remember

today marks 5 years from the day that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorists. While I know there will likely be thousands of blogs of reflection, I wanted to give some personal perspective to any readers I may have, if I have any.

I remember where I was when I found out. Everyone has said since that this would be to my generation (whichever generation i'm a part of- Gen-x of millenial- but it works for both) what the Kennedy assasination was to my parents' generation. Everyone will remember where they were, what they were doing, how they found out. Just like the old far side comic with the forest animals gathered around sharing where they were with the caption reading "All the forest animals would forever remember what they were doing when Bambi's mother was killed".

I remember getting to my youth min class just in time to watch the 2nd tower fall after hearing vague reports after leaving chapel about some kind of attack on the pentagon. the planes hit the WTC before chapel started, but most of us were unaware of that because they'd either just crawled out of bet to be in chapel or else they were unfortunate as I was to have an 8am class on that thursday.

I also remember that we sat and talked for a little while during class, but our prof released us early becuase he figured that class was pointless then. Being in Pennsylvania, we were directly between the two major hits, and of course, not that far from the thwarted attempt, as well. i remember that i felt a little guilty for getting out of classes the rest of the day becaue at that time, i didn't really think i knew anyone who would have been there or was affected. but as it turned out, the associate youth pastor at my church was best friends with one of the guys who we discovered later was one of the people on flight 93 (western PA) who thwarted the terrorists. of course, with or without this, I found myself grieving for what this meant for the country and the people who WERE directly affected.

I remember members of congress getting together that evening on the steps of the capital building and singing "God bless America". I remember bi-partisan support of pursuing the terrorist groups responsible for this and seemingly all Americans in unanimous support of the strong leadership president Bush provided at the time. I remember that the petty squabbling that had engulfed our country not a year earlier as the debate raged over who won the presidential election was completely forgotten.

I remember that people were not opposed to needing to show up early for their flights when flights resumed. They were not opposed to extra security measures. There were no complaints because everyone was just happy to feel safe.

And I look at these rememberances as a stark comparisson to what I see again. I see Americans who feel safe again without reason as the terrorist have undoubtedly not stopped, but have been working on even more plans. I see Americans get angry for added security at airports instead of being happy that they can fly (hopefully) safely.

I see Americans hating the president, calling for his head, awaiting the day he leaves office. I see that there seems to have never been as big of a divide between the two political parties that dominate American politics as there is at this time.

and yet- today, we remember. Today is a day to commemorate those who died due to the hatred and malice of others- one of the greatest acts of man's hatred toward other men. Perhaps we can also remember how we were, for at least one moment, united. Perhaps we can remember that we don't have to hate one another or let stuipd divisions like political beliefs or affiliations divide us as people. Perhaps we can see that if we don't stop down the path we are on, we will have it happen again- this time perhaps from within due to the hatred that is bred within our own country.

Perhaps... as belivers in Christ, pehaps we can remember to pray. We can remember to ask God to show us the people around us as He sees them, not as enemies, but as lost people who are in despearate need. Perhaps we can remember that our faith has the ability to unite people and share the ultimate love.

rememberance and pride

I have been a fan of David Crowder Band since I first heard them. David Crowder has written a good book that I read. But... I just got the album "A Collision" by the band. And while it sounds pretty decent all-around, there's a song on it that bothers me. The song also made its way onto the latest Passion CD- "Everything Glorious". Maybe it just reminds me too much of another song that really kills me because of it's content... it's called "We Win" which seems close to the same theme as the song "I Win".

I have a friend- James- who told me that they were singing this song "I win" one day in chapel at his college... He got frustrated, went up on stage and said "Don't you get it- WE DON'T WIN- GOD DOES!" I was very happy for that because i'm a huge fan of thinking through the theology of songs before introducing them into useage for congregational singing. the lines of this song are "no matter what the weapon is, I want you to know that I win (echo- I win)" and the chorus is just a repeating "I win, I win, I win, I win..."

I like Crowder's song slightly more because it is WE win, not I win. there's a HUGE theological difference with using one word or the other, and even in corporate worship, singing all songs with I in there tend to get the focus on "I'm worshipping" not "we're worship together" and ultimately, focus away from who we are worshipping. getting back on topic, however, the lyrics of Crowder's song are along the lines of "Cause we've already won and you don't have a chance, yeah we've already won and you don't have a chance" however, offeste by... "This is for His Glory, His glory- we have already won".

to those looking for a short read, i apologize- those paragraphs prior to this were only the introduction. This newer song and the other one that sends shivers down my spine have gotten me thinking about the nature of a few things. First, Crowder talks about shouting, shouting until the walls come down. It got me thinking about ancient Israel. They certainly had their share of victories, sadness and they are interesting to study. There are stories that we're all relatively familiar with like the battle of Jericho where they go, march around the wall and on the last day, they all yell (that would work GREAT- if the walls were made of Jell-o. ooh- then we could just eat 'em) and the walls come down. this is the story that got me thinking.

Then there's the story of Gideon, who weeded out almost 32,000 to get the 300 guys voted "most unlikely to fight and win a battle" in high school. He took those 300 because God asked him to trim the army down and those 300 went into battle and without even raising a sword, they routed the enemy.

Both of these stories are not to be studied by generals or military geniuses. The strategy will not win the battle in the natural. But when God told them to, He took care of it. It makes me wonder, however, what did people think after the battle. They seem to have forgotten what God did for them so many times (the book of Judges- they got oppressed again) the people seem to have forgotten. But they didn't forget what was done- it's hard to forget that the reason we are not oppressed is because the enemy was defeated. So perhaps pride is the reason. God did things HIS way to ensure that no one could take glory for them, but as the participants fade away and pass away, perhaps the descendents have forgotten what was done for the people who came before.

And so perhaps we have people bragging about "I win" because they have forgotten that we didn't even fight the battle. We may struggle, but the REAL battle that has already been won was won by Jesus Christ on the cross. it's not the struggle that we have today against sin and perhaps evil powers, but Christ's victory over sin that matters most to us today. And we would do best not to forget it.