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September 11, 2001 was a day that has been etched into the consciousness of our country. September 11, 2001 has joined other dates like November 22, 1963 when John F. Kennedy was killed and December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The date brings memories. Most people can remember what they were doing on September 11, 2001 just like ten years after most people knew what they were doing on November 22, 1963 and December 7, 1941. I still remember one of my Sunday school teachers sharing her memories of December 7, 1941. That day was a Sunday and after church she went to a movie. When she left the theatre she learned of the Pearl Harbor attack and that the United States was at war. Imagine your world changing in the short time it takes to go to a movie. Thats what happened on September 11, 2001. In a hour and a half our world changed. At 8:46 a.m. Eastern Time an airplane was flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center; at 9:03 a.m. an airplane was flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:37 a.m. an airplane was flown into the Pentagon. At 10:06 a.m. an airliner crashed in Pennsylvania. That airplane had been hijacked, but the people on the airplane prevented the plane from being flown into the White House or the US Capitol. This was the first attack on the mainland of the United States by a foreign organization since the War of 1812. Today I want to first look back at that dayfor our memories are precious. But I dont want to leave us with just our memories. I want to look to future with hope. Ill conclude today by sharing what the Scriptures teach us about living into the vision God has for our world. As I begin I want to encourage you to get out this brochure in the bulletin. In this brochure is a place to take notes, we have prayer requests, and a daily devotion for your used. This week I shared a devotion about compassion. I believe you will be blessed if you use it.

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Most of us have a 9-11 story. Today is the day to share it with someone. During our fellowship time, find someone and tell that person what you were doing on the morning of September 11. It was a Tuesday morning, a beautiful September day of sunshine and low humidity. Amy, Hannah and I were living in Rochester. That morning I drove over to the church I served in Plainview. As I was driving over I heard a report that a plane had flew into the World Trade Center. I assumed at the time that a small plane that had gotten lost. Just before September 11 a small plane had accidentally flew into a skyscraper. Tuesday was the start of my work week as I was taking Mondays off at the time. The first thing I did on the start of my work week was pray and read Scripture. I had a special spot in the child care space of the church building. That space had a very comfortable rocking chair. I pulled out my Bible, sat in the rocking chair, and started reading Exodus. The phone rang. I usually didnt answer the phone while I was praying and reading Scripture. It rang again, and again. I went to answer it. It was Amy. She was sobbing. They are attacking us, she cried. My first thought was someone had attacked our country with a nuclear bomb. She went on to tell me what happened. I didnt have a TV at the church so I went on the Internet to find out more. I left the church to go talk to my best pastor friend in Plainview. His name was Chuck Coggins. We prayed together every week. Though we looked at God differently we loved and cared for each other. When I arrived at his church the two of us started talking about what we could do. We decided we need to do something among our churches. We drove over to the Catholic Church. The priest was a close friend of both of ours. His name was Don Connelly. I had a special place in my heart for Father Don. He had baptized Hannah just four months earlier

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during worship in the sanctuary of the Presbyterian Church. That was a remarkable display of ecumenical relationships. When we arrived at his house we turned on the television. We didnt talk much. There wasnt much to say. We saw the second tower collapse. I have a seminary friend who lives in Brooklyn. I saw him last week when I was in Manhattan. He told me that when he heard about the attacks he walked over to Brooklyn Harbor. He saw both of the towers fall. When the second tower collapsed he turned to a friend and said, a lot of people just died. What he saw from the Brooklyn Harbor was the same event that three of us pastors were watching on television in the rectory of the Catholic church in Plainview, Minnesota. Soon afterwards I looked at Father Don and told him, were going to have a community service tonight and were going to hold it in your sanctuary. We did. What else could we do when our hearts were breaking? We needed to gather as a town to worship, pray and sing. For the rest of the day we got the word out about the service. The sanctuary was packed that night. We sang and prayed and cried. Each of us preachers talked for five minutes. It was a beautiful moment full of compassion and pathos and care. The best of our humanity was on display in worship to God. Remember right after September 11 how our country came together. This spirit of compassion and pathos and care united us as citizens of the country and even more as citizens of the world. Our politicians were operating at their best level. Remember the beautiful speech that President Bush gave at the Washington Cathedral. Remember President Bush taking a bullhorn and putting his arm around the head of the New York City fire department while they stood in the debris at Ground Zero. Remember our political leaders singing God Bless America on the

