9-11 Remembrance
September 8, 2002
INTRODUCTION
Each of us has a story…
Where we were…
How we heard…
What we felt.
Each of us has as story…and each story is interesting. Over this past holiday weekend, I sat with Kim’s family around the dinner table, and one of the things we talked about was how each one of us first heard the news on Tuesday, September 11.
My story:
For me, it was a few minutes before 8:00 and Kim and I were actually still at home, getting a rather slow start on a new day. The phone rang. It was my mom. She suggested we turn on the TV because the World Trade Center was on fire. Sure enough smoke was pouring out of the North tower. I was just starting to say to Kim, “Do you see how close that airplane is flying?” But even before I could complete my sentence that plane had crashed into the South tower.
Soon there was video footage of the Pentagon on fire. Reports of another plane missing. Kim and I both were really afraid. Confused. Sad. Worried about those still inside the buildings. I remember we sat on the sofa and prayed together.
I kept asking over and over, “What’s going on?”
Still glued to the TV, five minutes after 9:00 the north tower fell.
I looked at Kim and said, “I’ve got to get to the church!” Once here, I prayed with the secretaries.
Then I went next door to the public grade school.
I prayed with the administration and staff of Holmes School.
We planned a service here at the church.
Many of you were here. That night we just made a big circle in here and prayed.
We formed groups and we talked. We told our stories.
Each of us was affected.
Each of us has a story.
In the days following the attack on America, I remember picking up the Bible in search of a story of someone that could possibly relate.
Jeremiah’s story:
For some reason I thought about this guy named Jeremiah and a book he wrote called Lamentations. Even though it’s only 5 chapters long, Lamentations wasn’t a portion of the Bible I had ever studied very intensely.
But I knew from reading it before that Lamentations was a sad, sad funeral song written for the city of Jerusalem after it was destroyed in 586 B.C.
And I knew that Jeremiah had been an eye-witness of all the destruction. So I thought if anyone could relate to what had just happened on September 11, it would probably be him.
And as I read his story in light of the terrorist attacks here, I was amazed by how vividly Jeremiah’s writings put our feelings into words.
I got into the first chapter and read things like this:
Jerusalem’s streets, once thronged with people, are silent now. Like a widow broken with grief, she sits alone in her mourning… (1:1)
Man, that sounds like New York!
…She sobs through the night; tears run down her cheeks… (1:2)
…All her beauty and her majesty are gone… (1:6)
…the fairest city of Israel lies in the dust of the earth… (2:1)
This really got me…
…And now in the midst of all Jerusalem’s sadness she remembers happy bygone days. She thinks of all the precious joys she had before her mocking enemy struck her down… (1:7)
An enemy striking a city - I thought, wow, this guy can really relate!
Jeremiah was one of God’s most eloquent prophets. He was Jewish so Jerusalem was the capital city of his country, the religious and cultural center of his world.
The army from the empire of Babylon attacked Jerusalem in 588 B.C. and the battle continued for 18 months. But all of the citizens of the city remained walled in the entire time. Food shortage became so severe that mothers actually killed and ate their own children. Finally the Babylonians broke through the city walls and poured into the city. The Judean army tried to escape, but the Babylonians caught up to them and captured Zedekiah, king of Judah. They executed Zedekiah’s sons in his presence then sent off to Babylon in chains. The Babylonians proceeded to burn every building in the city, including the Jewish temple that Solomon had built, but not before they had killed all of the priests inside the sanctuary. Then the majority of the Jews were carted off to be slaves in far-away places.
I read a little further and he made me think of how the Al Queda terrorists probably viewed the events:
(They) scoff and shake their heads and say, "Is this the city called ’Most Beautiful in All the World,’ and ’Joy of All the Earth’?"
All your enemies deride you. They hiss and grind their teeth and say, "We have destroyed her at last! Long have we waited for this hour, and it is finally here! With our own eyes we’ve seen her fall." (2:15-16)
Jerusalem was now a smoldering heap of rubble and Jeremiah had seen the whole thing unfold. And as he surveys all that is around him, he is reduced to tears:
My eyes flow day and night with never-ending streams of tears because of the destruction of my people. (3:48)
The joy of our hearts has ended; our dance has turned to death.
Our glory is gone. The crown is fallen from our head. (5:15-16)
I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken, my spirit poured out, as I see what has happened to my people…
In all the world has there ever been such sorrow? O Jerusalem, what can I compare your anguish to? How can I comfort you? For your wound is deep as the sea. Who can heal you? (2:11, 13)
(All Scriptures above from the Living Bible)
Who can heal you? A very important question. A question that bears repeating in the aftermath of 9/11.
O, New York City, who can heal you?
O, Washington D.C., who can heal you?
O, families of the passengers of American Airlines Flights 11 and 77
O, families of United Airlines Flights 175 and 93, who can heal you?
O, country, these United States of America, who can heal you?
I was amazed to find just how well Jeremiah could relate to the post 9-11 situation. And I was even more amazed to see what he tells us about finding God in perilous times:
Lam 3:19-26
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
(from New International Version)
Jeremiah says, “The pain runs deep, the destruction is overwhelming – our world is forever changed - but I know God can help us. Only He can help us in perilous times. Why would Jeremiah believe such a thing?
For one…
1. God is the God of hope
v.21 – he says…
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have a hope…
Even though everything around me lies in a heap, and countless lives have been lost …
Even though everything I knew and loved has come crashing down, I have a hope.
How can Jeremiah say this? How can he be so confident that tomorrow will hold a brighter day? It was only because he believed in Someone not just in some thing. Based on God’s promises to help his people, Jeremiah could have hope.
His hope was the kind of hope that had seen everything and endured everything, and still had not given up. His hope was not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; Jeremiah’s hope was in the power of God.
