50th Anniversary
of Propane Truck Explosion

June 2, 2009
50th anniversary of Propane Explosion at Red Church

A 7-year-old boy had been playing at a next-door neighbor’s and came home later than the agreed time.
With his head hanging low, he trudged into the kitchen where his mother was busy preparing dinner.
“Tom,” she said, “Where have you been? I was expecting you half and hour ago.”
“Sorry I’m late, Mom. We were playing outside and Chris broke his new truck.”
“Oh,” his mother replied in an understanding tone of voice, “so you stayed to help Chris fix his truck?”
“No,” Tom said. “I stayed to help him feel sad.”

That is why we are all here together tonight ... to know we are not alone in feeling as we do.

Immediately after the tragic explosion that killed 11 and injured 10 the families of each victim held funeral services for their particular loved one, bBut to the best of our knowledge, the community has never come together in such a way as to comfort each other in our common loss.

Now, 50 years after the incident people are still grieving, Still facing loss,           
Still telling the stories as if it happened yesterday,
Still feeling the scars and seeing the images that trauma leaves behind.
 

People all over the country remember where they were when President Kennedy was shot,
Or what they were doing on the morning of 9-11.
THIS community remembers THIS accident in much the same way.
This anniversary touches a far-reaching bruise that is still tender after all these years.

Even so, Old wounds can still be healed.
God’s timing is not our timing. God is not bound by our sense of time passing.
I guess … When you have all of eternity to work within, as God does, you can afford be patient enough to see the process work out..

But that is not the case for us time-bound humans who know that time does not heal all wounds.

Jesus spoke to the people of his era and said,
            “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”
He uses two verbs: ARE and WILL
            "Blessed ARE they" … present tense
                        An expression of what is already true for the faithful,
                                    As individuals and as a gathered community.
AND
            "They WILL BE" … future tense
              For some things we must wait.
              God isn’t finished re-creating us and this world into a peaceful and glorious new creation.
               God is still bringing into being all that was promised.

God never promised that our lives would be free of stress,
            Free of Worry, grief, anger, illness and such;
God never promised that the lives of the faithful would be continually joyous, prosperous and ideal;

God DOES promise to be present with us always and in all circumstances;
            Feeling what we feel, collecting our tears, holding us close,
And guiding us toward wholeness if we are willing to be led there.

We know that Jesus wept with those who mourned Lazarus’ death.
            And the mourners said, “See how much he loved him.”
            WE are also known and loved that much.

God doesn’t want trauma to be in our lives any more than we do;
            Personally, I don’t believe God causes or gives permission for awful things to happen to us.
            (We do a good enough job of bringing trouble upon ourselves!)
            And God does not strip away our free-will, even though bad choices can inflict much pain on another.
No, I don’t believe God orchestrates painful incidents just to test our faith or teach us a lesson.

But, if we are willing and open to it, God can and does create something good out of anything and everything that happens.

Because God is not limited by our sense of time; Old wounds can still be healed,
            And a good things can still be created.

Out of this tragedy,
            New safety regulations for fuel carriers were put into place;
            Larger safe-zones away from accidents are enforced;
            New chemical fire-fighting techniques were created and taught;
            And now a memorial garden will be created here
                        So the community can continue to honor their loved ones.
            No one should be alone in their grief or trauma.

God is blessing us NOW, healing us now, and empowering us to make the future a blessing for others.

I’ll end with something we can take with us
Something I have been repeating over and over to myself today:
a quote from the medieval Anchoress, Julian of Norwich:

All will be well.
                        All will be well.
                                    And all manner of things will be well.

AMEN.