Where was God in the events of Tuesday, 11th September?

From the Reverend Tim Ling, Vicar at St. Swithun 's Bathford

Of course, such a question cannot be addressed properly here but let me offer three reflections for us to engage with as we each struggle to come to terms with what has happened.

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God is present in judgement.

‘“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.’ Christians believe that God is the perfect Judge and that he will bring all those involved to justice, even those who died in the attacks and are beyond human justice. There is much talk of retribution, of retaliation at the moment, with all the fear and uncertainty of what this in turn will lead to, but if God is the final Judge, then our response to this outrage, whatever form it takes, will not be the last word on the matter. Retribution we can leave in God’s hands and our response can be directed towards punishing evil as evil, towards deterrence and towards making the world a safer and more stable place.

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God is present in compassion.

Twice in the Gospels Jesus sheds tears: once at the graveside of his friend Lazarus; once as he approaches Jerusalem for the final time. These are not sentimental tears, they are tears provoked by the consequences of sin on a world which he loves to the uttermost. We cannot imagine the grief of those who have lost loved ones in this outrage; but the God who one day will see that justice is fully and properly done today weeps with them.

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God is present in the mystery of his saving purposes.

Mother Theresa, when she visited the prisoner of war camp at Dachau, said, ‘We are getting worse, not better.’ The events of Tuesday, 11th September do little to shake her assessment. Christians believe that God must act to restore this warped world. The story of human history is that we cannot do it. But can God? In the dust-filled darkness of a bright September morning in Manhattan and Washington it is so hard to believe that he can do it, hard to believe that he was present that day. And yet it was hard to believe that God was present in the darkness of a bright Friday afternoon outside Jerusalem as his own Son died on a cross to rid the world of evil. But he was.

Still today we wait for the day when the victory over evil won that Good Friday is finally and fully seen. But now, as we struggle to come to terms with what has happened, with the Psalmist, the world cries, ‘How long, O Lord, how long?’

With best wishes, Tim

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