FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Friends:

Everyone in our nation gathers with the events of September 11th as a backdrop to our lives. A tragedy of this dimension raises questions about safety, sanctity, and sanity. At chapel, in classes, in conversations, and in prayer we wonder about the meaning of this attack and we worry about how to respond. Questions of mercy, justice, and reconciliation float above the din of voices that call for retaliation and vengeance.

In a recent visit to New York City, I discovered that congregations, synagogues, and mosques had their worship spaces open during the day for prayer, meditation, and conversation. A pastor who normally has 300 people on worship on a typical Sunday morning reported that on the Sunday after the attack there were 1200 people in worship. Will such changes last? We do not know how long the impact of the disaster will last but we do know as religious leaders this is an opportunity for ministry. It is a time to reach out in compassion, to gather the frightened and brokenhearted, to listen to the distraught and troubled, and to allow our communities of faith to become safe places for human pain and for encounter with the mystery of the God who suffers with us and for us.

Perhaps we are discovering the importance of Paul’s word to the Christian community in Rome:

“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose.” (8:28)

I do not mean to say that what happened on September 11th is good but I am saying that nothing that happens is beyond God’s reach. That is, there is nothing from which God cannot achieve good. Nothing is beyond God’s redemptive reach.

Part of the good which is coming out of this tragedy is the heroic effort of rescue workers, the resilient character of a city like New York, the resolve for the country to be united, and the love and compassion which is being demonstrated to those who suffer death and injury in the wake of these events. These days may also be a season of kairos for the churches. This is a time for us to do what we have been called to do – preach, teach, invite, sing, pray, and open our doors. We have brothers and sisters in need and we do not want to miss this opportunity to be present and compassionate to our neighbor on behalf of a present and compassionate God. We do have good news to offer in the midst of the crisis! We need to continue to tell “the old, old story of Jesus and his love.”

After the work of compassion, comes the work of education and action. We also need to provide moral leadership that calls for peace and not war, forgiveness and not vengeance, tolerance and not hate, mercy and not retribution. We also need to help ourselves and our neighbors understand why the United States is hated in so many parts of the world. It is not our task as forgiven sons and daughters of the God of Jesus to call for hate and revenge. We must, rather, help ourselves and our neighbors understand the nature of evil and learn to grasp how evil works in our world. We need even to confront and comprehend the scope of the evil that our nation engages in around the world to satisfy our own economic interests. We are rich and comfortable at whose cost? The seeds of hate and division always come back to reap their reward. How are we as a nation implicated in this attack that we have now suffered?

At ABSW we have been seeking to create a community of learning which has both a pastoral and prophetic face. We must comfort the brokenhearted but we must also confront the forces and facts that lead to a broken society. We Christians need to stay faithful to our peculiar view that says that no sin is beyond forgiveness, no life is beyond redemption, and no society is outside of God’s tender care. Perhaps the whole notion of repentance needs to be offered along with acts of mercy, love, and compassion.

These are challenging days. Thank you for being partners with us in the exciting task of training men and women to lead in these troubled days of the 21st Century.

Faithfully yours,

Keith A. Russell
President