God calls us to cross the yellow tape into people's suffering
A pastor recalls feeling the presence of God as he ministered to workers at the recovery site of Pennsylvania's most deadly plane crash ever.
This is a longer sermon summary than I usually write — probably twice as long. But it’s a profound sermon and deserves this kind of treatment.
It was given by Bishop Thad Barnum at Good Shepherd Anglican Church on Sept. 8, 2024.
I don’t know how long Bishop Thad talked during his sermon on Sunday, but he could have spoken for 60 or 90 minutes, and we wouldn’t have cared. We were all enraptured. Most of us were fighting back tears. And you know it’s going to be an emotional sermon when Thad’s voice cracks just as he starts — and then he says, “I don’t know if I’m going to get through this.”
We thought it was going to be a sermon about Psalm 23. And it was.
But what we all will remember the most is Thad’s agonizing description of how he ministered to scores of people at the site of the worst plane crash in Pennsylvania’s history — a crash near Pittsburgh that happened exactly 30 years ago to the day on Sunday.
Thad started by tying a yellow police “Do Not Cross” tape between two chairs in the front row of the church. Thirty years ago he was asked to cross that yellow tape. He didn’t want to. He was scared about what he would see. He did it anyway.
And he saw a lot of things he wishes he had never seen, but he also saw the Lord working in so many ways. He felt the presence of the Lord where that plane went down.
His message to us: “We are here for a purpose. And that purpose is to cross the yellow tape into people’s lives where they’re suffering. … Cross the yellow tape of their lives and bring them to Jesus.”
Click here to watch the sermon on Facebook. Start 24 minutes into the service to hear the beginning of Thad’s sermon.
Psalm 23
Psalm 23 may be the most recognizable of all 150 psalms. It starts, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
Click here to read all six verses.
We all have storms in our lives, and Thad started his sermon by telling us that we must have a relationship with God BEFORE those storms come. As Jesus tells us in Matthew 7, it’s the difference between building a house on sand and one on rock
Thad noted that the first three verses of Psalm 23 are wonderful and reassuring. The shepherd is providing a life of ease and plenty.
But the narrative shifts in Verse 4, when David writes: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …”
Wait. What? Now it’s scary. But as you read on, the Christian is reassured: “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
“Jesus is always with us — everywhere. That’s all that matters,” Thad said. “Where Jesus is, there are green pastures.”
Bethlehem
Then Thad surprised us by saying that Psalm 23 has ”everything to do with Bethlehem.” In other words, the psalm is about Jesus coming into a suffering world to live with us and to share our suffering — and to eventually defeat all suffering and death.
“Psalm 23 is the Christmas story,” Thad said. “Jesus stepped into our story, but did it physically, not theologically.”
The Crash of USAir Flight 427
Thad spent the rest of the sermon describing his role at the site of the crash of USAir Flight 427.
He was leading a new and growing church that was near the Pittsburgh airport. Many of his parishioners worked for the airlines: flight attendants, pilots, mechanics.
When the crash occurred at 7:03pm on Sept. 8, 1994, parishioners were quick to notify Thad, and he led a group of them to the crash site to see what kind of help they could provide. His bishop also joined them immediately.
You can see a 30-year anniversary report on the crash here:
They soon learned that all 132 people on board had died. Leaders of the emergency teams told Thad and the bishop that they needed people like them to serve as chaplains to minister to the families and — most immediately — the personnel who had to recover the bodies from the site. These people would surely have PTSD as they would see things that are only of nightmares.
“But to minister to them, you need to cross the yellow tape,” one leader told them.
The bishop immediately agreed that they would serve, making Thad anxious. He did NOT want to cross the yellow tape. He was terrified about what he would see.
Thad then told stories about ministering to several people at the recovery site, but this is the one that stood out.
‘What does God know about my pain?’
Thad wore a decontamination suit that said “Chaplain” on it. At one point, one of the recovery workers recognized him as a pastor, gets in his face, and starts screaming at him.
Thad said the man mocked him and his faith, saying: “What kind of God does this? If God is really God, why didn’t he do something about it? What really ticks me off: where is he? Why isn’t he here on his hands and knees digging up the bodies like the rest of us? He has no idea what we’re going through. He doesn’t get it. This is hell on earth. What does he know about my pain, my suffering? Until he sees what I see, smells what I smell, feels what I feel, suffers what I suffer, I want nothing to do with him. Who worships a god like that?”
Thad silently let the man vent, and the man finally walked away.
Not long after that same day, Thad met a police officer with a black lab named Briar. He was a cadaver dog that was trained to find dead bodies. He was there to help with the recovery effort.
The officer sent Briar into the woods to find bodies. Thad followed. Soon after, Briar stopped and barked as a signal that he had found something. Thad didn’t see anything on the ground, but then realized Briar was looking up. That’s when Thad saw a body impaled on a tree branch.
“Jesus knows our suffering,” Thad said. “He knows everything about us. He knows the pain and grief and sorrow we hold in our hearts. He knows our story because he knows the agonies of death. He knows that tree. He’s been on it, his body pierced for our transgressions. His body disfigured beyond that of any human being. Oh yes, he knows! It’s why he can suffer with us. He can weep with us. He can comfort us.”
Thad said that as the body was taken from the tree and transported to a refrigeration truck, he thought of Jesus being taken down from the cross and buried in the tomb.
The soccer field
Thad noted that the plane crashed just a few seconds after passing over a youth soccer field, where more than 200 children were playing and their parents were watching. Praise God that the plane didn’t crash there.
He ended with a story he heard from one family that was on that soccer field as the plane hurtled overhead.
“Remember that soccer field with all those children and their parents?” Thad said. “At 7:03, as the plane crossed over that field, a 4-year-old boy was holding his mother’s hand. He looked at the plane and he said, ‘Mommy! Mommy, look! Look, look! The angels! Mommy, look, the angels!’
“They were sailing to heaven’s shore,” Thad said, referring to the 1988 Steve Green song “As We Sail to Heaven’s Shore.”
He continued: “We are here for a purpose. And that purpose is to cross the yellow tape into people’s lives where they’re suffering. The church is not just here to be entertained and get what you need and go home. We’re to enter into each other’s stories and we’re to enter into people’s lives out there who don’t know (Jesus). Cross the yellow tape of their lives and bring them to Jesus, where goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Here’s Green singing “As We Sail to Heaven’s Shore” with the lyrics below.
As We Sail To Heaven's Shore
Storms may rise on seas unknown
While we journey towards our home
Surely we'll learn what grace is for
As we sail to heaven's shore
Send us strength, oh, Pilgrim Guide
Sin would drown us in its tide
Be close at hand and go before
As we sail to heaven's shore
Holy Spirit, lead us on
Give us courage, bring the song
Lord, we trust Your Father's care
Will convey us safely there
Open or seal off every door
As we sail to heaven's shore
Straighten our course with every prayer
Let heaven's breezes speed us there
And grant us mercy evermore
As we sail to heaven's shore
Draw us near, oh, finest Friend
From dawn's light to evening's end
Each passing day, we love You more
As we sail to heaven's shore
As we sail to heaven's shore
Written by Greg Nelson and Phill Mchugh
Sung by Steve Green.