Five Years Later, #4:
In Divine Hands
Drawing copyright © 2001 Noel Sikes. All rights reserved.
At first people seemed to need something spiritual, something eternal to hold on to. Pollsters and church people noticed a jump in church attendance right after 9/11. People were turning to the place where they had always turned when they needed comfort, strength, or hope. Pictures like the one above were drawn by teenagers to express what it was they knew and hoped for.
Sadly, it didn’t last long. The jump was about the same as the annual yearly increase at the Christmas holiday season. By Thanksgiving it has dropped back to normal or slightly below normal levels. [Note: This was reported by George Barna at the time, but I am not easily able to find the information today.]
What happened?
Did they come back to the church and find it had changed and wasn’t able to provide what they thought it had provided?
Was the church itself too busy arguing the politics of it all that people were not comforted?
Was the memory that brought them back to church simply nostalgic, wishful thinking for something that had never existed anyway?
Did they find the church still too interested in the institution or the politics?
Did they find the church too liberal- or too conservative and not spiritual?
Or did they now know what it was they were looking for and when they didn’t find it they left?
Whatever it was I have a hunch that in the long run 9/11 will be another of those milestones on the road of transformation of the Christian Church in the United States. I don’t know how or in which ways, but we may someday look back and see that it was in the midst of 9/11 and its ongoing aftermath that the American Church finally had to come to grips with who it is and where it is going.
In the end, however, whether it is the simple drawing of Jesus holding the burning towers and its people or the simple graffiti as prayer, there will always be the spiritual side of life involved when we face such moments of evil and death and sadness and fear.
May God bless us- everyone!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
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1 comment:
I am the artist of the picture with this story. I am now 23 and a teacher at a private school outside of Atlanta.
All these years later, I still remember what it felt like to watch the video playbacks over and over, and think of all the families torn apart in that moment. These families are still dealing with this great loss every day. In these trying economic times please remeber them.
UMCOR is a great way to make donations that help many families that have been destroyed in a disaster.
Please donate is you can.
May God continue to be with us all!
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