9/11 reflections: 4 movies from different perspectives

September 4, 2011 by

NICHOLAS CAGE shouts “Run to the elevators!” to rescue workers as the twin towers are about to collapse on 9/11 in Oliver Stone’s thought-provoking movie World Trade Center.Television is pouring hours of 9/11 programming across the airwaves. From major networks to History Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet, families won’t miss this anniversary. That’s not necessarily a good thing readers are telling us. You want alternatives. “Thank you, ReadTheSpirit, for taking a fresh look!” wrote one reader. Another wrote, “I guess I just won’t turn on TV for two weeks.”

For the most part over the past decade, Americans have not been eager to buy books or go see movies about the terrorist attacks and the wars that followed. Perhaps the impact of 9/11 was too painful to revisit. So, at our readers’ request, we invited author and film critic Ed McNulty to recommend some 9/11-related movies that will help with personal reflection—and small-group discussion.

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Best 9/11 Movies for Discussion

By Film Critic and Author Ed McNulty

From dozens of choices now on DVD and Blu-ray, I recommend four films to watch with family and friends. Two films focus on 9/11: Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center and Paul Greengrass’ United 93 (not to be confused with the inferior, made-for-TV movie called Flight 93). Then, two other films look at years before and after the attacks: Steven Spielberg’s Munich and Wim Wenders’ Land of Plenty.

Best 9/11 Movies: Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center

World Trade Center is available on DVD from Amazon. It also is available now in a two-disc Blu-ray edition from Amazon. While millions of us watched in shock and disbelief, rescue teams and emergency-room personnel in New York City were preparing for a busy time of attending to survivors of the falling towers. Most of those professionals had little to do that day: Only 20 survivors were brought out of the site alive. This is the story of two of them, and of those who anxiously stood by during the hours when their loved ones’ fate was unknown—and of some of the brave people who risked their lives to see that they would be extricated from the dangerous pile of rubble.

Oliver Stone directs this script, based on the accounts given by those most closely involved: John and Donna McLoughlin and Will and Allison Jimeno. Nicholas Cage plays Sgt. McLoughlin, a veteran officer who earlier had helped rescue people after the 1993 blast and fire at the World Trade Center. Over the years, he also helped perfect rescue eqiupment and procedures—so, on 9/11, he led a team of men who went into the World Trade Center just before the collapse. When the towers began to fall, McLoughlin knew that elevator shafts were among the strongest structures in the building. Soon, he found himself buried up to his shoulders at the lowest level with Jimeno pinned somewhere above him.

The two men might have perished had it not been for a man in Connecticut who felt moved by prayer to drive down to Ground Zero and assist. That man found another to help him with his search of the wreckage and, thanks to their persistence, the trapped officers were found. That’s not a spoiler, because their ordeal in the dangerous pile of rubble is far from over. Oliver Stone shows admirable restraing in depicting the horror of the event. The film is not easy to watch, but it may also provide a healing balm for those who wonder where God was on that awful day.

Best 9/11 Movies: Paul Greengrass’ United 93

Currently, United 93 is available on DVD and Amazon also has United 93 on Blu-ray. Don’t confuse this film with the made-for-TV Flight 93, which is inferior when compared to this far more compelling movie by Paul Greengrass, the director of two of the Bourne suspense films. As in the Bourne films, Greengrass’ use of handheld cameras and quick cuts make us feel a part of the action. There could be no truer, heart-felt memorial to the brave passengers and crew of the United flight that wound up crashing in Pennsylvania than this superb theatrical film.

We all know the end of this film, so the power of the movie is in the storytelling. Roughly half of the film takes places in various flight control centers where professionals are jolted out of an ordinary morning into the biggest crisis of their lives—and the other half takes place aboard the flight.

One theme to watch from start to finish is the way Greengrass uses prayer to link people—from perpetrators to victims. The film begins with a dark screen as we hear one of the hijackers praying for his group’s mission. From the opening scene, we are reminded of religion’s power and its danger. Then, watch for a remarkable sequence when Greengrass cuts back and forth between all kinds of people throughout the plane praying. You’ll have no shortage of discussion when it’s over.

