The 9/11 Cross

John 12:31,32

Today is the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks upon our country in New York City, Washington D C, and rural Pennsylvania. It was a day that forever changed our country and the world. Not only were there nearly 3000 lives lost in such a senseless attack, but we also lost something near and dear to us…our sense of security.

For the first time in most of our lives we did not feel safe. There has been a generation that has grown up feeling anxious and insecure because of the new methods that have been put in place to guarantee safety. Since that time there has been an increase in crime, political hostility, hatred toward our Democratic/Republican ideas that made us great and worst of all a decrease in the spiritual truths concerning the church. It has been one of those paradigm shifts in world history and now along with COVID19 we have seen an even greater shift towards the secular and its ideology. 

Where are we going? What are we going to look like? What will the up-and-coming generations face and how will they deal with it? These are complex questions that demand complex answers and as our nation embraces the secular approach, it means that it will not look outside of this world for those answers. Will we recover? Will we ever go back to what we once were when we were one nation under God! If we do it will be because we have turned and returned to God.

We have to look to God again. The answers to our dilemma are not found within the archives or collected writings of men’s ideas about nationalism, socialism, or any other ism in politics or philosophy. The answer is only found in Christ, who is and was the embodiment of truth. If every man or woman who professes Christianity would pattern and conform their lives to him, then that is the start of a great movement back, which is our only saving grace. Two of the greatest movements in history were the Renaissance and the Reformation. Both movements excelled humanity forward into the flourishing of ideas of freedom and of the return of Biblical faith, both of which America was founded on.

In one day, by one man, in one single event the Church was awakened, revived, and reformed. One man, one church, one message can be the beginning for us as well, but it starts with a turning away from our own efforts and looking to God for his grace, wisdom, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of the things that stands out the most to me about 9/11 and the days following, was that when the smoke and dust settled and we began to see the damage, there was one structure that stood out the most that I believed was a reminder from God that not only was he present, but also was showing us the way back to him and that structure was the what I call the 9/11 cross. Erected on top of the pile, there stood the symbol of Christianity that reminds us of how one man, in one day, through one event not only changed the course of history, but more importantly has changed the lives of a multitude of millions in the last two thousand years, The Cross of Jesus Christ! 

Let us pray that we as nation will be turned back to God by looking at Christ being lifted up on the cross, by which he “will draw all men unto himself.” John 12:32 The cross and the Gospel is still “The power of God unto salvation unto all who believe!” Romans 1:17

Pastor Robby