As you read this, our nation is preparing to mark the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.

 

That terrorist attack caused the death of nearly 3,000 people from 90 different nations. 55 soldiers in the Pentagon were killed, but the rest of the victims were civilians – including 343 fire fighters, 23 police officers, 37 Port Authority officers, and 15 paramedics. More than 6,000 people were injured. But even as I cite statistics, I am struck that the loss of life was incalculable.

 

We all remember where we were when we heard of the attack, just as Americans in the 40’s remember where they were when they heard of the attack upon Pearl Harbor. I was riding my bike to Geneva listening to a walkman. I was on a lonely stretch of the path. There was no one around. I remember stopping to cry, then feeling an urgent need to return to the security of “civilization”.

 

Probably too, we all remember what we thought or felt when we heard of the attack. For many, it was stark fear. Was this the end, or just the beginning? For others, the problem of evil was raised. Why is evil allowed to wreak such havoc? For me, I experienced, along with elements of these things, a tremendous sense of insecurity, not just national insecurity, but personal insecurity – as though the world was not a safe place to live anymore, as I supposed. I quickly realized that I had lulled myself into a false sense of security. That is easy enough to do, since the boundary markers have fallen for us in pleasant places. In fact, the world is not a safe place to live. I could cite more statistics…

 

As the anniversary of 9/11 recalls to us, among other things, that insecurity is a real and unchangeable feature of human existence, it should also recall to us that our faith is equal to that insecurity. It proclaims amidst that insecurity that Jesus Christ has secured for us eternal life, that in him and through him all things will, finally, “hold together.” And so we recall too at this time that the victims of 9/11 now know security. We commend them to God’s care in Jesus Christ.