Best 9/11 Movies: Wim Wenders’ Land of Plenty

At this point, Land of Plenty is only available on DVD, even though director Wim Wenders has fans of his work all around the world after such classics as Wings of Desire, a startlingly fresh view of angels among us. There are no angels in Land of Plenty, although we discover a lot of unexpected grace before this drama ends. The movie shows us a snapshot of post-9/11 America through two very different characters. Paul (John Diehl) is a paranoid veteran of the Vietnam War whose post-traumatic stress is reawakened by the 9/11 attacks until he becomes convinced that Muslims living in America are trying to destroy the U.S. He sinks deep into conspiracy theories and even equips an old van with surveillance gear. The other main character is his 20-year-old niece Lana (Michelle Williams), who flies back to the U.S. after having lived overseas for many years with her missionary parents.

Throughout the film, we watch Lana’s prayers for the tragically broken situation she finds both in the streets of Los Angeles and in her own fragmented family. She is a veteran herself of mission work around the world, and Lana takes a job at a soup kitchen run by a local pastor (Wendell Pierce from HBO’s The Wire). Lana is dismayed by the changes she sees in the land of her birth. The streets of LA she observes are far different from the ones usually shown in Hollywood films. The drama turns on whether this paranoid uncle and his compassionate niece can possibly reunite, especially after a homeless man who appears to be Muslim is killed in a drive-by shooting near the soup kitchen.

Unlike either of the first two 9/11 movies in this list, this is not a movie driven by suspenseful action. Despite the tragic shooting, this is a film largely driven by the surprising power of grace. Land of Plenty is perfectly designed for church groups to discuss.

Best 9/11 Movies: Steven Spielberg’s Munich

DIRECTOR STEVEN SPIELBERG talks to viewers in a special DVD introduction about his intentions in directing the movie Munich.At this time, Munich is only available on DVD. Working closely with Steven Spielberg were screenwriters Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and Eric Roth (Forest Gump). They based their script on George Jonas’ book Vengeance, which is the true story of a special Israeli squad assigned by Prime Minister Gold Meir to track down and kill PLO leaders believed responsible for the attack at the Munich Olympics in 1972 that murdered 11 Israeli athletes.

Because of his compassionate portrayal of characters in this drama, Spielberg took a good deal of heat from pro-Israeli critics. In the DVD, he appears in a special introduction to explain his motives: “Make no mistake. I am not attacking Israel with this film. … This film is an attempt to look at policies Israel shares with the rest of the world and to understand why a country feels a best defense against a certain kind of violence is counter violence. And we try to understand this as filmmakers through empathy because that’s what you do—you extend empathy in every single direction because you can’t understand the human motivation without empathy. This movie is not an argument for nonresponse. What this move is showing is that a response that might be the right response is still one that confronts you with some very difficult issues. … It’s the unintended results that are some of the worst and that are going to ultimately bedevil us.”

That statement alone may explain why I have included Munich in this list of 9/11 films. But, there are more direct connections with 9/11. Spielberg completed Munich in 2005. In the film’s final scene, we see two characters—including the main Israeli agent behind hunting down the PLO officials—standing in Brooklyn and discussing the future. The two characters take a walk along the East River and, as they talk, the camera shows us the Manhattan skyline. There is the Empire State building. And, as the two continue to walk, we see the United Nations building. Eventually, we see the World Trade Center, still standing at that point. As Spielberg indicates in his new DVD introduction, there are many issues to discuss after Munich.

Care to read more from Edward McNulty?

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    9/11 reflection: James Bond wisdom: Shaken, not stirred

    September 2, 2011 by

    Dr. Benjamin Pratt lives near Washington D.C. and worked for many years as a pastoral counselor, specializing in helping men and women in public service. He also is a literary scholar who researched Ian Fleming’s life and literary career with James Bond. Pratt has lectured on the moral wisdom of Fleming and Bond at the Smithsonian Institution, universities, churches and synagogues. His complete series of lessons of these ideas can be found in the book Ian Fleming’s Seven Deadlier Sins & 007’s Moral Compass: A Bible Study with James Bond.

