Twelve years ago, our nation was shaken to its very core. We will remember September 11, 2001 during our worship service on Sunday with this reflection, written by LCMC pastor Brian Crocker. ----------------------------- Dorothy Sayers, a British author, playwright and scholar who was a contemporary of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, wrote in one of her many essays: “The people who are most discouraged…by the barbarity…of human behavior are those who think highly of humans as a product of evolution, and who still cling to an optimistic belief in the civilizing influence of progress and enlightenment.” I quote her not in order to say we must necessarily take a pessimistic view of humans, but rather a realistic view. Christianity, after all, is not the cheeriest view of human existence; just the view which is truest to the facts. And in spite of the active reality of evil in this world – a reality from which we Americans were remarkably sheltered between 1946 and September 11, 2001 – Christianity affirms that God’s work is done in his active and positive effort to wrench a real good out of a real evil. The response of the citizens of this great land to the horrific reality of evil active on our shores on September 11, 2001, was overwhelmingly good, which tells me that this nation is still, even if never a “Christian nation”, certainly inhabited by faithful Christians; people who live a cruciform life; which is to say, a life that is marked by suffering and hatred from the world, but a life that pushes on in hope and faith. As our Lord Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” [John 15:19] As we pause to remember and reflect today, let us remember that “…here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” [Heb.13:14] And “…our citizenship is in heaven, and from heaven we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… [Philip.3:20] Let us pray: Almighty and Eternal God, Creator and Lord of all – we give you thanks for the courageous souls you have called to labor for our safety and peace. We remember with gratitude those who surrendered their lives that others might live. By your strong arm, restrain the powers of hatred and wickedness; call all to repentance; and above all, grant us to live in faith in your Son,all the days of our pilgrimage through this world, until you call us to your eternal city, promised through your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 20:00:02 +0000
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