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Reaching for a higher power
People need to be with each other during times of national crisis, spiritual experts say. Adults and children alike are turning to their religious communities for solace or attending candlelight ceremonies in remembrance of the victims. Here Hannah Bell, 5, holds a silent vigil during an impromptu ceremony in front of the Justice Building in Medford the week of the terrorist attacks. When life goes out of control, many seek answers in prayer By MELISSA MARTIN The race track might be the last place you'd expect to hear God-talk. But on Sept. 15, 250 race car drivers, crews and their families gathered in the pit for prayer during a memorial service to honor those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Then, as 2,000 people packed the stands, a chaplain prayed over a loudspeaker - a rare happening at the Southern Oregon Speedway. "For a lot of people, God is the farthest thing from their mind," said retired driver Huntley Barns, now a chaplain with Racers for Christ. "This tragedy is causing people to think about the brevity of life. People are thinking, 'That could have been me.' " A wave of spiritualism has moved across the country these past two weeks, beginning at the top with President Bush participating in a prayer service broadcast live from National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The ripple effect moved from television journalists mentioning God's name to people who normally sleep in on the weekends going to church or synagogue. Church services have been packed beyond capacity. "Every time we're confronted with our inability to control, when all of a sudden life becomes unpredictable and out of control and we're not able to guarantee our own safety, we do begin to think about things beyond the human," says Ernie Ettlich, who teaches religion at Southern Oregon University. "That certainly brings religion to the fore." Tragedy causes people to face their own mortality, he says. "When humans are confronted with death and with the end of life, they begin to think in terms of that which might go beyond this life, that which might reach into another setting," Ettlich says. "As we're faced with death, some of the certainty is taken away and some of the fright is taken away as we begin to have confidence of our place and position after death. "I'm a Christian and I believe God provides a means of welcome and embrace after death. I believe that life is a temporary part of my existence. So do most Jewish and Islamic people." What's going to happen after she dies is one of the questions Angela Windle, a North Medford High School senior, has been wrestling with after the terrorist attacks. "I'm wondering if this world does end, will there really be a God," Windle said. "I talk it over with my friends and we try to figure out why these things are happening. We just want to live life to the fullest." The region's Jewish community began celebrating the biggest holiday of the year the week after the terrorist attacks. Attendance is the highest it's been in 16 years at the Havurah Shir Hadash and beyond capacity at Temple Emek Shalom. "There is a tremendous emotional and spiritual security in knowing that you are part of a community with whom you can share your tears," says Rabbi David Zaslow of Havurah. Sometimes God seems closer during a tragedy, he says. "God is always available to us, but I think that after a tragedy, we are more available to God. There is an old rabbinic question, 'If you feel far from God, who is the one who moved?'" New York actor Rich Swingle thought he would find a crowd of spirituality-seeking people when he went to Times Square last week to watch on the giant TV monitor the prayer service from the National Cathedral. But instead, the former Rogue Valley resident was the only New Yorker watching the service for its duration. "I think there's a lot of rhetoric, a lot of flag-waving," Swingle said. "There's a lot of people talking about turning to God, but I don't know how much of that is really happening." A spiritual awakening doesn't have to be a grand event that attracts media attention. Swingle saw evidence of it this week when his building's handyman, someone who doesn't normally talk about his faith, stopped by the apartment where Swingle and his wife, Joyce, live - only five miles from the trade center. They watched the president's speech to Congress and prayed. He also saw evidence when a New Yorker who works in a nearby office knocked on Swingle's door to chat. "He said to me, 'I'm not a religious person, but I appreciate your prayers.' " People need to be with other people right now, said the Rev. Caren Caldwell, the minister of Congregational United Church of Christ in Ashland. Last week at a crowded service, the congregation talked about the tragedy as much as they listened. The church also provided a way for them to do something about the tragedy - by channeling their charitable giving. "We asked people to share what they wanted to about that event, what it means to younger people and children in the congregation," Caldwell