Grace and Peace to you in the name of our living and loving Savior, Jesus the Christ!
As we approach the 10 year anniversary of September 11, 2001, what is your story?
On the 11th of this next month our world will pause and remember one of the more tragic moments in our nation’s history. It was not the loss of life or the visual images or the world changing aftermath that singularly made it so tragic but rather it was the cumulative effect of all of those things and more that made it so.
Each one of us has a story of that day. We know who we were with, what we were doing, where we were, why we were there and most of all how the day made us feel. Each one of those things has left an indelible mark upon our soul.
Personally, I remember getting a phone call from my father early that morning. Linden and I had just arrived in downtown Seattle, WA where I was to serve a year-long internship and my parents happened to be vacationing in Hawaii. My father, in his serious tone of voice that only a father can truly have, said “Andy, turn on the TV. There is something happening in New York.” I turned on the television and watched in sleepy eyed confusion trying to understand just what was going on. After a few moments though, I finally understood enough to hear the news broadcasters say that other un-accounted planes were in the air and that cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle could be next. It was then that I went into our room and told Linden to wake up and get dressed because we might have to leave. The day’s events unfolded much differently but one of the moments that will stick with me is of being fearful for our safety enough that I had to consider what it would mean to evacuate. I had never experienced that emotion or feeling before and I don’t want to experience it again.
Of course the impacts of that day are much deeper and wider than my own little story. Yet within that story is an element of truth for me certainly and for us in our world. That day we had to consider things that we maybe hadn’t considered since perhaps WWII. That day and days since we’ve had to look differently at our nation, our community, our neighbors not to mention our airports, our buildings and so much more.
And so on September 11th we are going to endeavor to discover the truth of that day through your words and those of scripture. Between now and then I will be soliciting your reflections to play during worship in a kind of video montage of your stories of that day’s events. What do you remember? Who were you with? What were you doing? Who did you want to call, hold, be next to at that moment? And would you be willing to share?
If you are, please let me know and I will come for a visit and we’ll remember and pray together. Meanwhile we will all prepare for that day by remembering so that those days events might not be repeated ever again.
In Peace,
Pastor Andy
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