By Barry Howard
A pastoral prayer for Sept. 11, 2011:
On this 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we gather to remember an atrocious day, a day that we wish we could forget.
We confess our ongoing need of your transformative and emerging grace, for we are all too mindful that this date still haunts us — with memories that strike fear and with emotions that convey pain.
As we attempt to apply your words to life and to live by faith as we embrace your promise of a better future, we confess that our anger and grief from that fretful day are not nearly resolved, and that retaliatory impulses of vengeance and hate incubate deep within.
And yet we acknowledge that our hurt does not compare to the pain of those who were touched more directly through the unexpected and unfair loss of family members, friends, and co-workers.
We shudder at the memory of horrific images of death and destruction. We worry over the ongoing armed conflict that seems to be unending. We grieve over the deaths of the sons and daughters of our nation, as well as the subsequent casualties among our allies and our adversaries.
And we long for a civilized and lasting resolution so that our sons and daughters may return home safely and soon and that those who have longed for liberation from tyranny might govern and be governed with dignity and integrity.
Rather than being consumed by our grief, controlled by our fears and constrained by our anxieties, let us set our minds to addressing the injustices that precipitate hostility. Let us direct our souls to living out our moral conviction. Let us turn our hearts to loving the poor, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised.
Let us determine to fight terror not with our own terroristic threats, but with a responsible and courageous exercise of freedom and with a proactive and authentic faith.
Though it runs counter to our deepest instincts, you continue to teach us to love our enemies, so that we do not become like them.
Today, especially today, we pray for the leaders of our nation and our world, for the leaders of our state and our community, to act and react with wisdom and discernment, to maintain a disposition that will defuse conflict and advance the cause of peace.
We pray for the leaders of our churches and synagogues and for people of diverse faiths to act and react with transformative grace and eternal hope, to maintain a disposition that will dispel propaganda and advance the cause of truth and compassion.
We offer our prayer in the strong name of the One who came to bring peace on earth and goodwill to all humankind. Amen.