September 11 | Then and Now
The verse of the day, courtesy of Bible Gateway is Psalm 121:1-2
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence commeth my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the most horrific act of terrorism ever committed against this country. For a lot of people, the feelings of the helplessness, hopelessness and anguish felt on the days following September 11, 2001 have become so deeply ingrained they’ve become part of the fabric of who they are. Consequently, they have become part of who we are as a country. That sense of security we once enjoyed is gone forever.
When President George W. Bush addressed the Nation that evening ten years ago he ended, his speech with these words:
“None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.Thank you. Goodnight and God bless America.”
“God Bless America,” suddenly became our Nation’s slogan, as we realized individually and collectively that our only hope is in God. The confidence we had in our wealth, our weapons and our armies to protect and sustain us, was gone. The lines that had formerly divided us were gone. For a time, we came together as Americans. We found comfort and security in our Heavenly Father. We stood united as one, under the “America” umbrella and asked for God’s blessings and protection for this country and its people – all of them. We were praying all the time, everywhere.
Fast-forward 10 years. The divisive race, creed, color, origin lines have returned and Americans have forgotten in whom their hope should be placed, we have forgotten our help commeth from the Lord. In his article: 9/11 in rear view (lessons in plain sight) published on Washington Post.com Bishop TD Jakes had this to say:
In the intervening years, it seems that we’ve forgotten what “right” looks like. We’ve lost touch with civility and retreated into what we were before September 11, 2001.
We will come together again today to mourn those who lost their lives. We’ll hold hands, we’ll sing, we’ll cry, we’ll pray. For a brief moment in time we’ll come together as one people under God, indivisible.
Photo: F Delventhal/Flickr
