- Lower Manhattan skyline showing the World Trade Center in August 2001.
I remember exactly when the world changed. We were sitting at a stop light at the end of the Trumbull Street ramp in New Haven on our way to work. I absently mindedly reached over and turned on the radio. An excited voice says a plane has crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. I think, “It must have been a small plane,” because it is a bright cloudless day. I remember reading about a B-25 bomber that slammed into the Empire State Building in 1945. That accident killed 14 people but the Empire State Building stood firm. I remember walking back from the July 4th fireworks at the start of the summer, walking by the twin tours at night, looking up and thinking they were, well, too big to fail. Then came word the second plane had slammed into the other tower, and we slowly realized this was not an accident, this was a terrorist attack. The towers stood but then collapsed. A few weeks later we went to Ground Zero, walking around the gaping hole where the twin towers once stood. My heart broke as I read flyer after flyer pleading for information on the whereabouts of a father, mother, sister, brother, daughter, son. As a people, we were stunned that so much evil could be done by so few people. Slowly, our world changed.
To his credit, President George W/ Bush quickly insisted America was at war with terrorists, insisting we were not at war with Islam. Speaking on September 17, 2001, the President said: “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.” For awhile, President Bush’s view held. Looking back at the nine years since 9/11, America seems to have slipped away from this fundamental idea. Increasingly, Islam – not terrorists – is portrayed as America’s enemy.
The trend toward seeing Islam as our enemy first surfaced in conflict surrounding plans to build new or enlarged mosques. Muslims have worshiped in the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley for years without incident. Then they proposed 24,950-square-foot mosque on four acres next to Calvary Baptist Church. One of the first rumblings of opposition to the mosque came from Calvary Pastor Bill Rench who was “worried the mosque is too large for the site, as well as what he calls ‘the whole issue of Islam and what it stands for.”[i] He says it is a religion ‘contrary to Christianity.’” ‘Contrary to Christianity,’ just like Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and of course atheism. And perhaps just like those who do not agree with the kind of Christianity Pastor Rench preaches at Calvary Baptist Church.
In Mayfield, Kentucky, more than 250 residents cheered when the Board of Zoning Adjustment rejected a petition by a group of Somalis to build a mosque, citing a lack of parking as their reason. Proponents of the mosque were initially denied entry to the hearing room because it was “too full.” The hearing proceeded without any proponent present. But the Mayfield Board of Zoning Adjustment was only concerned about … parking. If true, this is the first time in my memory a zoning ruling based solely on parking has been cheered by 205 “citizens.”[ii]
In nearby Tennessee, National Public Radio reports:
“Recently hundreds of protesters marched around the town square in Murfreesboro, Tenn. They carried signs that read, “Enough Is Enough” and “Stop Terrorism.” Another woman yelled out, “Have you forgotten the twin towers?”[iii]
And then there is New York’s “Ground Zero” mosque – the one that is not at Ground Zero and contains a whole lot more than a place to worship. The one that promoted Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association to proclaim:
“Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.”
This year, to mark the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11, a perennial presidential candidate released a video – you can pre-order your copy on the Internet for only $ 19.95 plus $4 for shipping and handling – which proclaims “America is at risk” from Muslims who wish to make Shariah law the law of our land. It is hard to see the difference between extremist Muslims who call for an extreme reading of Shariah law and Extremist Christians who call for a literal reading of the Bible.
Let’s put this into context: a literal reading of Muslim scripture is as dangerous to me as a gay man as the literal reading of Christian scripture proclaimed by so many of those who seek to profit from demonizing Muslims. Do Americans actually think the growth of Muslim here is an attempt to enforce Shania law? Or is it simply a convenient way for failed politicians to gain headlines, money and a chance at power? Is it acceptable to demonize innocent people to gain a goal you think is good? Do the ends justify the means?
