Crash of Asiana Flight 214: When Does "Oh My God" Become a Prayer?

© 2013 The Wired Word 

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Last Saturday, Fred Hayes, a self-described "aviation buff," and his wife Gina were watching planes land at San Francisco International Airport. Shortly before noon, he noticed a Boeing 777 approaching for a landing. The video Hayes was shooting at the time captured his voice as he said to his wife, "Look at that one! Look how its nose is up in the air."
At that instant, the tail section of the plane, Asiana Flight 214, suddenly hit the seawall that separated the runways from the bay and broke off.
On the video, Hayes can be heard exclaiming, "Oh my god! It's an accident!"
The rest of the plane careened out of control, cartwheeled down the runway and eventually came to rest right side up.
As all this was happening, Hayes uttered "Oh my god!" five more times, with his inflection changing as what he was seeing began to sink in. In fact, here at The Wired Word, we are inclined to spell his last couple of repetitions as "O my God," for as we listened, it seemed to us that what started as exclamations of surprise had become something prayerful. The last thing Hayes can be heard saying on the video is "O Lord have mercy."
The plane, with 307 souls on board, had originated in Shanghai, China. Despite the horrific crash and extensive destruction of the plane, the crew and most of the passengers were able to escape before the aircraft erupted in flames and smoke.
Two teenage girls, however, were killed, and 182 other people were hospitalized with injuries ranging from severe scrapes to paralysis. Investigators are looking into reports that one of the teenage girls may have died from being run over by an emergency vehicle responding to the accident.
Hayes' video is the only known footage of the tragedy. When CNN later interviewed him, he said he and his wife initially assumed everybody on board was "in bad shape," but added that they were happy to learn that "not everybody on the plane lost their life." He's wearing sunglasses, so you can't see his eyes, but he appeared to be having some trouble with his composure.
Hayes' words while witnessing the crash reminded us of a report about a flight attendant on American Flight 11, the first plane to be rammed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. She was Madeline Amy Sweeney, the 35-year-old mother of two small children. As the hijacking was underway, Sweeney, in the rear of the plane, managed to phone an American flight service manager in Boston. With remarkable calm, she told the manager what was happening, and identified the hijackers by their seat numbers. Sweeney reported that two flight attendants had been stabbed and that a business-class passenger had been killed by a hijacker who cut the man's throat. Moments before 8:46 a.m., she spoke of seeing water and buildings. And then, after a brief pause while she apparently grasped what was about to happen, came her last transmission. She exclaimed, "O my God! O my God!"
More on this story can be found at these links:
Asiana Flight 214 Was Traveling Slower Than Recommended on Landing. CNN (includes Hayes' video and interview)
"Large, Brief Fireball," As Plane Landed. CNN
The Big Questions
1. Because "Oh my god" is so much a "throwaway" and even profane expression among many people today (and "OMG!" is likewise a throwaway while texting), what determines when or if it becomes a prayer?
2. Think about the expressions "God bless you" and "God damn you." Both expressions appear to be making a request of God, so are both a prayer? Explain your answer. (In Hebrew, barak can be translated as both "bless" and "curse," depending on the context. In Job 2:9, Job's wife is generally quoted as advising Job to "curse God, and die," but it can just as easily be translated "bless God, and die.")
3. Why do so many expletives employ sacred names? What does this say about the power of the Divine Name that it is used in cursing, even by nonbelievers? Is there a curse as powerful that does not involve faith-related terms?
4. What is the primary difference between something that is secular and something that is sacred?
5. When, if ever, have you said something like "Oh my god" thoughtlessly? If you do not use this phrase, what do you say instead? Do you say anything when you hear someone say "Oh my god" thoughtlessly?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Exodus 20:7
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. (For context, read 20:1-17.)
Leviticus 22:32
You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel: I am the LORD; I sanctify you ... (For context, read 22:31-33.)
Exodus 20:7 is one of the Ten Commandments. Note that "LORD" is rendered in all-capital letters, which is the way most English Bible translations denote the underlying Hebrew name of God, Yahweh. In ancient Hebrew, only consonants, and not vowels, were used to reproduce the name, and so, transliterated, it was written as YHWH. The Israelites considered this name too sacred to even say, and so they used substitutes, such as adonai ("my Lord") or "the name." Some devout Jews today write God as G-d so as not to profane the Almighty.
When later Jews inserted vowel markers into the Hebrew consonants, they put the vowels from adonai into YHWH. Translators in a later era were confused by the result, YaHoVai, and thought the sacred name was Jehovah. But there is no such word in Hebrew.
In Leviticus 22:32, when God tells the Israelites not to "profane" his name, he's not particularly talking about profanity in the sense of cuss words, although what he's saying can be applied to our vocabulary. In the Bible, when the words "hallowed," "holy" and "sacred" are used, they denote that the practice or object in question is separated from common use and dedicated for the worship of God. The sacred thing is secured against violation by reverence and a sense of right.
The opposite word from "holy" is "profane," which, in its original sense, meant not something vulgar, but something "common" or "for everyday use." It was a synonym for "secular." "Profane" is from the Latin word profanus, which means "in front of the temple" or "outside the holy place." Thus, to profane something was to use in a common way that which was set apart for holy use.
In Ezekiel 36:21, God charges disobedient Israel with profaning his name among the nations.
Questions: Why do you think the name of God is no longer held in such high regard in our culture? What has allowed it to become for many people a curse word?
Psalm 38:21-22
Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, do not be far from me; make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. (No context necessary.)
