Letter from America

Eerily enough, the date on the calendar was 9/11. 911 is the 999 emergency call in America.

Words cannot describe the horror that has been visited on America. Somehow, with the destruction of the World Trade Center and the devastation of the Pentagon, Americans seem different. They are in shock. They are in mourning. They are angry. They are almost in a national state of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Human tragedy

It's hard for an Englishman to perceive the damage done to the national psyche by these blows to such symbolic representations of American power. And then there is the human tragedy, as yet unquantified, and beyond imagination.

We hear of phone calls from inside the planes to families warning them of their impending death. We hear of a financial worker stuck above the area where the plane hit in one of the towers of the World Trade Center phoning his brother to ask him to take care of his children and watch over his wife.

'Do you know someone?' is a question that's being asked regularly today, no need to state what the question is referring to, so ever present is the spectre of those clouds of dust and carnage hanging over the American dream.

Christian response

And yet there is fighting talk. President Bush has released statements of brave resolve. The terrorist attacks are being called increasingly 'an act of war'. Senator Joseph Biden said: 'We will kill them'. The fear that is thick on the streets of American cities - the thought that such a thing could happen anywhere - is complemented by a white hot, quiet, rage.

In such a situation one wonders what is the correct Christian response. Here are some thoughts on that:

1. God is in charge, he is in control, nothing happens that he is incapable of bringing good out of (Genesis 50.20). The Bible teaches us this, the history of the world confirms it, and though our present experience may seem to belie it, we can rest or seek to rest in the promises of God (Psalm 46.1-2).

2. We need the gospel. When Jesus was approached about a famous catastrophe in his day, the tower of Siloam that fell and killed many people, he responded by saying 'unless you repent you also will all perish' (Luke 13.5). C.S. Lewis even went so far as to say that suffering is specifically designed by God to catch our attention and cause us to turn back to him. 'Suffering' he said, 'is God's megaphone to a deaf world'. Certainly, the prosperous 1990s have caused an all too obvious reliance on the military power and financial wealth of the 'new world order'. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon should cause us to realise the ultimate futility of such things and lead us to put our trust in God.

In the cross of Christ

3. Jesus cares. The Lisbon earthquake in the 18th century is interpreted by some as having fanned the flames of Enlightenment secularism. Voltaire made enormous capital at the time out of the 'why God' question that people were asking. What is the answer to that question? The answer lies not in a trite explanation, or a hasty self-righteous allocation of blame, but in the cross of Jesus Christ. There we learn that the God of the universe has experienced suffering. For those who have lost a son, God knows what it feels like; for those facing death, Christ has been there. (Hebrews 2.9-18).

4. Christians are to love. Bald as it may be to say at such a time as this, it must be said: God loves terrorists. He may hate sinners, but he also loves them. At the cross we see both the love of God for sinners, and the wrath of God diverted for his glory to his own Son. But Christians are called to move beyond the anger, fear, hate that only leads to a cycle of violence and depravity, and instead forgive.

Seeking justice

5. Justice is good. There are authorities in this world that God has set up to bring about justice (Romans 13.1-5). We should pray for the leaders of the American people in particular at this time that they will be able wisely to avoid blood lust and yet properly seek justice.

6. This is an opportunity for the church. Here is an opportunity for the Christian church to speak with one voice and to act with compassion. We may say 'God is in charge'. We may say 'turn back to God'. We may say 'Christ cares'. We may act with compassion. The Puritans in the aftermath of disasters would preach 'Jeremiad' sermons explaining the catastrophe as a judgement of God on the sins of the people. Let us be unashamed to preach sin, but equally unashamed to preach, and live, the love of Christ.

At our prayer meeting here at our church on the evening of the crisis, people gathered as at a funeral. But as we prayed our thoughts turned gradually to God and his sovereignty. We thought of his power, we thought of his promises of heaven. We also prayed that we would turn from our sins and put our faith in Christ. May God so work in this situation that his name is honoured above all other names, financial, military, national, by the saving of many, many people to eternal life.

911

Human tragedy

Christian response

In the cross of Christ

Seeking justice

Josh Moody, New Haven, Connecticut

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