Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off for ever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. (Psalm 44: 23-26)

National Public Radio recenty interviewed a lively, lovely, elderly New Yorker who - in the aftermath of the 911 attacks - became a committed atheist. She had been raised a Methodist, considered herself a believer, but was mostly a Christmas or Easter, wedding, and funeral Christian.

In her own words she was traumatized by the attack and its results. The random nature of who died and who survived was especially troubling. She had believed in a God who protected the weak and punished the evil. Instead she observed thousands of innocents being crushed and burned.

I understand Jesus to have been an innocent man who was tortured to death. He was executed by an oppressive colonial power to appease the petty purposes of a local elite. Jesus was one of thousands who were put to death often for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The origin of my faith is in how Jesus - and eventually his followers - responded to this unjust execution. Jesus responded in agony, but also with forgiveness, love, understanding, courage, and an openness to a reality far beyond the excruciating pain of the moment.

In the midst of pain there is the possibility for joy. At the very moment that evil strikes, there is the opportunity to love. God is present. But we must reach out to God. God is prepared to make whole what has been shattered. God will work with us, but we must also be ready to work with God.

A transcript of the NPR interview is available here.

Above is Transcendence by Scott Saw.