Struggling for Answers in the Wake of Tragedy

The Good Shepherd Chapel, tucked away in a far corner of the imposing Washington National Cathedral, is a place of quiet refuge ... holding maybe five people at most, and open for prayer when the rest of the building is not.

Ginny doesn't know why she comes, really, as she is "not religious." But the rare silence - one not easily found in the group house she shares with four other 20-somethings in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of D.C. - appeals to her. She says it's a good place to "chill" between work - as a member services rep at a trade association near the White House - and home.

But tonight, Ginny finds the chapel aptly named. For she is one of the many residents of the Washington, D.C. metro area grappling with the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon.

"I have a friend at work who says the president was talking about the Good Shepherd in his speech last night. He showed me something from the Bible ... I'm not usually into that, but this time, I don't know ... it helped. Maybe that's why I like this place so much."

We both glance at the front of the chapel with its simple stone carving of Jesus, tenderly cradling a little lamb.

After a few minutes of embarrassed silence, Ginny looks up with teary eyes. "He might be buried in there ... the Pentagon, I mean. The guy I like. He's not my boyfriend, but I am totally into him. We both hang out at the 18th Street Lounge ... or did." Her voice trails off.

"I'm thinking of going to church this week," she says after another long pause. "My friend from work keeps bugging me about it. I do believe in God, it's just the religion stuff that scares me. But what if the end of the world is coming? And what if Mike is dead?"

When I first set out after an already long day at the office, it was with a singular goal. I longed to put a human face to the senseless tragedy I'd been witnessing - and writing about - from behind a desk.

My intention was to talk to some people at a candlelight vigil on the Capitol grounds. But that plan was thwarted by traffic and a phone call that keep me at work longer than I expected. When I realized it was getting too late to make the vigil, I took a quick turn and headed up Wisconsin Avenue instead. I knew the Washington National Cathedral had drawn people yesterday, but mostly I went because the Good Shepherd Chapel is one of my favorite places to be alone and pray. I didn't realize the Lord had a divine appointment for me.

My conversation with Ginny didn't end with her questions about the end of the world and death. Although her walls went up when she found out I was a journalist as well as a Christian, she agreed to coffee when I assured her the rest of the night was "off the record."

I wish I could report that, after our talk, I led Ginny to Christ. It would make for a better story. But that wouldn't be true ... and it's not always so easy.

As I processed the encounter later with my roommate, expressing my sense of inadequacy and how I groped in answering Ginny's questions, she shared similar concerns. We both wondered how to best represent Christ to non-believers in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

"You may indeed wonder what to do at a time like this," says the Rev. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries. "First, don't allow your inability to understand tragic events to deter your faith in God or to drive you from Him. Secondly, we must remember that our security does not lie in this world; as Christians, our security lies in Jesus Christ alone. Third, we, as a body of believers, are called to pray. Fourth, as a follower of Christ, you can saturate yourself in His Word. Finally, we can pray for God to show you specific opportunities to minister His love to people in our lives."

"With the entire world reeling from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, God's people have an unprecedented opportunity to help Him draw the lost to Himself," International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin told a chapel audience Sept. 12.

"Christians can be a calming influence because we can offer hope and comfort," Rankin said. "We can see beyond the immediacy of the tragedy to a God who is sovereign over the nations, a God who has been faithful in the past and who we know will continue to use all things for good if we love Him and walk in faithfulness with Him.

"We have been praying for a long time that God would bring America back to Himself," Rankin said. "And if you study history, you find God uses times of crisis to do that. We don't know exactly how God can work through this, but it's contingent on whether His people step up to the plate in faithfulness to minister in sensitivity and concern for people."

Ray Pritchard, senior pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Ill., says that in every unspeakable and senseless tragedy - as people ask "Where is God?" - it is a mistake to start with the tragedy itself.

"The starting point is all-important," says Pritchard. "So many people start with the tragedy of death and this crash and try to reason backwards, from the tragedy to God. And that is almost impossible to do.

"You can't start with the tragedy - you have to start with what you know about God. That He is sovereign and He is good."

Pritchard says we won't know the reasons for tragedy and suffering while on earth. We need to learn to live with mystery, and believe that God is there in the midst of pain.

"It is perfectly fine to say to be honest about our emotions," Pritchard adds, and to say, 'This doesn't make any sense, and I'm confused and even angry.' We should never feel complacent in the face of overwhelming evil."

Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, says believers should put their energies into finding ways to tangibly help. "Volunteer to give blood instead of devising strategies to shed more of it. Demonstrate patience and love toward your fellow citizens. And help your children through this tragic event - an event like none other they have ever experienced. As we do these things, we will carry out the bidding of the One whose wisdom holds the best hope for the future of our world."