My wife and son were also in the air on separate flights, one to Los Angeles, one to San Diego. My body went absolutely rigid with fear. All I could think about was their safety, and it took several hours before I found out that their flights had been diverted and both were safe.

Strangely, when the good news came, my body still felt that it had been hit by a truck. Of its own accord it seemed to feel a far greater trauma that reached out to the thousands who would not survive and the tens of thousands who would survive only to live through months and years of hell.

And I asked myself, why didn't I feel this way last week? Why didn't my body go stiff during the bombing of Iraq or Bosnia? Around the world my horror and worry are experienced every day. Mothers weep over horrendous loss, civilians are bombed mercilessly, refugees are ripped from any sense of home or homeland. Why did I not feel their anguish enough to call a halt to it?

As we hear the calls for tightened American. security and a fierce military response to terrorism, it is obvious that -none of us has any answers. However, we feel compelled to ask some questions. Everything has a cause, so we have to ask, what was the root cause of this evil? We must find out not superficially but at the deepest level.

There is no doubt that such evil is alive all around the world and is even celebrated. Does this evil grow from the suffering and anguish felt by people we don't know and therefore ignore? Have they lived in this condition for a long time?

One assumes that whoever did this attack feels implacable hatred for America. Why were we selected to be the focus of suffering around the world? All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its basis. Isn't something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isn't God invoked with hatred inIreland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America? Can any military response make the slightest difference in the underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity?

If there is a deep wound, doesn't it affect everyone? When generations of suffering respond with bombs, suicidal attacks, and biological warfare, who first developed these weapons? Who sells them? Who gave birth to the satanic technologies now being turned against us? If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will punishment in any form toward anyone solve the wound or aggravate it? Will an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and limb for a limb, leave us all blind, toothless and crippled?

Tribal warfare has been going on for two thousand years and has now been magnified globally. Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is patriotism and nationalism even relevant anymore, or is this another form of tribalism?

What are you and I as persons going to do about what is happening? Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer? Everyone is calling this an attack on America, but is it not a rift in our collective soul? Isn't this an attack on civilization from without that is also from within?

When we have secured our safety once more and cared for the wounded, after the period of shock and mourning is over, it will be time for soul searching. I only hope that. these questions are confronted with the deepest spiritual intent. None of us will feel safe again behind the shield of military might and stockpiled arsenals. There can be no safety until the root cause is faced. Tn this moment of shock I don't think anyone of us has the answers. It is imperative that we pray and offer solace and help to each other. But if you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.

Love,
Deepak Chopra

May God be with us all. Amen.