Pastor’s Corner “Remembering 9/11”
Tuesday morning, I stopped by the Prince William County Administration Center to visit the two 9/11 memorials on the grounds. After I took the above photo, I read the plaque, pausing at these words: “These four pieces of steel came from the remains of the World Trade Center and are arranged to represent how they might have fallen.” As I remembered the suffering and fear of that day, I noticed how the beam on the left looks like a cross, reawakening in me the awareness that Jesus entered into the suffering of that day, and the days that have followed.
I walked up to the reflecting pool—a pentagon of Pennsylvania flagstone, framing two columns of water, and off to the side a single limestone block from the collapsed portion of the Pentagon. Twenty-two names are engraved on the wall of the pool, memorializing the men and women from Prince William County who died that day, “most of whom perished at the Pentagon.” As I prayed for them and their loved ones, I thought of the words of commendation from the Anglican burial rite:
Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servants. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, sheep of your own fold, lambs of your own flock, sinners of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.
Our God does not stand apart from the fear and sadness, the pain and violence of this world. In Jesus, He not only stands with us, but receives it all into Himself, acting in deep yet unseen ways to redeem and restore. Our confidence in this restoration is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus, “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).
As Christians, twenty-five years later we remember that terror-filled time with grief and hope, yearning toward that final day when we will witness the culmination of the words of the enthroned Christ, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Until then, our part is to walk with Jesus into the suffering of this present world, sharing in word and deed the true hope given to us in Christ.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. … For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:18, 38-39)
I invite you to join me this Friday, September 11th, as I offer a brief “Liturgy of Remembrance” during our Midday Prayer service at noon at the church. I would also encourage you one day this week to visit the memorials at the Prince William County Administration Center, and perhaps pray this “Prayer for the 25th Anniversary of 9/11”.
Your Pastor in Christ,
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