Can one of the worst become one of the best?

How unimaginable grief is transformed to new life

This month I was invited to participate with 9-11 Day, an organization founded six months after the attacks of September 11th, 2001. The organization was founded by David Paine and Jay Winuk — who had lost his brother Glenn in the collapse of the World Trade Center tower - with the belief that a day of grief could be transformed into a day of doing good. Starting in 2002, 9-11 Day has organized large-scale volunteer efforts across the country, particularly with meal packing. The guiding principle of the project is this: What if the worst day in our history could become one of our best? 

This year, for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, 9-11 Day meal packing lasted for four days. On Wednesday I took the train down to New York to be part of an interfaith packing party, staged on the deck of the USS Intrepid. The scale of the project was breathtaking. 

Meal packing stations being prepared along the deck of the USS Intrepid.

Dozens of tables with carefully organized supplies were surrounded by teams of volunteers from all walks of life. I was at a table of faith leaders from across the region, putting together pre-measured bags of lentil jambalaya. Each bag was labeled with simple, just-add-water cooking instructions, sealed, and boxed with many others. Four million others, as it happens, in New York City alone. 

Interfaith leaders from across the region gathering to pack meals at 9-11 Day.

Each shift began with a moment of silence led by someone who had been directly affected by the violence of 9/11. After the ringing of a bell concluding the moment of silence, someone else would sing America the Beautiful. I was honored and humbled to have the opportunity to be one of those singers, especially following such a powerful moment of shared, civic reverence.

As I looked out from the stage across the teams of volunteers, I couldn’t help but think of the resurrection. Jesus’ death was intended to put an end to his message, his movement, his ministry. But the power of God’s love is stronger than death. Resurrection means life - transformed, magnified, glorious beyond anything we could ask or imagine. Sometimes that life looks like strangers working together to help strangers. Sometimes God’s love reveals itself in nutritious meals, packed one bag at a time.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Tuesday+

“Thine alabaster city gleams, undimmed by human tears.” Sunset view of lower Manhattan from the lower deck of the USS Intrepid on September 9, 2026.