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| Cross displayed during a 9/11 Memorial Church Service at Ginghamsburg Church 9/11/2011 |
Recent Headlines read:
“New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned all clergy and all prayer from the upcoming 9/11 memorial service planned to commemorate the tragic events of that day.“
AND….
“American Atheists have filed a lawsuit against the World Trade Center Memorial 9/11 Cross”
OK this just blows my mind
Keep in mind what I am about to say and my view comes from someone whom for the last 17 years at best can be called a shirttail Christian… the phrase backsliding Baptist was one I used describe my state of faith more than once over the years.
However with that said I think most Americans are more like me than not… I think there are a lot of us as who call ourselves Christians…who do believe but may not follow God as would should … we keep God on shelf over to the side of our lives …. Just in arms reach…. And boy we aren’t scared to grab it and open it up when we need help… when we adapt and adjust to whatever our current dilemma happened to be we close the lid and put him back on that shelf. Until we need him again …. Until a family member gets sick, or that moment just before we run the red light.
With that disclaimer stated I have to ask…. Have these folks been eating dumb-ass sandwiches while riding the short bus with the other slow kids?
9/11 has to have been the single greatest thing to unite of folks to Christ that my generation will experience. Folks who had loved ones who were lost on that day prayed for a loved one to be found, for mercy on that persons soul, if they had perished, then they prayed for the ability to simply survive without that spouse, father, sister, or friend. The rest of us prayed for the families of those who lost loved ones… for the brave souls of the police and firefighters who were lost…for the safety of those digging though the debris looking for those who might be trapped but had survived, and for god to show us a reason WHY?
Now they say we cant pray? Do they know that 92% of America believes in GOD?
Lawmakers have said we can’t offer prayer at events remembering 9/11. How about those pesky and foolish Atheists and the cause to remove the 9/11 Cross which simply is a beams in the shape of a cross… it also looks like it could be a lower case “t’ … What a cause to waste time with, just cant believe this is what they have joined to rally around….. OK Atheists I don’t get… Agnostic I sort of understand … We all have Agnostic thoughts when we doubt and question our faith, but Atheists … Atheists don’t believe in Christ … When I don’t be leave in something I don’t say or care anything about it …..I say pray for the Atheists … that’ll piss them off real good.
I know most questions ask in prayer were WHY? …. Some people seemed to suggest that God was mad at us for folks living against Gods will. Others questioned that why so many people had to die. That God gave us free will and the ability to make choices, and those terrorists made the choices to do what they did…… OK I get that…free will and all…. but why didn’t God redirect those planes… or at least keep the towers from falling … who knows maybe it could have much worse had those passengers on Flight 93 not had stood up to the highjackers……
For those souls who jumped … Rabbi Shmuley Boteach asks in his article “Was God at Ground Zero” , “ Could God possibly have caught them? Could He have extended the famously outstretched arm He used in Egypt to save the Israelites and grant the jumpers a soft landing so they could safely return to their families?”
……………..WOW GOOD QUESTION…….The good Rabbi also goes on to ask “ Could God have not reached down from his heavenly thrown and plucked them from the inferno, just as he saved Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from Nebuchadnezzar's cauldron in the Book of Daniel”
President Obama ignored the ban…sort of… He did quote scripture in his remarks Psalm 46 “God is our refuge and our strength” President Bush also mentioned our “Heavenly Father” and Mayor Giuliani read from Ecclesiastes
My mother said taking prayer out of schools was the start of this counties decline… She might have been right.
To Be Continued …….
Check back and stay tuned for the 3rd and final part of this 9/11 series….. LOVE
Find out what may be the biggest thing we gained but have since lost from 9/11
Closing with a prayer from Father James Martin.
Loving God,
You know that I believe in you.
You know that I trust in you.
You know that I love you.
But sometimes life is so painful,
your ways impossible to understand,
and your world so confusing.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed with pain.
Sometimes I feel tempted to despair.
Sometimes I give way to hatred.
Sometimes I doubt even you.
In times of pain, give me comfort.
In times of despair, give me hope.
In times of hatred, give me love.
In times of doubt, give me trust.
And even when I feel far from you,
be close to me,
Loving God.
You know that I believe in you.
You know that I trust in you.
You know that I love you.
But sometimes life is so painful,
your ways impossible to understand,
and your world so confusing.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed with pain.
Sometimes I feel tempted to despair.
Sometimes I give way to hatred.
Sometimes I doubt even you.
In times of pain, give me comfort.
In times of despair, give me hope.
In times of hatred, give me love.
In times of doubt, give me trust.
And even when I feel far from you,
be close to me,
Loving God.
Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author and culture editor of America, the national Catholic magazine
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