says. "People need to talk and to pray with a group of people. And they also need to give." About 3,000 people filled Masses to overflowing at Sacred Heart Catholic Church the first Sunday after the attacks. Numbed and shocked, many came in search of hope, said Father David Schiferl. He expects Masses to be just as crowded this week. "We have a little time to deal with the initial pain and shock and now we'll take a look at President Bush's plan laid out and what does it mean for us as a people, as a Catholic church." The attacks may have been a continent away, but it doesn't lessen the grief on the West Coast, says the Rev. Daniel Beteta, of First Presbyterian Church in Central Point. "Martin Luther King said, 'Whatever affects one directly, affects many of us indirectly.' We are all affected by these events and we all turn to the source of comfort. For all Christians and for many people, that source is the Lord." For North Medford sophomore Shanae Brewster, the tragedies have caused her to pray more - three times a day instead of her usual twice a week. She prays for families who lost loved ones in the attacks, that our nation won't go to war and that God will show her why he let this happen. "I haven't gotten any answers yet, but eventually they will come," she says. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail mmartin@mailtribune.com Many wonder why God would allow suffering One of the oldest spiritual questions asked is, "If God is good, why does he allow suffering?" Here are some responses from local clergy. The attacks by terrorists on our country leave us shaken, and
perhaps shake even our faith. As people of faith, we rely on God.
Faith in God provides us with our world view, our way of making
sense of our experience. We see the world as a place created and
cared for by a loving creator. ... Our faith is based on a
certain logic - that love is stronger than hate; that grace is
more readily apparent than evil; that life is more abundant than
death; that despair fades in the presence of hope; that on this
entire planet of 6 billion souls, one human family dwells
together, placed here by God. Suffering comes from the free will that God has implanted within
each of us. In Judaism, there is not a duality of good and evil,
but rather an interconnection between them. On a personal level
we learn and can grow from our mistakes, sins and evil side. It's
not that God allows suffering, but we accept that pain and joy
are simply two parts of a whole. ... So, we make choices and our
choices often cause suffering to ourselves and others. The
choices the terrorists made have had an extraordinary spiritual
reverberation in our nation - a greater connection to family,
community and God is actually more possible now than ever. This
is part of why God allows suffering. Out of suffering we are
given new and greater opportunities to perform God's will here on earth. It's the hand of human against another human that brings
suffering on this earth. Natural calamities that God sends to us
are signs that Allah tried to humble us. But calamities that
humans bring against humans are from Satan, not from God.
Suffering that is through a volcano that spews ash and wipes out
life, it's God teaching us through his infinite wisdom. The
terrorist acts you see, crimes against humanity, Allah hated, but
Satan is the perpetrator of those. Satan has sworn in the Koran
that he will make men enemy of men on earth and bring war on
earth, war between the children of Adam. And he knows his business well.
For us Catholics, it's our faith in Jesus Christ, entering in his
suffering through the cross, showing us the cross is not
meaningless because of the hope of the resurrection. The
important thing is to put ourselves in the hands of Jesus Christ.
Even on the cross, Christ said, 'My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?' but he followed that up with, 'Into your hands I
commit my spirit.' In his suffering, he took our suffering. There are those who refuse to believe in God at all because of this paradox. They cannot reconcile a good God with an evil - and therefore suffering - world. Yet billions of people in history and today retain faith in God. Their answers fall into three categories. Some believe he allows evil and suffering because he is unable to stop them. They see him as good, but not sovereign or all-powerful. At the other end of the spectrum are those who see him as totally sovereign but capricious and unresponsive to human will - a sort of religious determinism. I reject these two concepts for a classic Christian approach. The
Bible portrays God as one who has sovereignty and temporarily
allowed evil (sin) and its inevitable consequence - suffering -
for a larger, permanent good. It sees human history not as a
cycle of life, but as a temporal progression to an age when God
himself will hold all people accountable. . . . He does not
promise uninterrupted protection from calamity or suffering, but
does demonstrate his personal love for us by offering to us an
opportunity to be reconciled to him. He also promises that evil
will eventually be done away with. |
