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Dear Brothers and Sisters!

When we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion we say, take and eat in remembrance of me. At another point in the liturgy we say, lift up your hearts. Communion is an act of remembrance and hope. This September 11, it will be ten years since the events of 9-11 - we live between memory and hope.

Remembering is part of the liturgy of life. We recall the events of September 11, 2001, as though it were yesterday; people rushing to exit buildings, rescue workers rushing into buildings to save lives and the extraordinary recovery and restoration efforts that took place in the days, months and years following. Buildings fell and lives were broken. The world as we knew it would never be the same again.

We remember the victims, the heroes and the stories. We remember the families who lost loved ones. We remember where we were and what we were doing on the ill-fated day. Remembering rekindles sorrow, anger and a deep sense of loss. It also, hopefully, rekindles a spirit to make our world like Christ. Memory is a gift that connects us with not just the past, but with people and feelings that are an integral part of our soul.

But we hold on to more than memory. We have hope. Frederick Buechner, a pastoral theologian, speaks of hope:

In spite of all the devastating evidence to the contrary, the ground we stand on is holy ground because Christ walked here and walks here still. Hope is that we are known; each one of us, by name, and that out of the burning moments of our lives, Christ will call us by our name to life. Hope that into the secret grief and pain and bewilderment we share, Christ will come to heal and to save.

Hope is personal and comforts our wounds, and it is also communal and draws us to serve with all of God’s family. On 9-11, in the buildings and planes, people acted and connected like Christ would want us to, assisting people and putting others before themselves. We prayerfully remember the heroes, those who lost their lives and the families who lost loved ones, and we know that Christ will come to heal and to save.

As we remember 9-11, let us all commit to be heroes of hope, to be healers of despair and to bravely step forward in a divisive world and be the witness of the living Christ.

Keep the faith

John R. Schol, Bishop

The United Methodist Church

The Washington Area, Baltimore-Washington Conference

Remembering 9-11 -

A message from Bishop Schol

One reason United Methodists are able to accomplish great things is the church’s emphasis on “connectionalism.” It is common to hear United Methodist leaders speak of the denomination as “the connection.” This concept has been central to Methodism from its beginning.

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