The 10th anniversary of the events on September 11, 2001 has been hard.  And it should be.  Everything changed that day.  I’ve shed more tears these last weeks over that day 10 years ago than I did on September 11, 2001.  10 years ago the events of those hours shocked me, the death of almost 3,000 people stunned me, and the reality of the unimaginable silenced me.  These recent weeks I’ve listened to and watched the stories of loss from those whose husband or wife, son or daughter, brother or sister died that day.  Each story, each life exposed deep and powerful emotions and heartaches that takes the event on that day and multiplies it by each human life lost.  The cumulative effect of each of those stories overcomes me and deepens the magnitude of that event for me personally and for the nation. The media these last weeks have focused on each of those stories of individuals, stories of loss, stories of heroism and sacrifice and asked:  “How did Sept. 11, 2001 change you?”  

I’ve been asking how September 11, 2001 changed me.

As I reflected on how that day and that event changed me and changed the nation, I realized how thankful I am that I spent the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 in worship.  In fact, I live on East Coast time and my meeting for worship met at about the same hours as these events unfolded 10 years ago.  As my faith community entered into prayer and open worship in those exact same minutes 10 years ago when all hell broke loose on individuals at the World Trade Center, on UA Flight 93, and at the Pentagon, I had a moment of epiphany and healing.  In those moments of worship I could not help but think of the incredible suffering, pain, and heartache experienced by so many that day. I thought about the incredible evil humans are willing to do to other humans. I thought about the thirst for revenge and punishment for those who destroyed so much that day and how that has consumed the nation for the past 10 years.  Life did indeed change for all of us in the twinkling of an eye that day.  For some it altered the course of their life forever. For some, such unimaginable evil became imagined and fills life with fear and hatred and prejudice.  

What did not change in those moments 10 years ago was the God I worship.  That moment 10 years ago did not change Christ’s teaching to love our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us.  That moment 10 years ago did not change our Creator’s intense love for humanity in spite of flaws and sins, in spite of evil evident in human hearts.  What did not change 10 years ago was the opportunity I have to gather with a faith community and spend time in worship.  What did not change 10 years ago was the passion I had before 9-11-2001 to make a difference for Christ in the world and the privilege I have today to spend my life following that passion.  

I’ve discovered that what hasn’t changed in the past 10 years is more important than what has changed.  

“Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.”

John Greenleaf Whittier 1872