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    9/11/2011: Shaken, not stirred

    By Dr. Benjamin Pratt

    As James Bond 007 would put it: We have been shaken, not stirred. Of course, that was Bond’s famous martini order throughout the Ian Fleming novels and nearly two dozen hit movies. It’s also an appropriate way to envision Ian Fleming’s response ten years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. America was shaken to its core by those attacks, but we still have not stirred ourselves to make a soul-searching analysis of our basic moral compass.

    What could James Bond, 9/11 and the idea of a moral compass possibly have in common? Billions of men and women around the world are familiar with 007 from movie theaters and TV screens. He’s the secret agent with the license to kill—a daredevil spy with an insatiable appetite for sex and violence.

    Surprisingly, that’s not what Ian Fleming envisioned and that’s not what readers find in the original novels. Only two of the movies were released before Fleming’s death in August 1964.

    Fleming served in World War II in British naval intelligence. By the end of the war, he also supervised planning for a crack unit of British commandos. After the war, while serving on the editorial board for the Times of London, Fleming turned to deep moral reflection on the painful divisions in the post-war world. He organized a group of famous writers to collaborate on a new series of articles about The Seven Deadly Sins, which were published in the Times and later in book form.

    When Fleming created the fictional James Bond, he explained that he wanted to write a series of novels that were parables about evil people. His books have far more mythological, theological and moral depth than movie fans might guess. Nearly half a century after his death, Fleming’s idea of exploring the deadly sins is as timely as ever. Nearly 8 million websites, today, involve references to “deadly sins.”

    On the anniversary of 9/11, Fleming’s message as a morally scarred veteran of global conflict still is potent. There are many moral lessons one can draw from the entire series of Bond novels, which I explore fully in my book Ian Fleming’s Seven Deadlier Sins & 007’s Moral Compass. But one urgent connection seems crystal clear—the ancient sin of accidie.

    Fleming included that specific word, “accidie,” in his Bond novels. He described it as the ultimate sin that can befall even dreamers, romantics and idealists. Accidie is often the most deadening sin for those of us who believe hard, and work hard, and live hard; those of us who throw our whole selves into our work, and our marriage, and our church, and our friends, and our country and our children. It is often the greatest temptation for those of us who believe that we can make a difference in the world.

    Accidie is the temptation, after we are shaken—not to stir. Accidie is a sorrowfulness so heavy that any effort to improve the world seems pointless. This is not depression, although the two may be related in our lives. For centuries, accidie was regarded as a deadly sin: falling into such sluggishness and slow bitterness that we no longer can even see hopeful possibilities ahead of us. Our foundations were shaken on 9/11, and many of us now have trouble getting up each morning and trying to make the world a better place. Like the great James Bond himself, at points in the Fleming novels, we have fallen into accidie.

    After publishing my book about Fleming’s moral vision in 2008, I have talked about these ideas to many audiences. One woman who heard me describe this problem wrote to me later: “Hearing these words was like having someone step inside my soul and describe the most arduous struggle I wage as I attempt to carry my concern into the wider world.”

    I often recommend that people turn to the short letter of James in the New Testament of the Bible, which I argue was an important inspiration to Fleming in his own life and writing. That short letter of James is full of surprises and timeless wisdom. It is a reassuring and challenging companion in exploring the status of your moral compass.

    Some English editions of James begin with a greeting from “James, a bond servant.” From the beginning, this little letter urges men and women to shake themselves free of inactivity and get back to the work of justice and rebuilding community. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,” James writes, “whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

    On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we need to summon that kind of perseverance and ask ourselves questions that Fleming posed repeatedly: What happens to us when life doesn’t hold sacred what we rest our world upon? When our dreams get dashed on the rocks, how do we cope? We can start by admitting how deeply we were shaken after 9/11—and admitting that we are long overdue for a full search of our moral compass. Yes, we were shaken. Now, it’s time to stir.

