There are events that are forever etched into our memories.\u00a0 Events that simply recalling the event, or the date, takes us back to the moment when we first heard the news.\u00a0 For many of our elders it was the attack on Pearl Harbor, for my generation it was President Kennedy\u2019s assassination, or Neil Armstrong\u2019s first steps on the moon.\u00a0 We can instantly recall where we were and\/or what we were doing.\u00a0 September 11, 2001 is another such event.\u00a0 I was serving as the Vicar of St. Alban\u2019s Church in Chiefland.\u00a0 I remember vividly watching in stunned silence as the airliners flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the equally frightening news of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the Pentagon.\u00a0 The day was a blur between planning a prayer service at St. Alban\u2019s for that evening to numerous phone calls from my Army Reserve unit informing us that we were on alert and be ready to report within twenty-four hours.\u00a0 My daughter, Lora, was a freshman at Florida Southern \u2013 that created another set of concerns for Lynn and me.\u00a0 The list goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here we are twenty years later, and the memory of that day is still painfully seared into our consciousness.\u00a0 I found watching the programs recalling that day on the History Channel overwhelming and difficult.\u00a0 So, here we are on the morning after wondering what does it mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the greatest gifts God has given to us is the gift of memory.\u00a0 It sustains our relationships and reminds us that ultimately, we are never truly alone.\u00a0 It has the ability to keep us alive and out of harm\u2019s way.\u00a0 Our memory is at the core of our education and learning.\u00a0 In other words, memory is necessary for our survival and wellbeing.\u00a0 Our collective memory has become distorted.\u00a0 The pervasive overwhelming unity that marked the days and weeks after the attacks is gone.\u00a0 The common sentiment was, \u201cWe are Americans!\u201d\u00a0 Now we are more divided that ever \u2013 hate has become the driving force in our communal life and our politics.\u00a0 This is NOT the Gospel of Jesus that we are called to live out and live into.\u00a0 The call to love is stronger than ever, if we are willing to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s important that we remember the events of September 11, 2001, and even more important that we learn from those events.\u00a0 It\u2019s important that we remember those who died, not only those who died on that horrible day, but also those who lost their lives in the twenty-year conflict that followed.\u00a0 Most importantly, we need to remember in order to work toward preventing future tragedies like this from happening again.\u00a0 We need to remember who we are, and more importantly whose we are, and live accordingly.\u00a0 We are being called to once again proclaim the Good News of God in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, on this morning after, let us be about the work of reconciliation and peace, which is at the heart of the Gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember There are events that are forever etched into our memories.\u00a0 Events that simply recalling the event, or the date, takes us back to the moment when we first heard the news.\u00a0 For many of our elders it was the attack on Pearl Harbor, for my generation it was President Kennedy\u2019s assassination, or Neil Armstrong\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homily","tag-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}