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"God is For Us" Today marks the fourth anniversary of the horrific attack on America when terrorists commandeered airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. We were heartsick as a nation. We struggled with questions of evil, and tried to figure out where God was in such a time. Who can forget the troubling images we witnessed on our television sets that day and the days, weeks and months afterward. We were horrified when the towers exploded, and then fell. We were overcome with grief as families held up photos of loved ones before rescue teams, hoping against hope that they would be found alive, or be found at all. Two months after 911, Kristi and I, along with our girls stood just blocks from Ground Zero. The smell of smoke still hung in the air. Form a distance we could still see the jagged piece of metal that once was part of the structure’s framework jutting at an angle above the smoldering ruins. My middle turned. My heart froze. I will never forget what we saw, or what I felt. On that same trip, we stood on a grassy knoll where impromptu memorials of photos, flowers and other mementos lay overlooking the gaping hole in the Pentagon. The images and the feelings are still with us, even now, four years later. But today some of us can hardly bear these memories, mostly because we are overwhelmed now with a different kind of attack--nature’s force that reduced a large portion of the gulf coast in Mississippi to rubble, and submerged over 80% of one of our nation’s great cities. We’ve been watching again, as we did then, our television sets. And our hearts have been gripped again by the despair and the sadness. People who would not or, more importantly could not evacuate New Orleans crying out for help as the flood waters rose. Those who found shelter in the Superdome quickly ran out of water, food, and other necessities. Some who needed medical care, some who died waiting for help to arrive. We watched in horror as it took days to organize relief efforts. And we saw the anger and the frustration drive desperate people to do desperate things. Again we are struggling with questions of why such things happen. And as people shot as boats and helicopters attempting rescues, we were again forced to try and understand unexplainable evil. These two cataclysmic events have been linked in our minds. Very different in both nature and scope, they are none-the-less similar--involving mass human suffering and destruction. Added to the heaviness we feel over the devastation of Katrina and the floods, and the remembrance of the attack of terrorists on September 11th, are the personal battles we wage as we confront suffering, pain and grief that has personally visited many of us recently. Several in our church family are riding out the turbulent waves of grief. Just this week, with the sudden loss of Chuck, a healthy, robust 41 year old husband, father and friend stricken down—and I wonder, perhaps you do too, why? I know a number of you have recently lost family members, or have families that are very sick. I know there are several in our congregation who are fighting life-threatening illnesses. When our friends and family members become sick, we cannot help but wonder why? Why now. Why this. We struggle to figure out why Norva Jean has yet to awaken from her surgeries two weeks ago today. Why? I have a nephew, my brother’s oldest son who has been in a coma since an accident three weeks ago today. Why? Last week, a little three year old girl from the church I served before coming here drowned in a lake outing with her family. I remember when she was born, and the first day her mother brought her and her twin sister to church. And I wonder why? Earlier in the summer I lost a good friend, younger than me, who died following an elective surgery. Why? Last week I spoke with a friend from seminary who is pastoring and trying to offer comfort to his small community torn apart by an accident that claimed the lives of three young, energetic teen aged girls. His question? Why. Many of you have similar questions, I’m sure. Your list, perhaps longer than mine. And tell me, don’t you wonder? Why do terrible things happen? Have you ever felt as though there is so much tragedy, pain, suffering, evil--that the world is against us, sometimes? That the high waves of tragedy and the depths of despair are flooding over us. That there are powers and forces that we cannot conquer? Do some of you recall a poem that circulated following the 911 attack on the Internet, and later was recorded as a song called “Meet me in the Stairwell?” It was written by Stacey Randall of Missouri. A part of the poem read..
“You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the
news on September 11, 2001. Neither will I. I was on the 110th floor in a smoke
filled room with a man who called his wife to say "Good-Bye." I held his fingers
steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, "Honey, I am not going to make
it, but it is OK...I am ready to go." I was in Texas, Kansas, London. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me?”
The poem reminds us that God is nearest in the midst of tragedy, responding to human need. No matter what it is that is “against us.” God’s love will not be kept back. It’s love that not only is felt, but can be seen. Can be identified. I saw God’s love in those moments and days following the attacks of 911. God was not only in the stairwell with those in their final moments. God’s love continued to be exhibited in the outpouring of help, compassion and sacrifice in the hours, days, weeks and months afterward. Remember the volunteers who sifted debris by hand for months so that the smallest bone fragment might be recovered? Why? Why did they do that? Do you remember those who adopted children orphaned by the attacks? Did you ever wonder why? Do you remember the outpouring of love and donations that poured in from around the country, around the globe? Of course you do, you were no doubt a part of that outpouring. Why? Why did you do it? The same thing is happening now, in the wake of Katrina and the floods. Volunteers working day and night to resettle those displaced from their homes. Why? Others offering medical aid. Did you ask why? Others handing out water and other necessities. Clergy and counselors offering emotional support. Why? Again, people are donating funds to help in the relief and recovery efforts. News is giving is outpacing even the 911 donations. No doubt you have given. Why? Why are our hearts so moved to help? Why is it that the worst of times bring out such a flood of compassion? Why? Why do we rush to the side of our friends when we hear the terrible news that they have lost someone they love dearly? Why do we reach out? Why in the face of nearly every tragedy is there a response of love, care and compassion? You see, we’re good at asking why when it comes to the tragic and terrible things that happen. But we sometimes don’t think to ask why when it comes to the responses of love and goodness that follow. We tend to dwell on what is against us. And forget who is for us. And how God’s love is at work in the midst of the worst of times. That is what gives us hope. That the tragic will not go unanswered. That evil will not win out. That brokenness and suffering and death are not God’s will. For God seeks to redeem in love all that is broken—seeks to bear up all who are in pain. What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Listen again to the list. Tribulation? No! Distress? No! Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? No! Danger or sword? NO. NEVER! “No! In all these things, we are more than conquerors through God who loves us. “ Paul goes on to say that he is convinced, CONVINCED that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Do you hear it? Do you know what that means? If God is for us, who can be against us? Do you hear it? If God is for us, who or what will ever prevent God’s love and immediate presence in every time of trouble? Do you believe it? If God is for us… If GOD IS FOR US…we will never be out of the reach of God’s arms of love. When you feel overwhelmed, when you feel despair, when you feel as though your rescue may never come… Remember, God is for us. God is for you. Loves you. And seeks to make whole what is broken. Works to create newness out of the pain. Promises to redeem life out of death. God is for us. And nothing will ever, ever stop that! |
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