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    9/11 reflections: Going Beyond What Is Comfortable

    August 31, 2011 by

    The Rev. Dr. C.K. Robertson is Canon to the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, an educator and the author of A Dangerous Dozen: 12 Christians Who Threatened the Status Quo But Taught Us to Live like Jesus, published by SkyLight Paths. You can read more about his work at his website www.ckrobertson.com.

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    9/11/2001: Beyond what is comfortable

    By C.K. Robertson

    I still remember that morning ten years past. I am speaking of the morning of September 12th, 2001. You see, on September 11th, I awoke to my life in a lovely little college town in Georgia, where I thought I had the luxury of focusing only on my wonderful parish and university classes. A small-town pastor and professor—that was me, and I was comfortable. But as I awoke on September 12th, it hit me in an instant: Things had changed. I had to wake up to the fact that I am a citizen of the world, of God’s world. And it would be up to me, and not simply someone else, to claim my role as one of God’s ambassadors for true and lasting peace in this world.

    The martyred archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, never lived to see September 11th, but in his own time and country he also faced large-scale hatred and death and in absolutely despairing circumstances proclaimed to his fellow Salvadoran believers: “If there is hope of a new world, of a new nation, of a more just order, of a reflection of God’s kingdom in our society, brothers and sisters, surely you are the Christians who will bring about this wonder of a new world.” He was one of God’s ambassadors, which made him a dangerous person to a world that often chooses hatred over love and death over life. Like Romero, German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called his fellow Christians to bold witness and service as God’s ambassadors to the entire world. “Mere waiting and looking on,” Bonhoeffer asserted in a letter written during World War II, “is not Christian behavior.” Those who would follow Christ, he continued, “are called to compassion and action.”

    It was not that these sentiments were unknown to me before I awoke on September 12th. In my comfortableness, I had still been able to accomplish some good, but my vision of good and of evil was so small, so much about being a “nice guy” that I failed to appreciate that Jesus calls all of us to be more than that. He calls us all to be awake and alive as ambassadors who will work to bring about a new world through our compassion and action. It is so easy to move through life as a sleepwalker, speaking and acting as if we are awake to the world and its needs—but really are not.

    On the morning of September 11, I knew that there always had been “wars and rumors of wars,” there had always been the poor, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, but all these were someone else’s problem. As I awoke on September 12, I realized that the world’s problems are mine, too. All of us who would be God’s ambassadors have to find new ways, intentional ways, to do more than what is comfortable—to wake up and make a difference.

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    Susan Sparks on 9/11: The Lifeboat of Laughter

    August 30, 2011 by

    Susan Sparks is nationally known for her preaching, writing and—most of all—for her firm belief that the joy we find through our faith should spill over in laughter! Recently featured in Oprah magazine for her unique approach to ministry, Susan is the author of Laugh Your Way to Grace from which she has adapted this piece. As you can learn on her website, she is both a professional comedian—and (seriously) is the first woman senior pastor at the 164-year-old Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City.

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    9/11/2011: The Lifeboat of Laughter

    By Susan Sparks

    The day after 9/11, I was working for the Red Cross taking inbound calls for missing persons in the fallen towers. Somewhere mid-morning I received a call from a woman whose husband was missing. Her call was like all the others I had received: she offered a description of him, information about where he worked, what time he left. Then something totally unexpected happened. She began to laugh.

    “Oh, I forgot to tell you! He left the house with the worst tie on. It was this horrible green color with flamingos. I told him it didn’t match,” she laughed, “but you know men.”

    I was so stunned, I didn’t know what to say. For several moments we sat at opposite ends of the phone line in silence. Finally she said, “I’m sorry. Maybe laughter seems inappropriate right now. But it’s all my family and I have left.”

