How Long?

There will be few people today who don't think about September 11, 2001. We remember where we were at 8:46 am...we remember the weather...we remember what we were doing. And we remember what happened.

Some of us suffered the loss of loved ones ... no amount of time or memorialization can fill the cavernous hole left in the heart of one's life. How long must we suffer in this way? The answer is painfully clear: for as long as we walk the earth and are reminded of the places in our day...and our household...that were once occupied by the person who suddenly and violently disappeared.

All of us suffered the loss of life as most Americans assumed it was -- safe...secure...the American Dream. How long must we suffer in this way? For as long as we have flesh and blood to think or ask the question. The truth is that ever since that day in 2001 we have been more keenly aware of the poignant pain that has prompted the question "How Long?" from people throughout time.

When I searched the Bible today to see where the phrase "How Long?" appears, I noticed that the question is spoken consistently by the people of God. How long will there be enemies...how long will weather be unfavorable...how long will pain endure...how long must I suffer.

I also noticed that the phrase is also attributed to God...how long will my people turn away from me...how long will you go your own way...how long will you not understand.

How Long? It is a question of lament that opens the heart to a naked, raw desire for something that will fill us, complete us and establish us in an unshakeable wholeness.

There is an ultimate answer to the question...but the answer is not connected to a resolution of the pain or the disappointment that we experience in the world. The answer to the question rests in total reliance and eternal rest in God. It is a matter of trusting the depth of God's amazing love that weeps with us as we weep for the pain and the loss we all suffer. It is a matter of gazing at everything and everyone we see, knowing that each of us is cherished and loved by the one whose love has no limit. It is a matter of stepping towards each other because we know that suffering is universal...as we step towards each other we acknowledge that each human is enduring the inevitable challenges of life and death. We are called to stretch beyond our own pain whenever possible, and extend words of gentleness,compassion and generosity to the other.

For now, the reality simply is that we suffer...and we each must ask "How Long?" All we can say, really...is "Lord have mercy...." and trust that mercy is there in the silent spaces between the situations in this world. Our hope, our joy, and our healing rest in the unquenchable love unleashed in Christ...so we must look to that love.

Even as we look to that love, we remember the events of seven years ago and the shock waves that continue to reverberate from that center. The only way we can endure the suffering that continues is to remember that God's embrace enfolds us all, joining us together in a wholeness that is beyond our words...beyond our understanding...and beyond the power of any threat the world presents.

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain* in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Jeremiah 13:27
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be
before you are made clean?