What Say You?

I have returned from three marvelous adventures: San Francisco where Jai and I celebrated our 60^th wedding anniversary; West Virginia where we held our 9^th annual Wounded Warrior event; and the City of New York where Alexis’s aunt Charlene was married.  With a great family BBQ, the day afterwards hosted by her Aunt Sojo.

In New York, I also had given myself a number of days to take in the delights of that city.  The wedding was a grand family gathering.  I was joined by Christopher, Alexis and her mother Denise.  Oh yeah, and Luther who’s now walking.  Soon after the ceremony folks were on the dance floor.  If I had tried to bust a move like some of those young people, call 911.  And I would have been in traction for a number of weeks.

I was most impressed with how enterprising New Yorkers are.  On the sidewalk, move right along or you’ll end up causing a lot of consternation among the pedestrians.  Maybe not so much if you’re an old guy with a walker.

It is a most industrious city.  There were hardly any vacant storefronts.  Often there were 3 to 4 restaurants or quick food joints.  All small businesses – many opened by immigrants bringing their own unique cuisines.  A lot of hustle for sure.

The traffic is no less rushed.  It would seem that lane markings are only considered suggestions.  The traffic weaved in and out like spaghetti.  A couple of cab rides would have been rated an “E-coupon ride” in the old days at Disneyland. 

And then that poignant reminder of 9/11.  I went to the museum which told a most moving story of that day.  An ordinary day with a cloudless cobalt blue sky.  Folks just arriving at work at what looked to be a most ordinary of days.

Like virtually everyone reading this or hearing it delivered, if we are old enough we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news.

At the time I was running my family’s construction company.  I was just about to head to the office next to the house when I got a call from my oldest son.  Jonathan’s urgent voice told me something was wrong.  “Dad, do you have the TV on?”  “Why, what’s happening?”  “Go, turn it on.  Someone’s bombed the World Trade Tower in New York.”

He closed with the warning, “Dad, I don’t think we can let this slide.”

My fear was later somewhat different.  Yes, we would respond.  And probably do something very stupid.  Which is what we soon did, the result being two endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  And we still had not captured the mastermind, Osama Bin Laden.

What wisdom does scripture offer in these chaotic moments?  What are the choices?

As Jesus and his disciples were walking through the district of Caesarea called Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, but other Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  But who do you say that I am?”  Many engage in idle speculation, but when it comes down to the wire, this Gospel inheritance, What’s it to You?

In the midst of the New York City hustle and bustle, I suspect Jesus’ question to Peter was furthest from folk’s minds.  For those of us watching that unfolding disaster on 9/11, it was probably not on our minds.  And for those trying to escape those burning towers, probably not on their minds.

Yet, in the midst of the carnage and flames, many heroes responded with an unspoken answer.  They answered with their aid.  These were the people rushing into those blazing infernos to aid their fellow human beings.  The Christ in them propelled them forward through the choking dust.  Responding to the distressed Christ in neighbors they never knew.  The Living Christ was in full display in the midst of a living hell.

One of the books I purchased at the museum store was Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11 by Joseph Pfeifer, the first FDNY chief to arrive on the scene at the World Trade Tower.[1] 

Most of those firefighters Chief Pfeifer led had been deeply rooted in their Irish Catholic faith.  The Christ inculcated in them as none questioned the duty to run towards that inferno as others fled.  As the first commander on the scene, overall responsibility became Pfeifer’s.

After the second plane hit the South Tower, the fire department had the biggest catastrophe in New York history on their hands.  More and more units arrived on the scene, including one led by Chief Pfeifer’s younger brother, Kevin.  Kevin’s assignment was to take those under his command into the South Tower.  The last Joseph would ever see of his brother was as he turned and led a force up the steps of that building as more and more workers were fleeing down the steps from the flames and smoke.

Later, as both buildings collapsed, Joseph found himself sitting on a bench covered with dust, barely able to breathe.  He fervently hoped that somehow Kevin had made it out after Joseph had been the command for all fire personnel to leave the buildings.

Then he began to second guess his decision to send his brother up those stairs (of which there is a portion on display at the museum). 

Meanwhile, his wife Ginny, a nurse, had planned to take the children to a park with a friend on her day off.  As soon as she heard the news she turned on the TV.

Joseph, continues his story:[2]

“She knew I was assigned to Battalion 1 in lower Manhattan and would be the first fire chief to arrive at the WTC, since I was on duty.  Ginny was not too concerned since I had twenty years of experience fighting big fires and I had taught about high-rise fires to new chiefs at the academy.

“But when the South Tower collapsed, she went numb.

“’This can’t be happening,’ she told herself.  The nightmare Ginny never allowed into her thoughts erupted into anxiety.  By the time the North Tower collapsed, she was in full-fledged panic.  What if her husband of seventeen years didn’t come home?

“Was she a widow?

Were her children safe?  She couldn’t get through to their school.  Cell towers were overloaded by desperate callers.  She finally got through to her brother, Frankie, a priest.  She told him that she thought her husband was dead.  She was at her wits end.  Consoled in prayer by the same Christ, they devised a plan.

She was soon reunited with her children as they hugged one another through sobs and tears in the entryway.

Throughout that day and in the days to follow, in acts of selfless courage, in moments of consolation many, many that day answered Jesus’ question.  “You are the Christ.”  And in their actions, heroic and ordinary, was the living sacramental answer.  “You are the Christ.”  The Christ in me and the Christ in you, the Christ in stranger and coworker and family alike.

When Kevin’s death became apparent, the most difficult task before Chief Pfeifer was to later inform Kevin’s family that he would not be coming home.  Christ crucified on the twisted steel beams of those towers.

Later, as firefighters returned to their firehouses and shared stories of what they had experienced that day and the next several days, Chief Joseph learned that Kevin had remained behind, trying to get as many as possible down that staircase.  He had literally given his life for people he would never know.  And how many are still alive due to his efforts, no one will know.  Joseph found much comfort in hearing of Kevin’s selfless actions that dread morning.  A Christ for others.

And in the midst of our daily busyness, maybe not as frantic as on the daily streets of New York, What Say You?  What is this story of Jesus to you in the rush of your daily priorities?  What is the visible witness of your confession of faith?

At that hallowed memorial and the 9/11 Museum, I encountered the living Christ in the sacrifices that so many made that morning when the sun refused to shine through the choking clouds of smoke and dust of that living hell.

May we in times of danger and distress, in moments of perplexity and periods of calm discover and rediscover the living Christ that moves in and through our being.  Our life, our courage, our hope.  Amen.

---

[1] Joseph Pfeifer, Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11 (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2021).

[2] Op cit., 82.

August 23, 2026
Pentecost 13, Proper 16

  “What Say You?”
The Rev. Dr. John C. Forney

Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138

Romans 12:1-8; Gospel:  Matthew 16:13-20