ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 31, 2006  

ELCA Presiding Bishop, Synod Bishop Comment on Sept. 11 Fifth Anniversary
06-133-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
changed the "context" of the church in the United States, and
"shattered thousands of lives and galvanized millions more around
the country and across the globe," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson,
presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA).  The comment was part of his message to the church in
anticipation of the upcoming fifth anniversary of the attacks.
     The attacks in New York, Arlington, Va., and the crash of a
plane controlled by hijackers near Shanksville, in south-central
Pennsylvania, killed nearly 3,000 people and left thousands
injured.
     "In the moments and days following the events of September
11, people responded with prayer and action. Unprecedented
numbers of people gathered to pray, to express anguish, and to
receive consolation from one another and from the Word of God,"
Hanson wrote.  He quoted the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of
the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod, who wrote: "For a brief
time our houses of worship were the most important places in the
community, and the Bible was a living document of drama
encompassing our own."
     Hanson noted that faith leaders provided places for people
to meet, to grieve and to attend to immediate needs. Sorrow and
compassion were offered across ecumenical and interfaith lines,
and the world reached out to people suffering in the United
States, Hanson said in his letter.
     "Five years later the wounds from that day remain just under
the surface for many whose lives were devastated -- those still
grieving the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of
a way of life, or a loss of trust in God," Hanson wrote.
     "Terrorism is intended to create fear and mistrust. If our
reality is shrouded in fear and mistrust, we have not fully heard
the story of God's love expressed through Jesus' death and
resurrection," Hanson wrote.  He referred to the ELCA Church
Council's "Message on Living in a Time of Terrorism," which says
we are called to "affirm the Gospel's gift of living beyond
fear."
     Hanson expressed thanks for the many ways Lutherans
responded to the Sept. 11 attacks, including gifts and matching
funds totaling more than $10.6 million donated to ELCA Domestic
Disaster Response. Funds were used in a variety of ways in New
York, the Washington, D.C., area and Shanksville, the presiding
bishop said.  He also thanked Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service for its work for immigrants and others "who are suspect
simply by virtue of their ethnicity or religion," Hanson wrote.
     "In a culture that says, 'Get over it,' we as faith leaders
have an opportunity to create safe spaces for people to tell
their stories, to express their fears and their pain, and to be
reminded of God's presence in times of trouble," he wrote. "With
deep gratitude, I give thanks to God for the witness of this
church."

Synod bishop says Sept. 11 "wounded our metropolis and challenged
our ministry"
     In a message to the Metropolitan New York Synod, the Rev.
Stephen P. Bouman, bishop, said the World Trade Center attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, "changed our world, wounded our metropolis and
challenged our ministry."
     "I remember how important it was for us to be in touch with
each other, to share information, to begin planning together our
collective response, to be near one another in consolation. I
remember an overwhelming longing among all of us to come together
publicly for prayer, shared lamentation, and the presence of our
leadership," Bouman wrote.
     Bouman recalled that about 10 days after the attacks,
national church leaders, ELCA synod bishops, Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod district presidents, pastors and lay leaders met
at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Manhattan. "I remember walking
into the sanctuary, still dazed from our visit to Ground Zero,"
he wrote. "I remember how the presence of all of you in that
church moved me to tears and to silence."
     That experience at Holy Trinity became "part of our shared
spiritual landscape," Bouman wrote, adding that the gathering
transformed the leaders from "isolated servants of the gospel to
a communal servanthood."
     "We were transformed because we met God in our mutual
prayer, song, embrace, reflection. For me, the transforming
moment when fear began to turn toward faith, when despair became
tinged with hope, was when we sang together 'My Lord What a
Mourning.'" he wrote.
     "Five years after September 11 the world cries out for
transformation and healing," Bouman continued. "May the life of
our synod continue to join the risen Lord in our transforming
work."
---
     The full text of the Rev. Mark S. Hanson's Sept. 11
statement is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/m_060901.html on the
ELCA Web site.

     The full text of the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman's Sept. 11
statement is at
http://www.mnys.org/headlines/Bishop_911_commemoration%20.html on
the Web.

     The ELCA Church Council's "Message on Living in a Time of
Terrorism"
is at http://www.ELCA.org/socialstatements/terrorism/ on the ELCA
Web site.

     A variety of worship and prayer resources for Sept. 11
observances is at
http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/resources/06-08-25-sept11.asp on the
ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog