The Day the World Changed

“The day the world changed”
September 11, 2011
Year A
Exodus 14:19-31
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
13th Sunday after Pentecost



The importance of September 11th
Today is September 11th. We all know that ten years ago a plane destroyed the twin towers, and drove into the pentagon. We all know that was a pretty traumatic day for our nation. September 11, 2011 is also a day of trepidation as we have been told that the threat for today is just as real. We live in fear that it could happen again. And we don’t know what to do about it.

There are those days when we remember and will never forget
When we think about that day – most of us can remember where we were, what we were doing. I was on the train from Aurora to Chicago, I had a special meeting to attend downtown Chicago. A cell phone above me rang, and the lady above me was told that a plane had just driven into the twin towers. By the time we got to the meeting, everyone was so worried that we watched television as we met. We watched in horror. We told that the building had to be evacuated, and I caught the train back home. There have been several events in my life where a particular day will be etched in my mind forever. I was not yet three years old – but I remember the day Robert Kennedy was killed. I wasn’t born, but many have recounted the day MLK was killed or John Kennedy was killed
Those were moments when life as we know it changed forever, and we realized that there was no way that we could return.
Every year we are asked where we were on 9/11. Someone yesterday asked do you remember what you were doing on 9/10 – and I don’t. I didn’t need to. But when our lives change – things stick with us.

The Isrealites 9/11
Exodus tells of that day for the Israelites when life as they knew it would change. God had found favor on their condition. God sent them out. They crossed the red sea as Moses parted the sea for them. They all passed through. The angel passed before them and behind them and the spirit of God was with them. Scripture says that the Egyptians came after them, and the water passed over and they were destroyed. Once they made it over, they looked back and all they could see were dead Egyptians.

Midrash story
There is another midrash story which says that says that after the event, the angels noticed that God was sitting on the side crying. The angels asked why god was crying since god’s children have been saved. God said that he was mourning the loss of his children. The Israelites were his children, but so were the Egyptians. And now they lay dead.

Life changing moments usually a day of life and death
Death is usually a part of those life changing moments. In this story it was the death of the Egyptians, on 911 it was the 2000 or more people who perished that day, or it could be the death of an important or inspirational person. That day could also include the death of the past, the death of a dream, the death or all that you have been working for, the death of innocence, the death of normalcy in life.

Whatever that day may be – that day is a day when we look back and see death, and we look ahead and see a life that we don’t understand. It is a say when we see what has been taken away from us, but we don’t see what we have been given. We see that the life that we embraced doesn’t work anymore. But we don’t know what to do to go on. Until god comes along and tells us that there is no way to go back, we can only go forward. The question is not why life changes, but how it changes. What are we supposed to do now in order to go forward?
The motto for 911 is - we will never forget. Never forgot the moment that changed our lives. Never forget the people, who we lost,
This is a moment for our nation to questions the values that hold us together as a community, to look at who are our enemies, who are our friends. Who can we trust and who can’t we trust, who do we blame for all of our pain.
10 years later there still a lot of pain, a lot of woundedness, a lot of consequences, a lot of unaswered questions.
In teaching a class on forgiveness, there was a story of three mothers who lost sons who were fireman. 10 years later they are still in pain, because the bodies of their sons were never found. Until their sons are buried and laid to rest, there is no closure, no chance to heal and to move on. They cannot forget. But if you can’t forget, how can you ever forgive? If you can’t let go, how do you get to move on. Only God can answer that.


Christian community is an example for the world
“There will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among world religions. There will be no peace among the world religions without peace among the Christian churches. The community of the Church is an integral part of the world community” Hans Küng.

We are called to be an example to the rest of the world of what is possible when you forgive and vow to live in community. We will have our differences, but how we solve them is to be an example for others.

Just as God cares just as much as the Egyptians as he cares for the Israelites. He cares for the world, and how we treat one another. What we do to one another. Christian community is chosen to be an example for the world. Not because we are better than others, but because we have been appointed for a special purpose – to do the work of Jesus. Jesus was a peacemaker, a way maker.

We did not focus on the gospel, but peter asks Jesus about the magic number of forgiveness. How many times should forgive a person, seven times? Seventy seven times, and more if it requires it. We are a forgiven people, so we need to be forgiving people.


Forgiveness and nonjudgment



Along with unforgiveness, comes judgment. We label that person, and no matter what they do, we attach that label to them. If they crossed us, they will cross us again. If we are a follower of God and we have been wronged, then that person must not be a friend of God. The gospel of a story of grace and mercy, not a story of judgment and criticism.

The two million dollar mistake
John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man’s enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn’t have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller’s office. As he approached Rockefeller’s desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. “I guess you’ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,” he said abruptly. “Yes,” the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. “Well, I’ve been sitting here listing all of our friend’s good qualities, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?”



We are asked to do the same that God does for us
God does the same for us everyday. God takes into account or value, not or sin. God expects us to do the same for others.

Romans says that we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

God is the judge of my actions, not you. And everything that I do is to please God, not to please you. We all have to stand before God, so it is not our job to judge their character. It is or job to learn to live in community.


When we live in a world of us and them – it is real easy to point to finger at them. Romans says that we are all different, we understand or faith differently. What may be okay with you may not be okay with me. And yet we are not only Christian, we are a part of the same church. How do we manage our differences, how do we disagree without losing community? By learning to forgive, and not to pass judgment. If we master that, we can change the world.


We all stuck on Egypt
The truth is we all, faithful or not – we are all stuck in Egypt, looking for freedom. We are all holding onto something. There is something holding us back to being the person God wants us to be. There is something that we need to be delivered from.
We all live in a 9/11 world – where we have wounds that need to heal, unfinished monuments that we promised to build, things that we will never forget, and will drive our actions and opinions.


Live in 9/12 not 9/11
And the day has come and it will come again, when God will intervene in our lives, in a way that we can’t deny. When whatever happened yesterday is wiped away. And all there is for us to do is to take account of or lives and move on. 9/11 affects us all in some way. But let’s not stay stuck on what we were doing on 9/11. The real question for followers of Christ is what did we do on 9/12. If I remember correctly, that is the day that we got up and needed to pray. We needed to come together in community, we needed to volunteer to help make a difference, we needed to make plans for how to support others, and how to understand those who we have ignored, how to stand together in community. We can remember 9/11 – but we need to live for 9/12 and beyond. I want us to say a litany – a community prayer for God’s healing and hopes in our lives and in the lives of others.

Litany
Leader: When memories of terror reawaken the past, and experiences of death, loss, and grief, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When anger and inflamed passion tempt us to respond with violence and seek revenge, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we are enticed to give in to the illusion that war alone will resolve conflict between enemies, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When it feels like every menace, whether imagined or real, is a threat to our security, and fills us with fear, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When religion is used as an excuse to exclude, threaten, or destroy others, forgetting or ignoring all that unites us, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we become stuck in the past, unable to respond to the challenges we face with vision and hope, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we wrestle with how to create a better future for our children, even to the seventh generation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we struggle to find a new and peaceful way to live in the world, and forget that you, O God, are our help and salvation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
All: O God of all peoples, nations and creeds: you have created us and rejoiced in the goodness of creation, and have wept with us when have experienced death, loss and grief.
Send your healing presence into the world and endow all people, leaders, groups and nations with your vision of unity and peace; so that we and all people may move on from the wounds of the past and seek to live in harmony with one another; to the end that the goodness of your creation may be restored, enhanced and sustained for the common good of all.
Through mercies of your love and grace, and in your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world. Amen!