    I learned something about grief—and about laughter—that day. While most of us think of laughing as something we do only in comedy clubs, in fact laughter may be the most powerful healing tool we have. For some it’s a way of lifting the crushing burden of crisis to allow for a brief moment of reprieve. For others, it is a tool to help get through the stages for grief. For the woman on the other end of my phone line, it was a lifeboat in a great sea of despair. 

    Since that day, I have lived and worked in New York City and have witnessed first-hand the pains of healing and transition, especially the violent reactions to our Muslim brothers and sisters. If I have one hope for our city, our nation and our world, it is that in the years to come we may find a way to dialogue, to listen and eventually, together, to laugh.

    Some may bristle at that suggestion. For many, to laugh with someone means you forgive them—that all is okay. In fact, laughter is much more complex. In its purest form, laughter is a not about giving up, it is about opening up.

    As a minister and also a professional comedian, I’ve found a great example of this power. A few years after 9/11, I started working with a standup rabbi and a Muslim comic in the “Laugh in Peace” tour. Created by Rabbi Bob Alper, “Laugh in Peace” is an interfaith comedy show targeted at building bridges between diverse communities. Our audiences span every imaginable face: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists. And for two short hours, the differences are forgotten and we all laugh together. 

    The bottom line? Humor highlights our commonalties. When we laugh with someone, whether it is a stranger, a friend, or an enemy, our worlds overlap for a tiny, but significant moment. It is then that our differences fade and our common connections gleam forth. As the poet W.H. Auden wrote, “Love your crooked neighbor with your own crooked heart.”

    There is much healing left to do. And many hearts are still broken. But on this—the tenth anniversary of 9/11—we all face one simple question: Will we leave a legacy of retribution or one of restoration? It is my deepest hope that we will not give up, but open up; open up our minds to understanding, open up our hearts to the stranger and open up our spirits to wholeness and healing.

    Give our children the legacy they deserve. Show them the tools to heal and move forward. Give them (and ourselves) permission to laugh. In the end it may be the lifeboat that keeps us all afloat.

    Care to read more about Susan Sparks?

    Q-and-A WITH SUSAN: Enjoy our earlier interview about her book Laugh Your Way to Grace.

    GET HER BOOK FOR MORE WISDOM: Laugh Your Way to Grace is published by SkyLight Paths.

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    Jack Kornfield on 9/11: Sprouting compassion again

    August 29, 2011 by

    Jack Kornfield is one of the most popular Buddhist teachers in America. Trained in Thailand in the 1960s, he was in the 1970s vanguard of teachers spreading Eastern spiritual traditions in the West. He is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock, one of the largest Buddhist teaching centers in the West. In September, he will publish a new audio-and-text overview of spiritual practices A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times. This reflection on 9/11 comes from an upcoming ReadTheSpirit interview with Jack Kornfield.

    Table of Contents: All of our 9/11 reflections you can use …

    9/11/2011: Sprouting Compassion Again

    By Jack Kornfield

    9/11 brought home to people in the United States our vulnerability and our interconnectedness with the whole world. We are not separate from hopes and suffering and craziness around the world. We are involved in so many ways, even beyond economics and politics. Think of how many people around the world choose to mirror our culture. We are part of developments everywhere.

    After 9/11, we were asked to show our resiliency as people. But the important question remains: Can we lead from a place of justice? Can we keep a kind, compassionate heart even in these difficult times? This was difficult for us because 9/11 also ushered in an era of fear that has not been healthy. We became part of something called the war on terror, which is such a strange phrase, because we actually took terror into ourselves as a culture. For a decade, colors like yellow and orange became alerts across our country—as if we turned on the fear center in our collective brain and we didn’t know how to turn it off. Remembering the tragedy of 9/11 calls on us to become more outwardly sensitive to our own strength and courage and the need to play our role wisely in the world.

