by Randal Matheny

For weeks after the September 11 attack, I wrote nothing. Absolutely nothing. When I finally did, it was a short verse later published in Möbius.

New York, September 2001

Two towers pierced by hatred, hearts, by pain; The twisted steel and rubble, thousands slain But serve to harden will to build anew, Repress the havoc heinous men would do, And hallow noble dreams by rage assailed, For freedom's haven hope has never failed.

A Babylonian Talmud saying, found in a Portuguese book this morning, expressed it well. I translated it into English.

"The deeper the sadness, less [speaks] the tongue."

The secular media must not be feeling sad about it. Not only are the channels alive with talk of the anniversary, but there is news and commentary about what everyone else is reporting and commenting. The whirwind to suck up and stir up every sad thought and every expression of grief, anger, and latent emotion.

We have learned, as has Mr. bin Laden and company, that Lamartine was right when he said that "The same sufferings unite a thousand times more than the same joys." Though it has not taken long for the unity to unravel. Private interests and selfish ambitions crumble national resolve in a hurry.

The Bible says to give thanks in suffering. Africans dying by the millions in inter-tribal wars, HIV plagues, and desert-forming droughts touch us only a little. Chinese oppression and persecution cause us little pause before the shelf full of imported goods. We have felt now the full impact of hatred, greed, and religion gone crazy. We now experience a sample of the staggering suffering much of the world lives with daily.

I do not say we should wallow in grief. There comes a moment to stand up, look reality in the eye, and glorify the Maker for his goodness. Something not unlike Baruch's advice,

"Jerusalem, strip off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, and put on for ever the glorious majesty that is the gift of God" (5.1).

I do not know if America was destined for greatness. I rather doubt "manifest destiny." No political nation has God's special favor. That spiritual grace is reserved for his chosen people, the church, scattered in every nation, placed among every people on earth. But I do know the United States is my home, and I am grateful for its principles, culled from the Bible, for its freedoms, recognized as divinely given, and for its faith that there exists a God in heaven who cares for his creatures.

In man he has placed eternity and invites us to discover in time the Everlasting, in suffering, the maximum pleasure, in sorrow, the incomprehensible joy, in death, the unextinguishable life.

So, against the ruins of the World Trade Center and the repairs of the Pentagon stands the Cross. Hatred killed the Son of Man. Love and Justice raised him up. And however right a military response may be on the government's part to secure the safety of its citizens, I know my part, as servant and disciple, is to raise the voice in praise of redemption and lift up every eye to the empty tomb.

One year later, there is much to say.