(A part of the church wide sharing and reflections which was a part of our worship)

It has been an incredible week, hasn't it? I bet every one of you know where you were when you first heard that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center. I was returning from dropping Amali off at school. NPR first reported that it must be a small twin engine plane. But pretty soon, it was clear that this was a major catastrophe.

We've been grief stricken and numb. A day of two later, when individual stories started to come out, we became depressed and then angry. We are probably in the midst of a variety of emotions right now. And probably will be for some time to come. It is Good Friday all over again. But Easter sometimes does not come in three days. It takes awhile.

Last Sunday, I suggested to you that when we gather around the Lord's Table, it is a place of safety. We are children of the same God. However different we are from each other, however differently we process our grief, and however differently we think about these events, at this table we are the family of God. And that's because when we sit at this table, we know that we are looking across the table upon which are the symbols of the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord. That changes the perspective of every conversation. Because in these elements confront us with one thing. We are all sinners, bold to come to this table only because of God's grace to us in Jesus Christ.

This is safe place to grieve. We can cry here and not feel self-conscious. We can pray here and not worry that our prayers come out sounding nice. We can do something here that we rarely, if ever, do in our daily life. We can pray out loud, prayers that come from the depth of our hearts with energy and emotion. That's worship. I have said to you earlier: When God plays us a tune, we take it up and give it back with a passionate response. That's the meaning of worship. And the world throws us a tune and we take it up and give it back with a passionate response. That's meaning of bearing witness. Not all the tunes we get are happy tunes. Sometimes worship must mean lament and weeping, the underside of praise.

About six years ago at about 4 o'clock one afternoon in the city of Sarajevo, a Serbian mortar shell fell outside a bakery, killing 22 people who were standing in line for bread. The next afternoon, Vederan Smilovich, the first cellist of the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra improvised an answer. That afternoon at 4 p.m. and the next afternoon at 4 p.m. and for 22 afternoons at 4 p.m. this famous cellist brought his chair and set it up and took his cello, and sat down and played Albanoni's Adagio. For 22 afternoons on a ruined sidewalk with the shells still falling in the city, he poured out this music of sadness and beauty. His music is a parable of the church's worship and witness. We take what the enemy gives, and we take what God gives and we give it back transposed. We give it back as prayer of pain and as prayer of praise.

We can share here our responses to our present tragedy through images, stories, prayers, songs, scriptures or poetry or music. Perhaps our response will be a silent meditation. Our worship today will include a lot of silent times. Don't be afraid of the silences. You may use it for prayer. I have also written out many scriptures, songs and prayers for us to meditate on.

As we begin this process, our children are going to lead us. And after they go upstairs Amali and Dhilanthi will play a piece of music, which is Amali's response to this tragedy. That, I think will help us get into a meditative mood. After that we will go to a time of silence, broken only when one of us would like to share a thought, a reflection, a scripture, a song, a prayer. And then we will go to silence again. You may read one of the scriptures, prayers, reflections or ask that we may sing one of the hymns. You may have other scriptures, prayers or hymns from the hymn book or a song that we know that is not in the hymn book, that you would like to sing. At the end, I have some reflections to share with you, and after prayers of confession, we will go to the Lord's Supper.

So, we share our grief with each other, and in God's presence. We had some powerful reflections, songs, scriptures and prayers. Expressing our grief in this way is very important. It is truly our expression that our horror and anger cannot keep us down, but can be transposed and given back to God as worship and to the world as witness.

But having said that, I cannot stop there. Had this been a sermon, I would have entitled it "More than 500,000 Dead." "What?" you say. Where?" you ask. "In Iraq," I will say. And Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Hiroshima, Nagasaki -- and in many places within the Global Reach of the U.S. Empire. In Iraq, according to United Nations and other estimates, more than 500,000 children have died as a result of the US Sanctions against Iraq over the past 10 years. How can we express grief over the families of 500,000 dead Iraqi children?

As you know, "Attack on America" quickly became and has remained the banner headline for the constant stream of television programming this week. But we must look it from the other side of the equation. From that vantage point, this is a "Counter Attack on America." In my conversations with some of you, I have heard real surprise that in many parts of the world we are viewed with anger and hatred.