    Helen Keller wrote: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

    9/11 reminds us of our impermanence—that everything is subject to change. Life is woven, as Buddhist teachings tell us, with gain and loss, birth and death. This is the fabric of human experience. For us to live wisely, we must not turn away from vulnerability and insecurity. We must discover the wisdom of insecurity. My teacher in the forest monastery of Thailand, a great meditation master, would encounter people who asked about the future. He would say: “It’s uncertain, isn’t it? Can you rest in the truth of uncertainty and live each day going forward?” That is really the question we face. We do not want to turn away from impermanence in fear and confusion—and on the other hand we do not want to become despondent and drown. Impermanence is our nature.

    If we try to hold onto what is around us indefinitely, we get rope burn, don’t we? Or we can pilot our boats into the middle of the river and flow in the changes all around us with a wise and compassionate heart. We can take that ride. That is the wisdom of every great culture. We can’t stop the waves, but we can flow with them.

    Difficulties are a part of life. When we are born into this human realm, we have both magnificent delights and almost unbearable sorrows. We must not run from what’s painful and seek only that which is pleasurable, because that fills our lives with sorrow and fear. We must trust our heart’s capacity to bear life’s measures of sorrow and extraordinary beauty, because both are woven into life. This is what makes us wise, what fulfills us.

    Ten years after 9/11 are you still afraid? Do you fear that somehow you won’t survive? Look back over your shoulder! Look back and you will see a thousand generations of ancestors who survived. They survived loss and the insanity of warfare. They survived migrations and ice ages. We have survival built into the cells of our body and into our spirit.

    Our spirit is like the new grass that pushes itself always upward even through the cracks in the sidewalk! When Nelson Mandela stepped out of prison after all those years with courage and compassion—he changed not only South Africa but the vision of the whole world. That spirit is within us, too. Step forward now in courage and compassion.

    Stay tuned to ReadTheSpirit for our complete interview with Jack Kornfield in September. You can order A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times at Amazon.

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    9/11 Tenth Anniversary events across the U.S.

    August 28, 2011 by

    Examples of 9/11 anniversary events

    Communities large and small across the United States will mark 9/11. Even remote villages where young men and women joined the military after 9/11 are planning to honor those in military service, for example. Firefighters nationwide are finding themselves in the midst of memorials, as well.
    Many community leaders have asked for help—so here are examples of major events:

    NEW YORK CITY: TOURISM AND CONTROVERSY

    FINAL CONSTRUCTION ON 9/11 MEMORIAL in New York City earlier in 2011.Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a campaign to promote tourism in Lower Manhattan. “The eyes of the world will be on Lower Manhattan, as we commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and open the Memorial,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “An important part of the story of 9/11 is how Lower Manhattan—an area many people said Osama Bin Laden’s attack would turn into a ghost town—has come back in the past 10 years.” Visitors will focus on the official 9/11 Memorial. (The Memorial’s blog updates visitors with information including a new phone App to help with navigation) Other 9/11-related sites include the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, a nonprofit connected with the September 11th Families’ Association. This Center has set up special Reflection Stations.

    What is the “controversy”? Mayor Bloomberg announced that religious leaders will not be a part of the tenth anniversary program—and access will be given to families affected by 9/11, rather than reserving the space for first responders. However, political leaders are welcome. One example of the nationwide criticism of the ban on clergy comes from a religion blogger for the Houston Chronicle claiming this shows “America has lost her way.” The decision to focus more on families than first responders also has stirred controversy. One example comes from China Daily, the official English newspaper in China, which reported on that aspect of the controversy. The most balanced coverage of the decision to exclude religious leaders comes from the Wall Street Journal in a column by Michael Howard Saul.

    WASHINGTON D.C.: MUSIC, FAITH AND MEMORIALS

    NATIONAL CATHEDRAL in Washington D.C.The Washington Post assembled a helpful summary of concerts honoring the tenth anniversary. At the Smithsonian, the National Museum of American History is opening a special limited-run exhibition of artifacts from the three sites attacked on 9/11. In addition, see our 9/11 Resources page for news and links to the national day of service, recommended by the White House. There is a Pentagon 9/11 memorial as well that is open to the public. Arlington National Cemetery also plans a 9/11 memorial service with a special display of flags. The White House has announced that President Obama will attend New York City, Pennsylvania and Pentagon memorials.

