Covenant Stories: 911

Story #26 in the Covenant series

There are defining tragedies for every generation, and those who live through them never forget what they were doing when the news broke. Pearl Harbor was like that, as was president Kennedy’s assassination. The people of this generation will never forget where they were when they heard that planes had flown into the World Trade Center towers.

Not only do we not forget where we were when a national tragedy happened, we never tire of telling the story. On the anniversary of these events, people tell each other what they were doing when they heard. It is a ritual that clearly helps us deal with the pain and grief.

On September 11, 2001, I was coming home from dropping off my oldest at school. I heard on the radio that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. By the time I got home a second plane had hit. I knew then that something was terribly wrong. I walked into my house to find Jeanene, in tears, sitting in front of the television. The two of us watched until the towers fell. At that point I emailed the members of our church and told them that I was going to the church and that the doors would be open if anyone wanted to come and pray. I spent the afternoon there, numbly watching the news reports on TV. People began showing up around 6 pm. We lit the candles in our fireplace and stood silently in prayer. A few people hugged and drew aside to pray together. There was no formal service. People came and went. Sometime around 9 pm I was left alone at the church, and it seemed to me that we were done. I turned out all of the lights except for two or three candles. Candles in a dark church are exceedingly beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. At least I’ve always thought so. I watched them burn for a long time. Then I blew them out and a sorrowful darkness fell over the church. I had feel my way to the door.

We all remember the days that followed. Our entire nation was numb. No one was sure how to get on with everyday living. At Covenant Baptist Church we had our own dilemma. If you remember how it was in those days, many people found themselves wanting to go to a church. It seemed appropriate to design our worship service for the following Sunday in a way that addressed our national grief. But one of our families, the McJiltons, had scheduled that Sunday to dedicate their young son Kevin. The McJiltons had extended family in from out of town. I didn’t want to cancel the event.

So the question was: How do we have a service that addresses this terrible trauma that our nation has suffered while at the same time having our traditional service of dedication for this little boy?

The answer came to me as I was looking at our order of worship, which is a single, 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper folded in half to make a small booklet. It occurred to me that the first half of the service could be on the left of the order of worship and be dedicated to prayer for the victims, their families, and our country. The second half of the service could be on the right and be our service of dedication to love this child and be his church.

The top of the order of worship said, “A Covenant Response to Tuesday, September 11, 2001” The left side had a single word as a header - Prayer. The right side also had as single word - Dedication.

The church was packed that Sunday. Every Covenant member was there, along with a number of people who attended occasionally. We also had people who never went to church but were there because of the tragedy. A local police officer - on duty - pulled into the parking lot, removed his hat, and stood at the back. During the first half of the service we prayed. That’s all we did. Our prayers were sung, spoken out loud, and spoken individually in times of silence. Some wept. Some stared ahead. Others looked angry. We offered no answers or explanations. We just prayed.

And then we made a turn. I noted that prayer was a comfort, and more than that, a commandment. We are commanded to pray in good times and in bad. But something more than prayer is needed. Action is called for, or else our prayers become anemic and academic, perhaps even a way to avoid life.

Action always sounds good after a tragedy, doesn’t it? Let’s go out in the world and do something. Let’s stop evil people. Let’s change our nation. I have no problem with such sentiments, but the truth is, everyday people do not have the power to stop evil. Even nations cannot stop evil. So at the halfway point in our service, I held Kevin McJilton in my arms and spoke to my friends.

We are here today to promise that we will help care for Kevin McJilton. As his church, we are promising to love him, teach him about what it means to be a follower of Christ, and make our church a good place for him, a place where he will want to be. I know it seems like a small thing when we are faced with such a great evil. But remember that God works in this way. The work of God’s goodness is like a mustard seed. It starts small and then grows.

The evil done by terrorists starts big and scary, then fades quickly in time. Their power to hurt is short-lived. But Kevin is only beginning his life. If we help nurture the life of one child, the cumulative good from that life grows exponentially.

This is what we should do in response to what happened 5 days ago. We should give birth to small acts of goodness and kindness in our world. Let those who love evil start with big and loud and scary things. We will start with small things, small acts of goodness. This is how the gospel works.

Kevin’s service changed the way I think and react to large tragedies. Evil may seem big, too big to fight. But we are not God, and we are not charged with fixing this world of sin. Our charge is to follow Christ in small ways and bring what goodness we can into the world. It was, after all, Jesus who reminded us that even a cup of cold water offered in His name will not be forgotten.

Gordon Atkinson

Our order of worship for Sunday, September 16th, 2001

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