Piloting Faith: It's about September 12...our rising.

A Word for the Day...
In the last chapter of my latest book, Piloting Church, I write about 9/11:
"I write this final chapter sitting on a park bench by what was the base of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Tourists from around the world walk by taking pictures of the 9/11 Memorial fountains. They pause in front of the waterfalls, their eyes large as they take in the overwhelming size of the former buildings’ foundations. Then I watch as each person looks down at the railing in front of them and reads the names of the people who died on that devastating day. They read until they can’t hold any more names. Then I watch them turn, many with tears in their eyes, and whisper to their loved ones what I imagine are their memories of that day—where they were, what they felt, who they knew. For those of us who saw the terror of those planes flying into the towers in real time, we will never forget.
In a different part of the city, on Broadway, a new musical has opened called Come From Away. It’s the story of American Airlines Captain Beverly Bass, and her experience of flying a plane full of 158 passengers from Paris, France, to Dallas, Texas, on September 11, 2001.
On that day, she had a normal take off and was flying over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean bound for Dallas, Texas, when she heard over the air-to-air radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Towers.
In a matter of minutes, the New York airspace was closed, followed by all U.S. airspace, forcing over 4000 international flights in the air at that moment to find new places to land. Air traffic control told Captain Bass to expect to land in Gander, Canada.
The Gander Airport was built for service during World War II and, afterward, rarely saw major traffic. Then, within a span of less than 12 hours on September 11, 2001, thirty-eight international aircraft and almost 7000 people landed in Gander, nearly doubling the size of its population.
When it became clear that the “plane people” were going to be stranded for a few days, the community sprang into action. They housed people in their own homes, cooked every meal, turned the local hockey rink into a freezer for food storage, set up additional phone towers so that people could call home, and cared for the 19 animals stranded on the planes for those days. The people of Gander showed extraordinary hospitality on one of the hardest days in our shared history.
Five days later, on September 16, the FAA opened the U.S. airspace and Captain Bass received word that they were cleared to continue to Dallas. During the flight back to Dallas, the passengers collected donations to send back to the people of Gander as a gift of gratitude for their remarkable hospitality. Every year since, those who are able fly back to Gander for a reunion, celebrating the bonds formed in the crucifixion of a national tragedy.
The writers of Come From Away stress that this is not a story about September 11. It’s about September 12. It’s about our rising.
These two stories remind me that it’s out of the crucifying experiences of life that resurrection comes. Always. The natural rhythm of our cruel and beautiful lives is one of life, death, and life again. We can suffer immeasurable loss—then, within minutes, be greeted with deep compassion. I need both of these stories to remind me that life is both brutal and kind.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
- Mother Teresa