Page 248 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

Reaching Out to Create Moments of Communal Healing 217

and one White, one male and one female, holding hands as brother and
sister, on a dark and deserted corner in New York. It was not the least bit
important to me that the picture of Jesus joining the missing was not fash-
ioned in my image (historical/cultural/experiential) of Him. What I can
surely say is that I felt the Lord standing (crying) with us …

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not
come near you … For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you
in all of your ways. On their hands, they will bear you up, so that you will not
dash your foot against a stone. (Psalms 91: 7, 11-12 NRSV)

Is God Dead?

Where are you, God? How could you let so many people die? Where are
you, God? My grief, anger, and fear had burst through my illusions, ratio-
nalizations, and sense of safety. Where are you, God? This is supposed to
be sweet land of liberty, land of the pilgrim’s pride, land where forefathers
died; the land proud of the fact that it was founded on the principles of
religious freedom and expression. Where are you, God? We have solemnly
and sincerely printed “In God We Trust” on our money in tribute to you.
Where are you, God? A child has lost a mother, another child has lost a
father, and the nation and the world is mourning. Where are you, God?
The acrid smell of death hangs over the city casting a shawl of fear and
anxiety. Where are you, God?
And God said here I am standing in the midst of the turmoil and utter destruc-
tion inside of the towers. I am directing, encouraging and whispering to those
who will never hear another loving voice. I am kneeling beside the chaplain
from the fire department as he administers last rites to fallen comrades and
strangers alike. I have told him that this day he will also die. I am on the stairs
holding my children in my arms. Some of my children have jumped out of win-
dows convinced that this desperate act is their only alternative. Look my child,
can you see me standing near the man who refuses to leave his wheelchair-
bound coworker and friend … I still say no greater love than a man who lays
down his life for another …

Then you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will
say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing
finger and malicious talk and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and
satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and
your night will become like the noonday … Your people will rebuild the ancient
ruins and will raise up the age old foundations; you will be called Repairer of
Broken Walls, restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58: 9-10, 12)