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steps of the capitol. For a few days it seemed we were united as a country. This was America at its best. When the human heart is in pain it can reach out in compassion and care, but it can also reach out in anger. That anger was present too. It came out in that worship service we had on September 11 in Plainview. During the service one pastor shared that he was having problems with Muslims at that moment. Despite the spirit of unity that was taking place the need for security overtook us. This response overrode compassion. A month later our country went to war in Afghanistan. By justwar standards we could understand why we went to war. We had been attacked and were now attacking back. I doubt when the war was started that anyone thought that American troops would still be fighting ten years later. Over 100,000 American men and women soldiers are in Afghanistan today. Weve given that country over 50 billion in civilian and military aid. Over 1,600 Americans have been killed. Then a few years later our country went to war in Iraq. The mission was based on a desire to rid the country of weapons of mass destructionthough no such weapons were ever found. Over 50,000 troops still occupy Iraq. On a personal level Amy and I lived on pins and needles for a year when Amys son served as a medic in Iraq. More than twice as many Americans have been killed in those two wars as were killed in the September 11 attacks. Think about the rupture in relationships between Christians and Muslims across the world. Think about the high personal cost it takes to fly as a passenger in an airplane in the United States. Every time I go through security at an airport I think that Osama bin Laden must be happy. Think about the civil liberties that have been taken away. You can hardly walk in

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some cities without being filmed by a camera. The cost of anger and vengeance has been very high. I lived in New York City for three-and a half years. Thats where I went to seminary. I visited the Twin Towers often. Whenever someone came to visit me I would take them there. Ive been to the restaurant called Windows on the World at the top of the north tower. Even after I left the city in February 1993 I returned often. Ive been to Ground Zero three timesthe last time was last week. It was hard to see what was happening at Ground Zero when we were there last week. The area is under construction and surrounded by a fence. We could see the new Freedom Tower is over 50 stories right now. Its going to be 1776 feet high. We found a museum that is being run by the families of the victims of 9-11. I had never been there before. Theyve displayed memorabilia from the World Trade Center. My stomach turned somersaults when I saw some of what is on display. We saw a charred window of one of the planes, a boarding pass of one of the passengers on a plane. We watched a video that shared the names of all the people who had been killed. In the lower level of the museum we had an opportunity to fill out a card. Thousands of people have filled out this card. On the card I wrote, we must never give up on creating a world based on love, peace and compassion. I thought it would be meaningful for you to have this cardso I had Jennifer make one for you. I encourage you to take this card and fill it out and put it in a space where you can see it every day. When I go near Ground Zero I feel like Im on holy ground. Theres a spirit in the air. I feel like taking off my shoes like Moses did at the burning bush. Its a place for reverence and reflection.

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We look back because we must never forget what happened; we must never forget what happened; we must never forget what happened. But we cant stay in the past. We must also contemplate the future. The weekend after September 11, 2001 my family didnt have much to do. All of the football games were canceled. So I spent much of the weekend playing with Hannah. She was ten months old at the time. As I played with her and held her I wondered, what type of world will she grow up in. She didnt know what was going on. She was just happy and bubbly while the rest of us were sad. I wondered if we as adults were going to give her a world where these type of disasters would happen frequently. If the ten year anniversary of September 11 does anything to us I hope it stokes a desire in us to create a better world for our kids. Just like we must never forget, we must never give up. We must never give up in our efforts at creating a better world for our kids; we must never give up in our efforts at creating a better world for our kids; we must never give up in our efforts at creating a better world for our kids. Amen A question confronts us. How do we do that? How do we create a world for our children and grandchildren where the values of love and peace and forgiveness are instilled in our culture? The Scriptures show us how. Peter asked Jesus, Lord if another member of the church sins against me, how often I should forgive? The question is not about relationships in a church because when Peter asked the question the church didnt exist. Peter wanted to know how often he was called to forgive his brother, or sister. Or really his friend. Its a question that Im sure you and I have thought about. How often do I forgive?