- Alexandre Gabriel Decamps. Young Beggars, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
Today’s scripture speaks directly to those who would cut corners for personal gain or achieve their perception of the public good. Amos was a third century BC farmer who set aside his comfortable life to preach truth to power in the royal chapel. Today we hear his indictment of the powerful who use “false balances” to short change farmers when they sell their harvest. Amos accuses the powerful of “buying the poor for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” Amos condemns these practices that “trample on the needy and bring ruin to the poor of the land.” Amos confronts those who cheat for personal gain, and in turn throw Amos out of the royal chapel.
The psalm today also centers on God’s justice. Who, the psalmist asks, is like our God who “tales the weak out of the dust and lifts them up the poor from the ashes? Who makes the woman of a childless house to be a joyful mother of children? At first reading, today’s Gospel seems out of place. Jesus tells his disciples of a manager who cheats his master. Realizing his theft has been discovered and that he is about to be fired, the manger cheats again to insure a comfortable, if forced, retirement. Jesus says the “master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Not being a student of the Greek, I asked a colleague, Darren Miner, colleague and fellow transitional deacon, for the meaning of the Greek word translated as ‘shrewd.” I can now report that the adverb and comparative adjective are derived from the Greek word phronimos. It means “sensible, thoughtful, prudent, wise, insightful, showing presence of mind.” It does not have the negative connotations that the English word “shrewd” sometimes carries. It has always bothered me that the master in this story the master “commended the dishonest manager.” I missed the point. For Jesus adds: “for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
You and I are called to be “children of light.” We are called to remember we “cannot serve two masters.” We are called to live lives where the ends do not justify the means. I don’t know what that means in specific terms of how we confront fear of Islam that some think will help win a primary or a general election or the next Presidential election. But I do know what it looks like to be – for at least a moment – be “children of light.”
Awhile back a friend of mine – Dan Burner – caught a cab from the airport to the seminary in Berkeley. Dan was moving into the dorm that day. As he settled into the backseat Dan noticed that the driver did not look like most of the cab drivers back home in Phoenix. So he asked the driver: “are you a Muslim?” You could see the driver weighing whether he could come out and tell this stranger the truth. Perhaps because of Dan’s countenance or his honest face, the driver decided to tell his truth.” Yes, I am a Muslim. “Good: we’re related!” Dan said. The driver look confused. “We are both children of Abraham,” Dan explained. The driver’s confusion turned to joy as quickly as a light switch illuminates a dark room. The cabbie was so excited he carried Dan’s bags into the dorm and refused to take a tip. That’s what it looks like to be – for at least a moment – be “children of light.”
Let us pray:
God of power and justice
you call us to embrace both you and the children of this world
with unconditional love.
Give us grace to discern what your love demands of us,
that, being faithful in things both great and small,
we may serve you with an undivided heart as “children of light.”
Let the church say,
Amen.
Artwork:
1. Lower Manhattan New York City World Trade Center August 2001. From the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-123456]
2. Alexandre Decamps practiced an energetic, naturalistic style, employing rough brush strokes with strong contrasts between light and dark. His innovations were often met with criticism among the academic practitioners. He was one of the first, if not the first, painter to travel to the Holy Land for the purpose of representing scriptural themes in their most historically accurate settings. This small painting, while not a direct Biblical illustration, graphically portrays the poignancy of children who must beg for food in order to live. In the left of the painting, almost too dark to perceive, is a woman/man? holding a small child over high steps as the little one hands a piece of bread to the children below. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to use and to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license compatible with this one. For uses other than the above, contact the Divinity Library at divref@vanderbilt.edu.
Footnotes
[1] Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15500767, accessed 9/18/2010 11:21 AM.
[1] Courier-Journal, Louisville, kyhttp://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010308250079, accessed 9/18/2010 11:29 AM.
[1] National Public Radio, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129302961, accessed 9/18/2010 11:34 AM.
Preached Sept. 19, 2010 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Menlo Park, CA
