On September 11, 2001 a staff member popped into my office and said, "Someone has just crashed a plane into the World Trade Center." The church staff gathered around a television set and watched, first in disbelief then in mounting horror, as the drama of 9/11 unfolded.

By mid-day, we shifted gears. After all, we were a ministerial staff, and our first priority was to prepare to help church members and others cope with the tragedy. We quickly redesigned plans for Wednesday night worship. All age groups were invited to meet around the tables in fellowship hall. I led them through a time in which they were given opportunity to express their feelings. We then entered into intentional worship, drawing on the language of the Psalms to find the words to express our range of feelings and on the sayings of Jesus to bring comfort and hope. We also tore up our plans for Sunday morning and developed a new liturgy especially designed to encourage reflection, prayer for all whose lives would be changed by 9/11, and a resolve to try and be the church in the midst of a changed world.

Later our church joined with a variety of faith communities in Memphis, Tennessee to sponsor inter-faith dialogues, educational opportunities, and times of fellowship. We also joined others in efforts to forestall outbreaks of violence against minorities in the city. We gave special attention as well to military personel and their families.

9/11 shook us to the core. It forced us to step outside our routines, examine our assumptions, and focus on how the church might best worship, teach, comfort and minister in a world that suddenly felt more dangerous. At our best we also felt compelled to take a serious look at other world religions, to become better acquainted with their complicated histories and their essential teachings, and to ponder how we might foster genuine community in such a diverse world. It seems to me that we are still wrestling with such challenges.

Paul the Apostle dared claim that God can work with and through his people to bring good out of tragedy. The jury is still out, but I continue to hope such will prove to be the case with 9/11.