Matthew 26:74
Then [Peter] began to curse, and he swore an oath, "I do not know the man!" (For context, read 26:69-75.)
In the Psalm 38 verse above, there is no question but what the psalmist is saying "O my God" in a prayerful way.
The Matthew 26 verse is about Peter's denying that he was one of Jesus' companions. The verse doesn't tell us what curses and oaths he used, but if he were in our culture today, Peter might have said, "Oh my god! I do not know the man!"
Questions: What is there within us that causes "Oh my god!" or "O my God!" to leap to our lips in moments of anxiety or terror? In such moments, can it be both expressions at the same time? Why? What do you say at times of stress? At such times, when you intentionally address God, what are you likely to say?
Mark 10:47
[Bartimaeus shouted,] "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (For context, read 10:46-52.)
Luke 18:13
[The tax collector said,] "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (For context, read 18:9-14.)
Luke 23:42
[The dying thief said,] "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (For context, read 23:32, 39-43.)
All three of these speakers were praying a form of the short prayer "Lord have mercy."
Regarding Hayes' verbal expressions while filming the plane crash, TWW team member Heidi Mann says, "It seems to me that to say 'Oh my god' might be an easy automatic exclamation because it is so commonly heard these days that it gets in your head -- whether you want it to or not -- and can easily come forth in a time of anxiety. But for someone to exclaim 'Lord, have mercy,' it seems they'd have to have been exposed to it in some specific way, such as through liturgy and/or knowledge of the Bible (as in Bartimaeus calling out to Jesus)."
She adds, "When I was a young pastor, our youth director's baby died at full-term but still in utero; it was discovered later that the umbilical cord got kinked and oxygen was cut off. When I first learned the news, all I could say was 'Lord, have mercy.'"
Questions: What kind of merciful responses have you had to your prayers? When have you experienced depths or heights so profound that your prayer does not require a response, but is simply an acknowledgment of God?
Luke 23:46
Then Jesus ... said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." (For context, read 23:44-46.)
In his sermon "When Nothing More Can Be Done" (Sermons on the First Readings, Year C, 2006-2007, CSS Publishing) TWW team member Stan Purdum writes, "In an instant when we suddenly comprehend that nothing more can be done, that things really are ending, from somewhere deep inside us sometimes comes the realization that the only refuge we have left is God himself. And there may only be time for the briefest of prayers: 'O my God!'
"When all else is gone, that is our only plea, our only prayer, our only affirmation of faith and our only claim on eternity. 'O my God, receive me!' It was the prayer of Jesus on the cross -- 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit' -- and it is ours. Commending ourselves to God is what can be done -- the only thing that can be done -- when nothing more can be done.
"Thank God."
Questions: Is "Thank God" a satisfying response to the realization that in the end, commending ourselves to God is the only thing that can be done? Why or why not?
For Further Discussion
1. Comment on this, from a TWW team member: "Some churches use the ancient words of liturgy such as 'Lord, have mercy' and 'Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace.' Some churches -- even within historically liturgical denominations -- don't. Presently, our family attends an ELCA church that does not use the liturgy; I lament that, but we remain with the congregation for other sound reasons. Still, the fact that my boys are not infused weekly with those ancient words saddens me. The words of the liturgy can give Christians a common language when no other words fit the moment (as in the case of the plane crash)."
2. Respond to this: Confessional, a spy thriller by Jack Higgins, is set in the 1980s. The plot involves a Soviet spy, Mikhail Kelly, who has been planted in Northern Ireland for 20 years, using the identity Father Harry Cussane, a Roman Catholic priest. In that role, he performs the tasks of ministry, says the Mass and so forth. But in his real identity, he assassinates both Catholic and Protestant leaders to keep the strife between the groups stirred up and derail any peace initiatives. In time, however, Moscow's goals change, Kelly becomes an inconvenient loose end and they decide to eliminate him. Kelly discovers this and, in a last act of desperation, decides to assassinate the pope, who is visiting England.
    In the final scene, Kelly manages to get into a chapel where the pope is alone, praying. When Kelly, gun in hand, approaches His Holiness, the pope says to him, quite calmly, "You are Father Harry Cussane."
    "You are mistaken," the killer replies. "I am Mikhail Kelly. Strolling player of sorts."
    "You are Father Harry Cussane," the pope says relentlessly. "Priest then, priest now, priest eternally. God will not let you go."
    "No," Kelly shouts, "I refuse it." He aims the gun at the Holy Father and begins to squeeze the trigger.
    At that second, a policewoman who's been on Kelly's trail, bursts into the room and shoots Kelly twice. He falls to the floor, mortally wounded. The pontiff then kneels beside his would-be assassin and gently takes the gun from his hand. He says to him, "I want you to make an act of contrition. Say after me: O my God, who art infinitely good in thyself ..."
    The gunman says, "Oh my God ..." and then dies. (In the book, while both versions of the expression include a capital "G" on God, they are distinguished by the "O" in the pope's use of the phrase and the "Oh" in the gunman's use of it.)
3. Comment on this: There is a 17th-century devotional classic titled The Practice of the Presence of God, written by a lay monk named Nicholas Herman but known in the monastery as Brother Lawrence. He was assigned to work in the kitchen of the monastery. He gave himself to paying attention to God's presence even while going about his kitchen duties. He found himself more and more able to do this and eventually found "That time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I enjoy God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament."
Responding to the News
This is a good time to review how you reverence God in your daily life, including in the verbal expressions you use.
Closing Prayer

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." --Psalm 19:14