Some may have thought September 11 would lead our country to despair. It didn’t. The events of that day galvanized us to do good and to band together, and to see a better kind of tomorrow. Largely because we put our hope in God.
In spite of what has happened, do you have a hope?
One year later, after all you’ve been through personally as well, could your outlook be characterized as hopeful.
If not, God wants to give you hope. It’s yours for the taking.
Jeremiah could also be confident God would help because…
2. He is the God of love
v. 22
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail; they are new every morning…
Because of his great love we are not consumed – in other words, Jeremiah says it is only because of God’s tremendous love for his people that all residents of Jerusalem are not completely destroyed. The destruction was great – but God would not let the destruction be complete.
As we think through the reports of the tragedy on 9-11 we cannot help but see God’s loving compassion again and again.
At the World Trade Center, over 47,000 of the 50,000 people who work there got out in time. At the Pentagon, which also employs around 50,000 people, less than 200 died.
United Airlines, Flight 93, perhaps targeted to destroy the U.S. Capitol building crashes in rural Pennsylvania.
We all know God didn’t bring this tragedy.
Instead his loving compassion shows up all around it.
It’s only because of his love that any of us are alive.
Are you confident that God loves you? If not, I want you to know you can be.
Someone once wrote:
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would
be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring and a
sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen.
He can live anywhere in the universe, and He
chose your heart.
Face it, He’s crazy
about you.
TRANSITION: He’s the God of hope, and the God of love. Jeremiah goes on to say, he’ll count on God for help because also…
3. He is the God of faithfulness
v. 23 – words that would one day make a great hymn…
Great is your faithfulness…
Faithfulness is something we really want from God. It’s important.
I was dating a girl when I graduated from college. She went to live down near St. Louis, and I came to live up here near Chicago. We talked frequently on the phone, and saw each other when we could. To make things all the more interesting, my roommate up here was dating her roommate down there. Talk about weird.
One time after my roommate made a trip to St. Louis he said, “I don’t think she’s exactly being faithful to you while you’re apart.” I was a little hurt, but after confirming what he said, I ended the relationship. I wanted to be with someone I could trust – like Kim.
We all want a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse to remain faithful. To not turn their backs and cheat on us.
God is the most faithful of all lovers. He loves you just like you are, and He’ll never stop loving you for another.
Jeremiah could look through the tragedy and the destruction in his city and still trust God. Because He knew what God was like.
2 Timothy 2:13
If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself (NLT)
Despite all that has happened. You can trust Him. Trust Him with your life.
Do you trust Him?
TRANSITION: Jeremiah knew one other reason why God would help…
4. He is the God of salvation
v. 26
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
This week’s TIME magazine has a touching article about 31-year old Genelle Guzman. Genelle was the last of just four people caught in the debris of the Twin Towers to be found alive.
After the planes hit the World Trade Center, Genelle was descending a stair case from the 64th floor of the North Tower. Steel beams weakend to their breaking point. Solid concrete was pulverized. But somehow her body found an air pocket.
Her right leg pinned under heavy concrete pillars. Her head caught between stacks of wreckage. Somehow still alive
For twenty-seven hours Guzman lay trapped and seriously injured.
In recent months before the attacks Genelle had started attending the church called Brooklyn Tabernacle, and was wanting to get her life turned around. So while she was stuck in the rubble, she started to pray and sleep on and off and pray – she’d trail off into sleep – wake up and pray some more.
Shortly after noon on Wednesday the 12th, she hears voices. So she screams as loud as she can, “I’m here! HEY, I’M RIGHT HERE!” A rescue worker responds, "Do you see the light?" She did not. She takes a piece of concrete and bangs it against a broken stairway overhead—probably the same structure that had saved her life. The searchers find the noise.
Genelle wedges her hand through a crack in the wall, and feels someone grab it. She hears a voice say, "I’ve got you," and Genelle Guzman said, "OH GOD, THANK YOU.”
“It takes 20 long minutes, and then she is saved.” (TIME Magazine, 9/11/02, p. 38)
In many ways, Genelle Guzman represents the plight of all people. We are buried under an enormous mess of spiritual black marks – ways we have wronged our perfect God - the Bible calls these things sins. We have no hope of freeing ourselves. We are truly stuck. In need of rescue.
But by admitting the need to be forgiven – by reaching out and saying, “God, help me! I can’t get out of this unless you save me,” we can be confident that he hears and helps.
God saves us through His Son. He is the God of salvation.
CONCLUSION
Many of you have heard that a 20-foot-tall cross consisting of two metal beams was found in the rubble that fell from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
A 47-year old laborer named Frank Silecchia found the cross standing almost upright two days after the towers toppled.
During the clean-up rescue workers frequently made pilgrimages to pray or meditate near the cross. Some etched messages on it.
On Wednesday, October 11, workers hoisted the cross atop a 40-foot-high foundation where it stands at Ground Zero in New York City.
It serves as a lasting tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
And a powerful symbol for those of us who still live today.
The cross is a symbol of hope – Jesus rose from the dead after dying there and he promises life after death to us also
– a symbol of God’s love – Jesus died in our place – he died for all the things we have done wrong
– a symbol of God’s faithfulness – he wasn’t going to abandon us
– and a symbol of salvation – Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves
God wants you to be able to connect with the story of what happened at Ground Zero. He wants you to mourn this week with those who mourn. And to remember those that gave their lives in the rescue effort.
But in an even greater way he wants you to connect with the story of the cross – where his Son, Jesus, died.
Jesus died in a rescue effort to give you a new life. One where you can know forgiveness, and peace and purpose. One where you don’t have to fear what evil can do to you today, because you have a promise of victorious tomorrow.
Have you put out your hand to say, “Hey, God! Over here, please. I’m stuck! Help me, I need it.”
If not, how about today?