Why not? When during the Gulf War, the United States attacked civilians on a massive scale, even referring to Basra, a city of 800,000, as a "military target." And then deliberately destroyed the water treatment systems of the country, and spent ten years carefully rationing the chlorine needed to treat the water and the medicines that could be used to fight an explosion of water-borne disease, while over 1 million Iraqi civilians died? And then on many different occasions since December 1998, U.S. planes dropped bombs on Iraq.

Why not? When there was utter devastation in Central America, wrought by our counter insurgency in the Cold War, and 50,000 Nicaraguans were slain in the Contra war we paid for.

Why not? When NATO destroyed the civilian infrastructure of Serbia?

Why not? When President Clinton's bombing of the Sudan, destroyed half its pharmaceutical supplies and killing unknown numbers of people (no one knows, because the US blocked an inquiry at the UN and no one cares to pursue it)."

Why not? When US made missiles are constantly falling on Palestinian villages that are constantly being bombarded by Israel.

Why not? When the United States has the greatest wealth in any country in the world while yesterday, 35,000 people around the world died of hunger.

I did not hear any of the talking heads on the TV or radio, asking if there might have been even an unfortunate but mistaken provocation in the history of U.S. relations with the wretched of the earth, that may have caused this. And nobody tried to interview any of the rejoicing Arab children and youth, waving Palestinian banners and dancing in the streets. We will not listen to the grief and anger behind the children's cheers, the extent to which their young lives have been deformed by Israeli and U.S. sponsored terror.

And now, we are highly likely to attempt to destroy the Frankenstein monster we created in Afghanistan. I was not surprised to read that it was in fact, the U.S. that created and financed the Taliban to overthrow the communist government of Afghanistan. Apparently Bin Laden got his first big fee from the C.I.A. for helping to overthrow the Afghan government. U.S. taxpayers made him a rich man. The U.S. indeed may have given Bin Laden his first successful experience in terror, including the credentials and confidence to turn imperial technology on its head and aim it at itself.

Our president declared the other day, that this is a war of against democracy and freedom. And I want to say a vehement No. It is an attack on U.S. foreign policy. It is an attack on U.S. sponsored economic oppression. Did you notice the targets of these terrorists? They are the prime symbols of our wealth and military power. As my friend David Waugh, pastor of Metro Baptist Church in New York points out in his email to me, they are our golden calves.

Nothing can justify the horror of what happened on September 11. We have spoken here with tremendous grief about the victims of this tragedy and their families, with pride and thanksgiving for the rescue workers who are still at work. And of course the perpetrators of this horrible act must be brought to justice. But I want you to be careful not to be duped by the media and our leaders seeking swift revenge. Let's tell the truth here. This violence is a response to violence that is already committed. This is not unprovoked. So, it’s a cycle of violence. So, as we are being called to now by our nations leaders, going out and indiscriminately bombing villages in Afghanistan is absolutely the wrong response.

What's the right response? The right response is what happens here at this table upon which are the symbols, the broken body and shed blood of a victim of terrorism -- a state-sponsored, mob induced terrorism. If ever there was an innocent victim, it was Jesus. At this table, in the presence of these symbols there is no place for patriotic pride. There is only a place for humility.

So, when we come to this table, let us hear God's heart. In Jeremiah, God's heart is broken for a unrepentant, backsliding people. And God's wrath is going to come and the people are despondent. But hear God's heart grieving at the pain of the people. God's heart grieves at the people who are victims of September 11, and is it not true that God's heart grieves at the people who are victims of U.S. sponsored terrorism across the world?

So, we must come to this table acknowledging our sin. We've been silent and compliant when our nation oppressed others. We unquestioningly accepted what our political leaders were saying when we knew in our hearts that this goes against God's will for humanity. We've felt powerless to act and scared to seek God's power.

We must confess that we have put our trust in the idols of wealth and military power. It seems to me that God is trying to get our attention, here.

And then I hope we will make some commitments. If at least to try to learn about what is going on in the rest of the world. That we don't turn our backs to the gospel by giving blind assent to our political leaders. That we will resist the attempt by our leaders to indiscriminately continue the violence. That we will organize for God's kingdom, God's peace, God's jubilee to come on earth.