Coming to terms with an emotional issue;
From Newark to Shanksville;
Don’t Burn the Koran! Read It!
Mosque Feelings Can’t Be Masked
Coming to terms with an emotional issue
That’s holy ground where towers fell
where hate-inspired infidels
inflicted wounds upon our land
that never will quite heal.
Ground Zero we have called that space
where terror showed its ugly face
and still haunts blocks where offices
have yet to be rebuilt.
Within this graveyard of great grief
we’re called to exercise belief
that evil will in time give way
to good and love and peace.
But what of plans to build a mosque?
Do those who want it know the cost?
The price tag of religious rights
is far more than they think.
From Newark to Shanksville
Remembering United Flight #93
From Newark to Shanksville.
It was a one-way flight
those aboard United #93 had not booked.
San Francisco was their intended destination.
But the nation would soon learn
of a revision to the itinerary
arranged against their will.
From Newark to Shanksville.
It was a surreal nightmare
of apocalyptic proportions
for the forty innocent victims
aboard Flight 93.
Less than 93 minutes after take-off
their hopes went up in smoke
as their dreams crashed and burned.
From Newark to Shanksville.
It really wasn’t that long of a journey,
but the journey of grief that continues
nine years after is far beyond
what any surviving family member
could have expected.
From Newark to Shanksville
from so-long to goodbye.
From weekend plans to buying plots
and asking “Why, God, why?”
Why did the hijackers succeed?
Why did the towers fall?
Why did so many die that day
beneath a tragic pall?
Why is Ground Zero still a hole?
Why do “heart holes” remain?
Why do they take so long to heal?
Why do they cause such pain?
Why does this anniversary
tear at emotion’s scabs?
Why does this day seem dagger sharp
as memories slice and stab?
Oh God, please buffer all who mourn
from that which haunts the soul.
Inspire them as they recall
the one who said “Let’s roll!”
* Shortly after Todd Beamer and the other passengers and crew of United Flight #93 perished on September 11, 2001, I got to know Todd’s parents. My poem a year ago on this website was dedicated to them.
http://partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3326
Don’t Burn the Koran! Read It!
A case for building bridges (not blowing them up)
A minister in Florida
who’s known as Pastor Jones
is not reflecting Jesus’ love.
About that there’s no bones.
Why burn a book considered “blessed”
by those we hope to reach.
Does such a vengeful act of hate
ring true with what we preach?
Are we not called to follow peace
and love in Jesus’ name?
How dare we mock a holy book
by setting it aflame?
To burn a book that teaches hate
flies in the face of love.
Are we not called to turn a cheek
when others push and shove?
Within the Muslim book’s a key
that likely will unlock
a door of friendship and the chance
to meaningfully talk.
Instead of burning the Koran,
how ’bout we take a look
at what it says that corresponds
with what’s within “our Book”?
* A fellow Covenant pastor here in Seattle wrote an enlightening post on his blog. In it Eugene Cho contemplates how Jesus would interact with the opportunity to burn a Koran.
My Rhymes and Reasons 