Simple Presence

On my way to work on Monday, I read a story in the Redeye about the Pope visiting Ground Zero on his American tour. "Pope's visit restores faith at Ground Zero", it was called.

I was fascinated by the account of a man whose firefighter son died on 9/11. "Our faith was destroyed that day," said Deputy Fire Chief James Riches. "We said, 'Where was God?' on 9/11, but he's come back here today and they've restored our faith."

Wow, that's pretty powerful. I totally understand where Riches is coming from. 9/11 was a significant theological challenge for me, and I didn't personally know anyone who died on that day, and certainly not a close family member.

What strikes me the most is that the Pope's visit alone seems to be so restorative of this man's faith. Granted, I'm a Protestant, so I look at the Pope differently than Riches does. But this is still pretty incredible to me.

What I find fascinating is that the simple presence of a representative of God did so much to heal this man's wounds. And what I find sad, is that in the 6 1/2 years since the terrorist attacks, this kind of presence has evidently been lacking.

Again, I know I'm getting all Protestant here, but we all ought to be able to provide the kind of presence that makes possible the breaking in of God's love and healing. It shouldn't take the Pope to do this.

In Protestant lingo, we call this the priesthood of all believers. In biblical terms, we are all created in the image of God and are in a sense God's ambassadors or representatives here on earth. We were created to be in community with each other, and I think God's presence is most fully felt when in community. "God is love," says a passage of scripture that I use every time I perform a wedding. God's presence is felt in the love we share with each other, the love that binds us all together as one.

I hope that we can be this for each other. I hope that God can use each of us to heal wounds and stop pain. If we can open ourselves up to this, our world will get a little closer to the world as God created it, the world God wants it to be.