Ephesians 2:11-22 (Click to read the passage)
"The Hostilities Have Ended"
A line many soldiers and their families have longed to hear for centuries; a line many long to hear now.
The passage above is so rich. Go back. Read it again. It is so full of exactly what we need to hear on day like this.
As we remember those lost 11 years ago, we would be well-served to also remember the God who IS, in himself, our peace.
As we remember the violence and hatred that led to that day 11 years ago, we would be well-served to also remember the God who has put an end to the hostilities by absorbing Hostility and Death in love.
As we remember those who still fight on our behalf, we would be well-served to also remember that we are ALL called to fight against hatred, intolerance, and ignorance. This war we do not fight with weapons, but with the Church universal; the physical sign of the unity given to us by God.
For what does our world need more than love?
What does our politics need more than humility?
What does our country need more than a sense of what the common good IS, so we can find ways to fight for that together?
Today, on a day that is easy to waste commemorating war, I encourage you to commemorate love.
Remember the firemen who exuded God's spirit of sacrificial love as they marched up the stairs of a crumbling building. Remember the strangers who helped, and the neighbors who fed, and the nation who, for an all-too-brief moment, remembered what it is like to ignore the easy divisions in favor of the things that unite us.
May the message of the passage above guide how we choose to commemorate 9/11...and may we remember that it is only together that we become a dwelling place for God.
