Remembering...

It was the fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001, and as I sat alone, remembering, tears running down my cheeks, these words emerged...
 

remembering...

We hear & say the words

like a mantra-

                nine-eleven...

remembering the day
which changes us as
a nation...
                nine-eleven...
the day when fire & brimstone
raied down on Manhattan...on
Virginia...on a Pennsylvania field...
                 nine-eleven...
and Evil reared its
gorgon head to spew the
filth of fear & hatred,
xenophobia & violence...
                 nine-eleven...
the nations gathered 'round us then,
to cofort and to wipe our tears, as
grief & horror spread world-wide,
and people of goodwill reached out
to link their arms & hearts with ours...
                 nine-eleven...
But that goodwill has fled as We,
the People, have abandoned Hope
to wear instead the mantle of Fear,
to arm ourselves with Violence,
to gird ourselves for War...
                  God of Peace, have mercy.
We focus our attention on
the Enemy Without, and fail to
ecognize & own & confess the
Enemy Within...
                   God of Grace, have mercy.
We continue on our common path
of overuse...of greed & grasping...
of selfishness & pride, closing our
collective eyes to the reality that
all around this globe we share,
hunger, illness, inhumanity abound...
                    God of Justice, have mercy.
We close our ears to cries of pain-
from a planet suffering the results of
overuse & abuse...from species being randomly
but systematically destroyed...from mothers
as they hold their dying children- in Darfur,
in Somalia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in
Cherobyl- while we drive in cars & fly
in planes in ever-increasing numbers...
                      God of Compassion, have mercy.    
We justify our lack of doing something,
anything, to influence our government
run amok, by saying, "I am only one...
what can I do? No one will listen anyway,"
while all around the world people
demonstrate against the very ones who
seem to rule our fate...
                       God of Courage, have mercy &
                       give us strength.
As today we remember those whose lives
were lost that fateful day which changed us
as a nation, let us pray again
for change...
        of heart & mind & purpose...
Let us confess our part
in this world ills and
refuse to poit the finger of blame
unless we also point it at
ourselves.
Let us renew our often-tenuous
connection to this world...grasp
tightly the delicate thread which
binds us to one another & to ALL
of God's created peoples to God's
holy & beautiful creation,
mindful that we have been called to
be stewards & not consumers.
                         God of all creation,
                         hear our prayer &
                         give us purpose. LET IT BE SO.