Episode Descriptor The night Ground Zero went silent, one chaplain heard something bigger than the destruction: the world praying. Tim Dobbins reveals how the chaos of 9/11 became a moment of stillness, spiritual clarity, and unexpected hope, and why that silence helped save lives. Philip Patrick and Tim discuss what it felt like to move through Ground Zero after the towers fell, where the dark, ash-filled landscape, the rescue-to-recovery shift, and the sheer weight of trauma changed everything. Tim explains the difference between Kronos and Kairos, ordinary clock time versus sacred time, and how kneeling in the wreckage became the point where those two realities collided. In this episode you’ll discover: Why “be still and know that I am God” took on a completely different meaning in the aftermath of 9/11How prayer functioned not as escape, but as action for victims, first responders, and even the person prayingWhat it meant to serve as a “first responder to first responders”How Tim used gifts, skills, and calling to make decisions in the middle of catastropheWhy anger, grief, and the question “how could God allow this?” are part of the conversation, not obstacles to it Show Notes Philip also shares his own experience watching the attacks from Brooklyn and admitting how prayer, even from a self-described “foxhole atheist,” became his response. That tension between faith and doubt gives the episode its emotional charge, while Tim’s grounded, compassionate presence turns it into something deeper than reflection - it becomes a lesson in how to show up for suffering without trying to fix it.The episode also follows the human connections that formed in the rubble, including Harald Franzen, a young German photographer who became part of Tim’s circle that night, and the extraordinary rescue of survivors like Officer Will Jimeno, Sergeant John McLaughlin, and Janelle Guzman McMillan. Tim describes the joy of hearing a living voice rise from the pile, and why those moments felt like resurrection breaking through the dark.Essential listening if you want to understand 9/11 not just as history, but as lived trauma, spiritual endurance, and the kind of presence that can steady other people when the world has fallen apart. Grace At Ground Zero Hosted by The Reverend Timothy Dobbins with Philip Patrick.A Jonsan Media Production. Websites Grace At Ground Zero WebsiteJonsan Media Website Credits Podcast Producer: John McBlainCreative Director: Barbara BrunsClinical Advisor: Anne Freund, Ph.D.Website Production: Matthew DobbinsClip Photographer: Antonio Littles Music: Air des Musettes by Andre Campra.Recorded by Barbara Bruns and Thompson Brass Ensemble.Copyright © 2014 Barbara Bruns and Philip Swanson. All photos Copyright © 2026 Timothy DobbinsExcept "A Priest at Ground Zero" and "Churchyard" by Harald Franzen Copyright © 2026 Harald Franzen. Reproduced with permission. Thank you: Molly Coffin, Allison Miller Dobbins, Bill Bruns, Dan Dobbins, John Dobbins. The Grace at Ground Zero Podcast is produced by Timothy Dobbins and Philip Patrick. Copyright © 2026 by Timothy Dobbins and Philip Patrick. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this audio is strictly prohibited.
