Today is September 11, 2011. The 10th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America.It also happens to be Holy Cross Sunday in the Lutheran Church.
I have been listening to various radio shows, television broadcasts, and reading various news productions and blogs in recent weeks, with an ear for where God is being fit into this anniversary remembrance. It seems many people in the news production arena have forgotten to where many people, including the news media, turned for comfort, inner calm, and hope in the days following the attacks.
What did you hear on 9/11/01? Please pray for…. God bless America… Our thoughts and prayers go out to… Thank God for first responders…. Pray for the safety of….
To whom were people being asked to pray? Who was being asked to bless our nation? God.
God. The one God who is the Father of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
And yet, this anniversary celebration was to be put together with a secular bent? Mayor Bloomberg has deemed no prayers will be offered at the 9-11 Memorial in NYC.
Shame on those who would claim God has no place in remembrance… our sorrows, our hopes, our forgiveness, our anger, our prayers.
We could call on him then… but not now?
Good sense prevailed in some places. President Obama read from Psalms. Other mentions of prayer and God and faith are spilling into the news feeds I am finding for today. God will not be silenced.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem in the week before His crucifixion, the crowd of people shouted: (Luke 19:38-40)
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” But Jesus answered,
“I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”
God will not be silenced. The actions of the faithful speak louder than the rhetoric of politicians.
St. Andrew is participating in the Parsippany Library 9/11Tribute Exhibit. We picked up our twin towers plywood cutout and decorated it with crosses, Jewish stars, and a crescent moon and star. It is mostly filled with crosses. The only statistics I could find regarding the breakdown of the faiths of those who perished on 9/11/01 indicated that although no religious denomination records have been kept (I find this incredulous), it appears that about 500 were Jewish and about 2 dozen were Muslim. I’m guessing the rest were Christians (and/or atheists).
So on this Holy Cross Sunday, when Lutherans celebrate the faith, hope and love of Jesus, may we all remember and honor those who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
And, may we be not afraid to speak of that faith, hope and love… for God will not be silenced.
Not by terrorists, …
and not by a media machine or government leadership more concerned with being politically correct than morally straight.
Come join us for worship.
Sundays @ 8:30 and 10:45 am.St. Andrew Lutheran Church
335 Reynolds Ave.
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 887-6713
www.elcaAndy.org
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