September 17, 2001
Sermons grapple with tragedy response
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--Millions of Americans found solace in houses of worship Sunday, Sept. 16. Many churches reported crowds as large as those at Christmas or Easter.
___National Public Radio reported from a worship service at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. "We've been dealt a wicked blow this week as a nation," Pastor George Mason said to about 1,000 worshippers. "Many of us have been to prayer meetings already. We've held candles in the night. We've prayed and done what we can do. It's right to be here now."
___Mason addressed the terrorist attackers directly in part of his message. Acknowledging "grievances against America that fueled your rage," he confessed the United States is "not always right or righteous" in its policies toward Arab countries.
___"We are capable of repenting of our sins and living differently," Mason said, "but what you have done is to cut out the heart of our desire to learn."
___Larry McSwain, interim pastor of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., said attacks on the Pentagon, World Trade Center and in Pennsylvania exposed a false sense of security based on military and economic power. "There's no such thing as a human defense against the power of evil," he said.
___At South Garland Baptist Church near Dallas, Pastor Larry Davis called children to the front of the sanctuary for a special message.
___"Evil people do evil things," he explained to the children. But borrowing from Presbyterian minister and children's TV host Fred Rogers, he counseled, "Always look for the helpers," encouraging children to focus on firefighters, police and volunteers who were doing good work rather than the perpetrators.
___Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., said the goal of terrorism is to overthrow the nation by paralyzing its citizens with fear. "When we reach that point, the terrorist has won, and I, for one, don't intend to give him that satisfaction. I refuse to be afraid."
___Somerville quoted Psalm 23, where the writer claims that even while walking through the valley of the shadow of death he will "fear no evil."
___"Why? Because God is with him," Somerville said, describing the passage as an "antidote to fear."
___"God's presence is what will make it possible for us to walk through this shadowy valley without being afraid," he said.
___Robert Ferguson, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Seneca, S.C., described part of his struggle in deciding what to say.
___"I have preached sermons on finding the hand of God in tragedy," he said. "I have counseled hundreds of persons on how to deal with tragedy and still maintain one's faith. Now, all of those seemed to pale in significance to the enormous evil before me."
___The answer, he said, is in Christ's resurrection, which demonstrates that evil will not triumph over good. "God is here, God is good, and God has neither abandoned us nor caused this to happen," Ferguson said.
___Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., wrote an editorial titled "Why Does God Allow Evil?" for the Orange County Register.
___"God could have kept the terrorists from completing their suicidal missions by removing their ability to choose their own will instead of his," he wrote. "But to be fair, God would also have to do that to all of us. You and I are not terrorists, but we do harm and hurt others with our own selfish decisions and actions."
___"You may hear misguided minds say 'This must have been God's will,'" Warren continued. "Nonsense! In a world of free choices, God's will is rarely done! Doing our own will is much more common. Don't blame God for this tragedy. Blame people who ignored what God has told us to do: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
___Layne Smith, pastor of Viewmont Baptist Church in Hickory, N.C., said he has been tempted to "peek out the corner" of his eyes at those who are different and say "at least I'm not like him or her."
___"I must confess that I have done that toward those who planned and carried out the attacks that killed more than 5,000 this past week," he said. "How many times have I said, 'Thank you God, that I'm not like those people?'
___ "However, to approach it that way is to miss the point. We don't justify ourselves by looking out of the corner of our eyes at others like the Pharisee did to the tax collector. No, we are invited to peer down into the shadows of our own hearts and recognize the darkness within us that only the light of the world can overcome."
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