It's 9/11 Today. But...

September 11 is a day that will be forever etched in the minds of Americans. Images of planes slamming into buildings, our American countrymen and women dying, and a scene of complete and utter carnage in New York. And how can we forget the Benghazi attacks where four Americans died needlessly, two of them heroically responding to an attack after being told to stand down; sacrificing themselves for their country?

We will, as Americans, never forget these things. And we shouldn't.

Yet, this is not about wars, or rumors of wars, or terrorism, or American patriotism. This is not another somber remembrance of 9/11, of which we already have a plethora. Nor will this be a politcal rant condemning our former or current administrations. These things are needed of course, to remind us of our history and to analyze our leadership.

This is not going to be about any of that. It's going to be about our blessed and glorious hope we have in Christ. We are reminded by the author of Hebrews, that despite all of the evil in the world today, we have a greater hope. We are not looking for an earthly city, and what we hope for cannot be derailed by evil leaders, terrorism, or persecution.

Hebrews 12:22-24: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

We have come to Christ, the King of the heavenly Jerusalem. Christ has saved us through His Word. His Word is grace, coming to us in water, bread, wine, absolution, and preaching. And it does what it says and creates faith and forgives sins in those who receive it. In short, it saves us.

We can say, along with the Church catholic, that our hope is not in this world, even though Christ comes to us in this world. We remain here in the world, but we are not of the world. But rather;

Our hope is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

We can confess, along with the Church catholic, the Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.

We pray, as Christ taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the Kingdom
And the power
And the glory
Forever and ever
Amen

And we continue to sing;

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen

For Christ has died to redeem this fallen world. Thanks be to God.

John 1:29: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!