“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?” These words were written by singer and songwriter, Alan Jackson, shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Today it has been 22 years since the events of this day that are still sketched in the minds of most who were alive and capable of understanding them. Through the years, I’ve asked people to tell me where they were and what they were doing when the first plane hit, and most people can do so with precise details. I was not alive when John F. Kennedy was shot, but I’m told this event was similar as far as people’s ability to recall such information. As you are reading these words, you likely are remembering, and remembering with amazing accuracy.
I can do so as well. I was a full-time seminary student, who was also pastoring a church part-time. On this Tuesday I did not have class, and so I planned to use the day to do some sermon preparation for the next Sunday. We lived in Alabama, which is on Central Time, so I was just taking a sip of my coffee when the first plane hit. I remember that strangely, I decided to turn on the television, which was odd since we didn’t have cable. The only channels we received were the networks and they did not have good reception. With coffee in hand, I looked at the snowy television and was dumbfounded.
I called my wife who was working at a pharmacy. I called my mother and my father. Most people did the same. But I didn’t stop there. I called my grandfather and grandmother (I was only 26 and they were still alive). I wanted to make sure nothing was going on in the city of Atlanta, where most of my relatives lived. As the day went on, I became concerned about the members of the congregation I pastored. How were they holding up? So, I called them. Every single one. It was a small church, but 30 plus phone calls is no small number. If they were not home, I left a message with them. Many prayers were prayed that day on the phone, a prayer for a cousin of a church member who worked at the Pentagon, a prayer for a friend of another who worked at the World Trade Center, both who thankfully survived. That evening, I attended a prayer service at a local church who opened its doors for the community. I stood in the parking lot and gazed at the gas station across the street with lines at the pumps. The next day, I drove two hours to Atlanta and will never forget the highway signs which read, “Airport Closed. National Emergency.”
Today we remember. We can’t help but to, because the date of September 11 is undoubtedly marked in the minds of all, whether they were alive that day or not. My children were not, but they have learned all about it. They seem to understand the emotional impact of the events, which is amazing to me. We remember. But why? What is the purpose of such remembering? What good does it do for us now, 22 years later? Especially as people of faith?
As a Christian, I can tell you why I continue to remember. I remember because I had never witnessed an event that humbled every aspect of society. It was a first for me. It did not matter who they were, their level of education, their race, their political persuasion, or socioeconomic status. Everyone was humbled. And most people, religious or not, turned to God instinctively, began praying to him even if they had never done so before. Congress joining hands and singing together? Hollywood actors raising money for victims and calling for prayer? Workers at the rubble ending the day with songs like, “Amazing Grace?”
God was sought in ways he had never been sought before. Most people did not dwell on the spiritual “why’s” behind these events. Instead, they recognized God’s presence and prayed for divine healing upon our nation. Many recognized their ultimate dependency upon their Creator for the very first time. This is something that is hard to forget as a minister. And it is something I have never seen repeated, not on such a national scale.
The bottom line is that much good came from much bad. And if you read the New Testament, you’ll discover the formula is Biblical, that it plays itself out time and time again. God birthing hope in extremely hopeless situations. God calling forth resurrection in the darkness of death and despair. Romans 8:28 rings true more times than not for those who have spiritual eyes to see and for this we should be grateful. Yet as Christians, perhaps our remembering today should ultimately cause us to look forward, to anticipate with great excitement the actual day when the world will stop turning, the day the Bible speaks about, the day of our Lord’s return. For such a day will be the day when “all things will be made new,” when all wrongs will be made right, the first day of the new heaven and the new earth, an eternal place where events like September 11 will never occur for all eternity. A perfect place. A perfect world. Eden restored. Are you ready for such a day? Are you ready for such a world?