Where Was God on September 11?

Seeds of Faith and Hope

edited by Donald B. Kraybill, Linda Gehman Peachey

Study Guide written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp of Canby,Oregon. Hockman-Chupp currently home schools two of her three children. She says she “loves to write curriculum” and extends thanks to the adult class at Zion Mennonite Church, Hubbard, Oregon, who tested parts of this leader’s guide material.

This Study Guide are also available for download in PDF format.

See also Where Was God on September 11? in the MPN online catalog.

Introduction and Learning Styles
Lesson 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3
Chapter 4	Chapter 5 & 6	Chapter 7

Chapter 3 - Revenge, justice, or forgiveness

Early class preparation
read the third chapter of Where Was God on September 11?

Materials needed:

chalkboard/chalk or newsprint/markers

1. Sharing our stories

On the chalkboard or on a large sheet of newsprint write, “In the days following September 11, the public cried out:” Ask students to jot down things they heard or read of public outcry after the events of September 11. The responses can include items both agreed with and disagreed with—from the point of view of revenge, justice, or forgiveness—the point is to include as many as possible. Get the class started by putting down your own recollections of things seen and heard, or use some of the examples in the introduction to chapter 3: “Nuke ’em,” “Bring them to justice,” “Give peace a chance,” and “Go after them with our most lethal weapons.”

2. Reflecting on our stories

Divide the class into three groups: revenge, justice, and forgiveness. Give each group five to eight minutes to list arguments in favor of their type of national response. Encourage each group to think of as many angles as they can. For example: the “justice” group could include the use of justice as “a code word to justify retaliation through military action” (chap. 3 introduction), and it could include using international courts to hold terrorists responsible for their actions. The “revenge” group might include anything from biblical references, “Vengeance is mine saith the Lord,” to contemporary slogans, “Don’t get mad. Get even.”

After brainstorming, return to a large circle, with group members still sitting next to one another. Tell students that, regardless of personal opinions, they are going to take their group assigned perspective as their own for the next several minutes. Invite the group to a discussion on “Revenge, Justice, or Forgiveness,” with the group’s role playing a particular viewpoint. Allow five to eight minutes for role-play.

Debrief. What did you learn about the various viewpoints? How did it weaken or strengthen your own personal viewpoint?

3. Hearing one another

Read aloud “Fire from Heaven: Jesus and Terrorism” by Titus Peachey.

4. Conversing with the text

Discuss:
*Is repentance necessary for forgiveness?

*How do the cursing psalms speak to us today? Read Psalm 137. Of Psalm 137, biblical scholar Walter Brueggeman, writes, “Perhaps this psalm will be understood and valued among us only if we experience some concrete brutalization” (Message of the Psalms, p. 77).

*What “fire from heaven”—such as anger, animosity, or desire for revenge—do we carry in our own hearts?

*How can we use the events of September 11 to reflect on our own self-righteousness, sin, and need for repentance?

Concluding the lesson

Consider a “fire from heaven” that burns in your life today. Be in prayer this week, asking God to show you ways to extinguish these flames. If time allows, ask students to write their “fire” on a slip of paper and burn them outside in a small ceremony.

Read the last paragraph prayer from “Choking on Ashes,” by Kevin Clarke:

“Lord, we call out for justice. Grant us justice not revenge. Lord, we have terrible power within our reach; grant us the strength to wield our power with wisdom, with mercy. Help us to comprehend what seems incomprehensible. Lord, we do not want to see another day like September 11, nor do we wish to condemn our children to relive it; allow us the grace to be the generation to break this cycle of violence, this history of hate. Let us not leave it to our sons and daughters to confront again that awful spectacle of dust and debris and choking ash.”

Mennonite Publishing Network