Days of Grace - 9/11/11

A sermon preached by The Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack

on September 11, 2011 at the 11am service

at the First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore, Texas.

Days of Grace

Exodus 14:19-31

Matthew 18:21-35

 What do you remember about September 11, 2001?  It was a shocking, gut-wrenching, world-changing day.  I think it’s safe to say all of us who remember that day remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time, similar to Pearl Harbor, the time when Kennedy was assassinated, when the two space shuttles blew up. 

I remember September 11^th like it was yesterday.  Living ten miles due west of the Lincoln Tunnel in Montclair, NJ, to me and my church family this was no ordinary event.  All the local TV stations were knocked out, except one.  My secretary’s husband was stuck in his office in Lower Manhattan, fortunately we were able to get him on the phone.  He was shaken up and scared to say the least.  He eventually made it home safe and sound.  This was no ordinary event; it was in our backyard. 

That evening we had a prayer service for everyone to offer comfort, prayers and solace.  The big question I heard over and over, especially from our youth, was why would God allow something like this to happen.  Where was God at work in this tragic event?

Our Exodus passage this morning describes a desperate situation the Hebrew people get into with Moses.  Pharoah finally released the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.  As they traveled to the promised land, he changed his mind and sent his army back for the Hebrews to return them to slavery.  God surrounded the Israelites with his presence to protect them from attack.  The pillar of cloud moved from the front to the rear to stand between the Hebrews and the Egyptian army as they crossed the Red Sea.  The real power and presence of God came when the Egyptian army was wiped out by the collapsing waters on either side.  The people saw God do this miraculous work to the Egyptians.  God was at work in their midst as they began their journey from slavery to freedom.

In the middle of all the loss of innocent life, what work did God do on September 11^th? 

In his book “Where Is God When It Hurts?”, author Phillip Yancy was asked after 9/11, “Where is God at a time like this?”  He answered with a question, “Where is the church at a time like this?  Where is the church when it hurts?  If the church is doing its job—binding wounds, comforting the grieving, offering food to the hungry—I don’t think people will wonder so much where God is when it hurts.  They’ll know where God is: in the presence of his people on Earth.”

What struck me about that day was that the people of New York City known to be tough and cynical, heroes emerge.  We all learned that in a time of crisis and suffering, we retreat to our spiritual roots and common humanity.  People circled whole city blocks waiting for the chance to give blood at a local hospital.  Many New York City residents allowed strangers stay in their homes that night.  There was the sound of the bagpipers playing “Amazing Grace”, the Salvation Army giving water, food and relief to those in need, the make shift memorials of pictures and candles throughout the city, and chaplains comforting grieving loved ones. We can thank them for showing us where God is when it hurts.

It’s been ten years since these attacks.  Have we been able to forgive those who sinned against us?  Jesus reminds us today in the parable of the Unforgiving Servant that God forgives our sins—but only if we forgive those who sin against us.  Jesus teaches us that God will not forgive us, “if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”(Matt. 18:35) 

How can we pursue reconciliation who have committed such violence against us?  Jesus forgave others and challenges his followers to forgive—not just seven times but seventy-seven times. (Matt 18:22)  Forgiveness is never easy to do.  But it is God who forgives and when we forgive it’s a sign of our participation in God’s larger act of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is never easy.  Just ask the mother or father whose son returned home from war in a coffin draped in the American flag.  Or the college student who is date raped and the perpetrator goes free.  Or the boy or girl who watch their mother physically abused by their father.  Forgiveness is not easy to do.  But it is God who forgives those who hurt us, and those who cause others to suffer.  Repeated forgiveness, seven times seven, holds the community together.

Through faith, we know we cannot begin to heal and recover from a traumatic event until we are able to forgive the other.  Through faith, we come to trust God will include them in his broader act of forgiveness; one that is well beyond our own abilities as hurting, tormented human beings.

How has September 11^th changed us?  After the Hebrews arrived on the shore of the Red Sea, watching the walls of water crash down upon the Egyptian army wiping them out, the scripture says that, “the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:31).  This story is the central message of the Hebrew people, handed down from one generation to the next to remind future generations of God’s enduring power and unwavering faithfulness. 

How will we hand the story of September 11^th to the next generation?  What memory of September 11^th will inspire future generations? 

The Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes, the long-serving pastor of Harvard University’s Memorial Church who died earlier this year, said after September 11^th, “The whole record of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, and the whole experience of the people of God from Good Friday down to and beyond September 11^th, suggests that faith is forged on the anvil of human adversity.  No adversity; no faith.” 

I think it is safe to say that we have all grown in some way when going through difficult times.  It was during the difficult times of my life that I grew spiritually.  When my parents divorced almost twenty years ago, I went through some difficult days, some very dark days.  But it was through that suffering and adversity, with the knowledge that God was with me no matter what, that God was at work in the circumstances of my life that I learned to forgive my mom and dad for everything.  It was then I grew and matured as a person and as a Christian. 

The memory future generations will find inspirational will be that our faith was fashioned and shaped through suffering and adversity.  They will see we were bent but not broken.  They will see we endured the hardship and suffering through contemplation, reflection, forgiveness and reconciliation.  

What will you always remember about September 11^th, 2001?  The ten anniversary of 9-11 gives us the chance to contemplate, reflect, seek forgiveness, persevere and endure leaving a living testimony to future generations that we, the citizens of the United States of America and peoples around the earth came together as one to make our world a better place; showing that our faith was forged, not destroyed, on the anvil of human adversity and tragedy.