Good evening church family,

“When the world stopped turning…” 25 years ago today, the world was a drastically different place at sundown than it had been at sunrise. 3000 people lost their lives that day. The rest of us were never the same. Unfortunately the casualties did not stop there. The suffering went on – from the effects of the toxic atmosphere at ground zero, from the subsequent military conflicts, from division and animosity and enmity, from a loss of trust and security and a loss of innocence. Half my life has been spent in the shadow of the events of that day. On September 11th, 2001, Amy and I had been celebrating our anniversary three months early, because I had enlisted in the Army and was supposed to be shipping out on September 12th. Those first days were filled with great uncertainty. My subsequent career would have been a drastically different experience had the 11th not happened.

Yet in all of this, glimpses of hope and goodness shone through on the 11th and the days that followed – heroes innumerable demonstrating incredible courage and selflessness, there were people rescued after hope had been lost, and people around the world rose up in an outpouring of love, charity, and sacrifice. And through it all, God showed Himself faithful despite the loss and grief, walking alongside His children through their loss and grief. We know through the Word that God is trustworthy, with justice and mercy, and that all will be made right in the end of all things.

I was reminded of the final stanza of the poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in the aftermath of the American Civil War called “Christmas Bells”. You probably know it more familiar as the Christmas carol based on the poem. In the midst of the darkness, the loss and the grief of that terrible war, with our trust in God we can echo Longfellow: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail. With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Christmas Bells (vs 1, 5-7)

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song  Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;  The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

(Longfellow – “Christmas Bells” 1863)

-- In faith, Pastor Eric

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” Psalm 46:1-5 NIV