    One of the most creative, grassroots events is the 9/11 Unity Walk, co-sponsored by congregations and centers from many cultures. On the afternoon of 9/11, people are invited to walk a 2.5-mile route primarily in the area known as Embassy Row. Visitors can stop at various sites along the way. One of the most elaborate Washington events was to have been a three-day series of concerts and reflections called A Call to Compassion at the National Cathedral. However, the Cathedral’s website now is reporting on earthquake damage and apparently is making changes to its schedule.

    MICHIGAN: A NATIONAL CENTER OF DIVERSITY & MUSLIM COMMUNITY

    A-OK service day volunteers on 9/11 in 2010.At times like 9/11, national media attention focuses on metro-Detroit’s nationally prominent Muslim centers—and the diverse religious and cultural community across southeast Michigan. Wayne State University in Detroit plans a special educational program, open to the public, to mark the tenth anniversary: Cultural Anxiety, Collective Identity: Muslims and Citizenship, featuring scholar Saeed Khan. This event, sponsored by the Wayne State Center for the Study of Citizenship, takes place two days later on the evening of September 13.

    The most elaborate 9/11 event in Michigan will bring together 700 volunteers who expect to pitch in on the Acts Of Kindness (A-OK) program centered this year at Detroit’s internationally known Focus:HOPE center. The group plans to follow President Obama’s invitation to provide public service as a way of honoring 9/11—but the A-OK program will accomplish much more. The schedule includes sessions to encourage these diverse young men and women to learn about each other and form ongoing friendships. The estimate of volunteers is based on a huge outpouring of volunteers the group received last year in its first 9/11 A-OK service day.

    Want to know more about events and issues in Detroit’s richly diverse religious community?
    Follow the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit (IFLC). This organization has emerged over the last two years as a national model for localized coordination of faith groups. The IFLC has a wide range of creative programs, which you can learn about by signing up for IFLC’s free email newsletter.

    CLERGY BEYOND BORDERS TOURS THE NATION

    An exciting effort to promote peace and build healthier communities is this non-profit, interfaith effort that is sending a Caravan for Reconciliation across much of the eastern United States, beginning on 9/11. The traveling educational program is sponsored by Clergy Beyond Borders. Christians, Muslims, Jews—including a wide range of denominations—formed this nonprofit for education and activism on behalf of peace. Most of the national board members are not household names, although one of the international advisors is Rabbi David Rosen, who ReadTheSpirit has honored as an Interfaith Hero.
    LOCAL EVENTS along the caravan route include: Harrisburg, Pa. (Sept. 11); Washington, D.C., Richmond, Va., Durham, NC (Sept. 12) Charlotte, NC (Sept. 13); Greenville, SC (Sept.14); Atlanta, Ga (Sept. 15-17) Chattanooga, Nashville, TN (Sept. 18, 19); Louisville, KY (Sept. 20); Cincinnati, OH (Sept. 21); Detroit, MI (Sept. 22); Toledo, Cleveland, OH (Sept. 23, 24); Mercersburg, Pa.; Frederick/Annapolis, Md. (Sept. 25).

    KANSAS CITY: MUSIC IN A HISTORIC SETTING

    Wright-designed Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri.Author and religion reporter Bill Tammeus is taking part in another creative model for a 9/11 event: a 9/11 Memorial Concert featuring a performance of “Memorial” by René Clausen, composed after the attacks in 2001. Bill Tammeus reported on these plans earlier this year in his Faith Matters column. The location for the concert is a nationally known Frank Lloyd Wright landmark: the Community Christian Church.

    TELL US ABOUT A GREAT EVENT YOU’VE FOUND

    We welcome your emails at [email protected] about events that impress you.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

    9/11 Tenth Anniversary resources for congregations

    August 28, 2011 by

    PHOTO from an earlier U.S. Navy anniversary ceremony remembering 9/11.

