ca·thar·sis: n. pl. ca·thar·ses (-sz)
a. A technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness.
b. The therapeutic result of this process.

I already posted some thoughts on 9-11 earlier this week (and I’d recommend that you take a look if you’re interested in a hope-filled and positive post about what’s going on in New York today). “9-11 and the Beauty of Hope”

However, I still feel I should write something fresh and specific for September 11th, 2011. I wasn’t sure where my thoughts were headed until Saturday morning, when I found myself with a pick-ax in my hand and an awkward tree stump to deal with….

I had started out trying to dig around the thing with a shovel. But all the extended roots were intertwined with surrounding vegetation and it simply wouldn’t budge. That’s when my neighbor, Alan, came over and asked what I was doing.

“Apparently, not much,” I quipped, the sweat rolling down my face and soaking through my shirt.

“What you need is a pick-ax,” Alan announced.

No, what I really needed was a couple of young guys with pick-axes. Now that would have done the trick.

Instead, I worked and worked at the recalcitrant stump until, little by little, I shaved it down to nothing and then got to work on the root system. I used muscles I haven’t moved in a couple of decades; I used muscles I may not even have any more. Every five minutes or so I’d lean against the hood of my car for a breather, and I could feel the pain burrow into my back, my knees, my shoulders. It felt good.

What’s going on in New York, in terms of building a visionary re-imagined World Trade Center (with its centerpiece – the pitch-perfect memorial park – ready to be dedicated later today) feels good to me in the same way. For ten years a dedicated team of hard-working and creative people have been chipping away at the monumental mess that was left when the twin towers went down… and they are planting something there that is meaningful and beautiful. The process has been cathartic in all the right ways.

Sometimes we think we feel so much better when we retaliate, let off steam, launch a verbal tirade, put a fist through a wall, break something, or get into a fight. We go so far as to say such experiences are cathartic.

But the human spirit is designed to seek a more beautiful catharsis than the distorted satisfaction of destruction and revenge. What ultimately feels right is when we redirect the tension and the fear and the anger, channeling our emotion to make the powerful choice to participate in the victory of light over darkness, and of invention over decay.

Ultimately, rebuilding becomes an invitation, both to those who are broken and those who have done the breaking, and it’s an invitation to participate in life. “Next time why don’t you come in via the front door,” we must say, “and we’ll throw a party and we’ll welcome you into all that is beautiful and good.”

And if they spit in our faces, or if they try to destroy – again – what we have built then we will simply build again and more beautifully still, and always extend the invitation to wholeness.

Because we are strongest to the extent that we love; and when we build and create and innovate and share generously, then we are planting in good soil.

New York, on this day, is good soil.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:15-17