wfn.org | Oklahoma City pastors share insights from 1995 bombing

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 20, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{418}

A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*

Keeping faith and supporting those affected by the recent terrorist attacks
- rescuers as well as tens of thousands of victims -- are important as the
nation moves ahead, say United Methodist pastors who responded to the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing.

"You never get over something like what happened in Oklahoma City," said the
Rev. Robert Allen. "You'll never get over what happened in New York and
Washington. These are just horrible, tragic events. ... Our faith is
important at times like these." Allen, currently serving at First United
Methodist Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, was pastor of Wesley United
Methodist Church in Oklahoma City when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
was bombed.

"God is with us through all of it," Allen said. "God doesn't promise he's
going to keep us from walking through the valley of the shadows. What he
does promise is that he's going to be there with us ... to comfort us, to
strengthen us, to walk with us."

The people of Oklahoma City know the trauma that still lies ahead for New
York and Washington. The bomb blast that destroyed the Murrah building on
April 19, 1995, killed 168 people and injured 400 to 500 others. It was the
worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil until Sept. 11, when hijacked planes
were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania
countryside, killing more than 5,000 people.

"It took us about three and a half to four weeks to get all the bodies out,"
Allen said of the bombing. "There's no telling how long it's going to take"
in New York and Washington, he said.
 
The terrorist attacks, following the June 11 execution of bomber Timothy
McVeigh, have kept the bombing of the Murrah building fresh for the people
of Oklahoma City, said the Rev. Guy Ames III, pastor of the city's Chapel
Hill United Methodist Church. "There is a continual stirring up of those who
have been most deeply affected."

The attacks brought the bombing back for Ames, who led the committee that
oversaw the United Methodist response to that tragedy. "I began to replay
the events of the bombing and the role that I played. I remembered being at
the bombing site; I remembered the trauma of the rescue and recovery
workers. ... I remembered the tremendous outpouring of volunteers and
letters and cards and bears, and also remembered being with the families who
waited to hear if there was any word about their loved one. That's just an
awful experience."

Six years later, several people are still receiving free counseling offered
by the United Methodist Church's Oklahoma Annual (regional) Conference for
those affected by the bombing, said the Rev. David Severe, executive
director of conference program ministries. He expects more people to seek
help as the trauma of the bombing returns, triggered by the recent attacks.

"One of the things we're anticipating right now is that there were some
folks that appeared to recover rather quickly (from the bombing) who really
only stuffed that down inside, and with this experience, that is going to be
pushed back up to the surface," Severe said. The conference is getting the
word out about its counseling service. "We have people ready and standing
by."

The conference's Volunteers-In-Mission program is prepared to send teams to
New York and Washington if they're needed, Severe said. The conference
initially considered gathering material supplies for the people and rescue
workers in New York and Washington, but learned that those types of aid
weren't needed, he said. The church also dissuaded groups from donating
clothing. "We wound up hauling off truckloads of unusable material" in 1995,
he said.

"Basically, we're saying to people, 'You need to give to UMCOR,'" Severe
said. "That's the best way to help the people of New York right now." The
United Methodist Committee on Relief was critical in helping Oklahoma City
recover from the bombing and a devastating tornado in 1997, he said. "We
would not have made it through either one of those experiences without
UMCOR." Contributions can be made through local United Methodist churches,
designated for UMCOR, "Love in the Midst of Tragedy," No. 901125-3, or by
calling (800) 554-8583.

The strength of community comes to the fore at times like these, said Bishop
Dan Solomon of Granbury, Texas, who led the Oklahoma Conference at the time
of the bombing. "We must be clear to ourselves and others that those who
instigate these acts of heartache and terror and disruption are in fact
violating the basic human community to which all of us belong -- Muslim,
Jew, Christian." 

After the attack on the Murrah building, the church used worship services
and liturgies to emphasize God's grace and care for all people, Solomon
said. "We tried to put God as the central focus of our conversation and our
concern." That helped people move away from making simply a human,
"personal-hurt" type of reaction to a Christian, faith-based response, he
said.

One of the church's first responses was to field experts in working with
children, Ames said. That was a major concern because 19 youngsters died in
the blast, and Oklahoma's children were feeling tremendous anxiety. With
UMCOR's help, the church provided statewide training for teachers and others
who work with children. Kits for children were distributed across the state.

Allen organized a corps of chaplains in Oklahoma City at the mayor's
request. He stationed them in critical areas -- with rescue and recovery
people, in the morgue at First United Methodist Church across the street
from the Murrah building, on the street, at the notification site at First
Christian Church where families awaited news of loved ones. The chaplains
were "vitally important," he said. Some of the rescue workers wouldn't talk
to professional counselors, but they did talk to the chaplains, he said.

Ames said the rescue and recovery workers dealing with the latest tragedy
"will suffer tremendously" and will need a lot of support. Police and
firefighters involved in Oklahoma City's recovery experienced a high divorce
rate, he said. Chaplains also will need support, he added, recalling that
the city's chaplains suffered emotional distress as they responded to the
bombing.

The federal government will focus on families that lost loved ones, but tens
of thousands of people are experiencing the trauma of serious injury, the
loss of a colleague or friend, the loss of a business, and they will receive
little if any attention, Ames said. "Their pain is tremendous."

The economic impact will be tragic, he said. "Oklahoma City lost 600
businesses the day of our bombing; 300 of them never came back."

Funding counseling for several years will be a major ministry for the
church, he said. The church also must do a lot of theological work, he said,
addressing questions such as: How can a good God allow suffering like this?
Why the loss of innocent lives? What's the meaning of evil?
 
Churches in Oklahoma City, as around the country, are holding vigils and
prayer services, and responding in any way they can. Chapel Hill, for
example, is collecting an offering for UMCOR and sending notes of
encouragement to New York. "I remember getting a packet of children's
pictures from New York" after the bombing, Ames said. "... We just got
beaucoups of material from people saying, 'We care about you,' and that
means a lot."

The outpouring of concern from around the country strengthened the people of
Oklahoma. "One cannot underestimate the significant impact it produced,"
Solomon said. "It brought comfort; it brought strength. There was a sense of
solidarity that was experienced at levels that persons in Oklahoma had never
had occasion to experience in terms of the meaning of the Methodist
connection." That feeling grew out of UMCOR's immediate presence, letters
from around the country - including hundreds from children -- and the
responses of congregations.

The healing process takes time, pastors said.

"It unfolds in waves, like when you throw a pebble in a lake," Severe said.
"And some people recover relatively quickly, others process it for
indeterminate lengths of time, and some folks are still struggling with it."

"There's just not closure," Ames said. "When you've lost a loved one to an
act of violence ... it may get easier to bear, but it's with you." 

However, Christians proclaim that even in tragedy there can be triumph, he
said. "We sure have seen that in Oklahoma City. We have seen people made
stronger and bridges built." Downtown, once in decay, has been restored. On
the grounds of a bombing memorial stands a building dedicated to the study
of anti-terrorism and peaceful conflict resolution.

"There will be good coming out of the evil," Ames said, "but healing will
take years."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org