Article September 5, 2011 Issue

Be a part of this new day

By John Tyler

Shortly after September 11, 2001, I remember all the commentators telling us that after those shattering acts of terrorism the world would never be the same. That very day, after receiving the phone call alerting me to the catastrophe, I tried to pray. I wanted to pray—but where could I start? The pictures of the New York City scene were horrific. Then there was the plane crash just a short way east of where I live in Pittsburgh. How could I get beyond the screams and carnage?

Yet, there was a simple fact that I had experienced all my life: God is good. God is goodness itself. God, good, is present and acting. I had confidence in that goodness—in its power and presence. I could begin simply by acknowledging that comforting presence. It was speaking to me, and to every part of God’s creation. That had to be my starting point. 

My first test by fire, literally, had been more than 30 years before, during the race riots and the burning of my newly adopted city, Pittsburgh. There I had learned, in the midst of hatred, revenge, and violence, to turn away from judging and blaming. I had been guilty of just such reactions. I saw the flames, and condemned all—the racists and the rioters. But I soon realized that I really needed to wake up. I had learned from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal that “the Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking, / Unloosing bonds of all captivity” (Rosa M. Turner, No. 202). Gradually I broke out of my state of just reacting. I realized my need to learn to forgive, and to love.

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