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Before Jesus could respond Peter answered his own question. He said as many as seven times. Peter was throwing out a number that seemed high to him. In Luke Peter asked if he should forgive seven times in one day. That number seemed to be high. As he often did, Jesus changed the dynamic of the story. Not seven times, he responded. I tell you seventy-seven times. Some people even think Jesus meant seventy times seven times. Thats 490 times. Its as if Jesus was saying, if you start counting how often you forgive, then youve missed the purpose of forgiveness. Forgiveness isnt something to count. Its not like doing push-ups where we punish ourselves to do 25 and then were done for the day. Jesus wanted his disciples. That is you and me. Remember a disciple is a follower of Jesus. He wanted his followers to always forgive. He wanted forgiveness to be a natural part of our being. Some of usespecially many of us menhave bought into the idea that forgiveness is for wimps. When we forgive people we become soft. If we want to be strongand who doesnt want to be strongthen we dont forgive. To be strong we seek revenge. At some level this might make senseuntil we think about Jesus. One of the most powerful of many powerful moments in Jesus life was when he was dying on the cross. Jesus had the power to strike fear into any of his executioners. He could have rained down thunder and hail. But he gave up this type of power for a more enduring power. He looked at his executioners and said, Abba, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. If Jesus was preaching from this pulpit today he would condemn the killings at Ground Zero and the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania with all of the strength he had. Then he would ask people to forgive.

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To forgive doesnt mean we forget, or that we tolerate, or that we put ourselves into a situation where we would be hurt in the future. Forgiveness doesnt mean we dont protect our country or protect ourselves. Forgiving means that we follow the best path of the gospelthat we illustrate the love of Jesus Christ. The world would be a better place if all of usChristians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, Viking fans, Packer fans, Gopher fans, Badger fans would learn to forgive. When Osama bin Laden grew up in Saudi Arabia he developed a hatred for the United States. At first he was on the side of the U.S. He fought for Afghanistan in their war with the Russians as part of the mujahideen. The United States supported the mujahideen. But when the United States invaded Iraq in the first Gulf War and then put troops in Saudi Arabia he changed his mind. He chose to respond to his pain with hate and vengeance. Imagine how different the world would be if he had chosen the path of forgiveness. One manone terrible choice. That choice reverberates into our life today. To create a world for our children that isnt full of disasters like September 11 we all have to take the courageous path of forgiveness. The church is called to be a forgiveness station. Lets be honest. Its hard to forgive. We come to worship sometimes battered and wearied by the circumstances of our life. In worship we encounter something majestic and profound. We encounter grace. Its a grace that Jesus gave while he died on the cross and a grace that Jesus illustrated all throughout his ministry. Because we need this grace so much were called to come to a forgiveness station every weekwe call that forgiveness station worship. We come to experience and worship a God that is beyond ourselves.

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Just like Osama bin Laden we have a choice. When were injured we can either forgive or we can choose to throw a rock. God wants us to forgive, but God will let us throw rocks. September 11 is a day to remember the best and worst of the human condition. It is a day to reflect upon how we are going to choose to live. To finish the sermon today everyone is going to be given a rock. This rock illustrates the condition of our heart. All of us have rocks in our heart. Its part of being human. Think about the rocks that exist in your own heart. God wants us to let go of the rocks instead of throwing them at someone else. As Kellie sings may we all let go of the rocks in our heart. September 11 would have never happened if rocks had been let go. Lets create that kind of world for our kids.