On this earth, we will not experience life without
death. Joy without suffering. Healing without pain. Light without dark. Heat without cold. In heaven, we are promised there is no more
dying, no more pain, no more suffering, no more darkness. But on planet earth, contrasting experiences
are the inescapable yin and yang of life.
Perhaps this is why tragedy can be unifying. It can also be isolating, but if we can
connect with humanity around us, both personal tragedy and shared tragedy has
the potential to draw people together.
It is the universality of the human condition.
Every American, if old enough to remember, knows where they
were ten years and three days ago. Who
they were with, what room they were in, what they were doing, how they
felt. While felt individually, the
experience is shared, and thus is unifying.
I was in my fourth year in university, moving to and from
class, among fellow media students. The
bustle in the halls guided me toward the large media conference room packed
with other students. Broadcast
journalism students, film production students, graphic design students,
crowding together to watch the big screen.
Students studying to work in the very media format making it possible
for tragedy to be a shared experience.
Later, all over campus, every lobby, every dorm had
televisions on, students clumped together, stunned, crying, praying. Our university called a prayer meeting in
chapel that evening that nearly everyone on campus voluntarily attended.
For me, the experience was thus shared and unifying. I consider it a privilege really, to have
been in a location surrounded by fellow sufferers. Not alone.
Amazingly enough, there were ways in which it was unifying
for nations as well. Only one American
was not on earth that day. Astronaut
Frank Culbertson videotaped the tragedy from thousands of miles above the
surface of the earth, traveling in space with two Russians. He tells the story that the Russians were
equally shocked and devastated as he was, and amazingly sympathetic and
comforting. In the days that followed,
every communication he had through the international space center reinforced
this experience. The world and nations
reached out to comfort and share in the ache Americans experienced that
day. As a result, Culbertson is an
advocate for continued American participation in international space
programs. He experienced how it can draw
nations together for a common good and peaceful purpose.
This past Sunday morning, our non-denominational Christian
church closed the service with an unusual prayer. An international graduate student from Turkey is part
of our church. His father works in Turkey for the American Department of Defense,
helping protect Americans in Turkey. He even helped one group of Americans build a
Christian church in Turkey
so they could have a place to worship.
Both our friend who attends our church, and his father, are Muslim.
At the end of our church service, on the tenth anniversary
of 9/11, our American Christian pastor and our Turkish Muslim friend closed the
service in a joint prayer. For our
country, for our world, for unity. Our
Turkish friend used the word “wholeness” as something he desires and prays for
our world to experience. For me, it was
incredibly moving and brought tears to my eyes.
Perhaps some people would not agree with this being
done. But knowing this friend, and
hearing his story, I have to believe that tragedies like this truly affect the
entire world. He told another member of
church, “It was a loss for us too. On
9/11, a billion Muslims lost the opportunity to interact with Christians.” It became not only a political divide, but a
religious divide. One that undermines
humanity and friendship.
He is a conservative Muslim, as is most of Turkey – one of the most peaceful Muslim nations
in fact, and one which the U.S.
has strong historical allegiance with. I
am a conservative Christian, and also prefer not be associated with “extremist”
Christians who seem to express more judgment and hatred than they do love (and
because of their painful public expressions, manage to make national news).
I considered titling this post, “Unifying Humanity.” But I truly mean, “Being Humanity.” The fact that we share a common humanity is
in itself unifying. It is our own
insecurities, fears, and feelings of isolation in tragedy, that create an
unnatural divide.
Do not hear that I am a Christian whose faith is vague, or
whose definition of salvation is anything less than belief in, and action on, the
life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My belief that God desires unity for humanity
does not contradict my belief that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to
heaven. I am merely trying to bring
together both phrases of the gospel message, “For God so LOVED the world, that
He gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life,”
(John 3:16).
The gospel message does not begin with belief. It begins with LOVE. Love for the WORLD. It begins with giving up what is most
precious. For the cause of
belief. For the cause of everlasting
life in eternal heaven in the presence of God.
Let it be for this cause – the cause of love, the cause of
unity, only possible by the strength of Christ – that Americans died ten years
and three days ago. That Christ died for
all. That we die to self, to fear, to
hatred, to division. That WE learn to “so
love the world.”