    9/11 resources for 10th anniversary

    Nearly half a million houses of worship nationwide will mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. Those attacks fell on a Tuesday but the 10th anniversary coincides with Sunday worship. By the time that Sunday morning comes on the 11th, Americans will have been inundated in almost endless television coverage. When people go to church, they will anticipate a 9/11 acknowledgment of some kind: a prayer, perhaps comments from the pulpit, perhaps music—and thay may welcome a chance to discuss these issues in Sunday school classes.
    Congregational leaders have asked ReadTheSpirit for help …

    READTHESPIRIT PUBLISHES 9/11 REFLECTIONS YOU CAN USE:

    We are assembling a series of thought-provoking and hopeful commentaries by a wide array of writers, starting with the Quaker writer Philip Gulley. Tell friends to watch https://readthespirit.com for fresh and helpful materials daily on these themes. NOTE: All of our 9/11 stories can be shared and reproduced, which makes them especially useful for congregations and small groups.

    WANT 9/11 PHOTOS YOU CAN USE?

    Wikimedia Commons has established an online database of 9/11 images that you are free to use. That database is the source of most images we are publishing.

    WHAT TV OFFERS FOR 9/11

    TV will give us wall-to-wall 9/11!
    Television networks plan to dump their archives onto the airwaves. Read this Washington Post overview of the TV tidal wave. We’re not only talking about the major networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. We’re talking about TLC, History Channel, Nickelodeon and even Animal Planet! The best television production we’ve previewed at ReadTheSpirit for congregations is PBS’s Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, which we wrote about in early August. NOTE: PBS confirms that this documentary will be broadcast; check local showtimes.

    National Service & Remembrance

    The U.S. government hosts the Serve.org resource better known as United We Serve. This website offers a wide array of links and other online resources, including tips on Tweeting about your programs and ways to connect your efforts with other groups. In his weekly radio broadcast, President Obama asked all Americans to plan some form of public service to honor 9/11.

    Spirituality & Practice offers
    Prayers, Art, Ideas

    Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, co-directors of the popular Spirituality & Practice website, also are providing a rich array of resources. Among other spiritual gifts they are providing readers this week is a prayer called Rest in Peace that includes these lines:
    “I am a citizen of the world glued to my television set, fighting back my rage and despair at these horrible events, and
    “I am a person of faith struggling to forgive the unforgivable, praying for the consolation of those who have lost loved ones, calling upon the merciful beneficence of God/Lord/Allah/Spirit/Higher Power.
    “May I know peace.”

    Alban Institute CRG
    Reviews Resources

    The Alban Institute’s Congregational Resource Guide (CRG) is funded by the Lilly Endowment to help congregations. CRG Director Martin Davis is a former journalist for national publications who now directs the Guide. From his years in the church and in media, Davis is a good judge of what works with a broad audience. He evaluated denominational 9/11 offerings and published columns packed with helpful links.
    In September 11 a Decade On: Aspirins and More, Davis argues that—even if such attention by congregations amounts to a spiritual aspirin—the choices we make in our congregations matter to millions. “The aspirins matter. When we are wounded, it is a necessary part of our healing,” Davis writes. He also links to recommended 9/11 resources provided by Methodists, Lutherans, Hebrew Union College and more.
    Then in Commemoration to Action, Davis writes about the need to encourage tangible actions, not just private spiritual reflection. This column includes links to recommended resources provided by Harvard, the Presbyterian church and more.

    SMITHSONIAN HELPS EDUCATORS WITH SAMPLE QUESTIONS

    A reader spotted this very helpful page provided by the Smithsonian Institution (and see our 9/11 Events story for more on Washington D.C. events): The Smithsonian works extensively with educators nationwide and published these 5 sample questions that may arise in classroom discussions—along with answers that teachers in history and social studies classes can offer to spark further study and discussion.

    TELL US ABOUT A GREAT RESOURCE YOU’VE FOUND

    We welcome your emails at [email protected] about resources that you have produced or have spotted online.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.