What were you doing?

The day's question on September 11th is, "What were you doing when you heard the news?" It is a moment in time etched into our minds forever. At the moment, and still to this day, it seemed surreal and unimaginable.

I was driving around Waconia, delivering fliers to the schools and posting signs inviting children to join Cub Scouts. I heard it on the radio before I entered the first school stop. When I went to the office, their phones were ringing, and the staff started asking what was happening. By the time I made it to the second school, they had rolled a TV into the main office and were watching it unfold live in front of them. I soon returned to my office briefly before heading home to join America and take in the news as it unfolded.

That weekend, the churches were full. It was a weekend for us at Trinity, a weekend for "New Traditions Worship," a youth-led, youth-focused worship gathering. The gym was packed.

Things have never been the same since...

Since 911, much has changed in our country, some for the better, some not. Air travel went from a kind of fun adventure to a tiresome chore of getting through the TSA with all your stuff and figuring out what you can and can not bring along with you as you travel. Something else has changed, the churches have never again been as full as they were on that first Sunday after 9-11-2001.

It's Not a New Question.

We have over the years asked that same question in response to the death of JFK, the Challenger disaster, or perhaps more locally when a storm devastated your community when the news reached you of the death of a loved one. What were you doing?

I'm sure that there were shepherds who asked one another for years, "What were you doing when the Angels filled the sky?" In and around Capernaum, the question was asked, "What were you doing when you heard Lazarus was alive?" Fishermen and those living around Galilee recall the night that a strong storm on the lake ended in a moment. The disciples on the road to Emmaus asked the question of Jesus, "What were you doing in Jerusalem that you do not know what happened there these last few days?"I imagine a moment when a Christ-follower friend asked Paul, "What were you doing while Stephan was being stoned?"

The Bible is full of those moments. One of the keywords for this 9-11, and at the heart of the question, "What were you doing?" is the word "remember." God continually calls his people to remember and speaks about all that He remembers:

• Genesis 8:1 (ESV)  But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

• Genesis 9:16 (ESV)  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

• Exodus 2:24 (ESV)  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

• Exodus 20:8 (ESV)  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

• Nehemiah 1:8 (ESV)  Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,

• Psalm 98:3 (ESV)  He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

• Psalm 105:8 (ESV)  He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 

• Isaiah 44:21 (ESV)  Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 

• Matthew 16:9 (ESV)  Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 

• John 15:20 (ESV)  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 

• Ephesians 2:12 (ESV)  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

• 2 Timothy 2:8 (ESV)  Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

• Revelation 2:5 (ESV)  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 

  
  

1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (ESV)  and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

I want us to remember the events of 9-11-2001 as an individual and as a nation. But much more important to me is that you remember all that God has done in your life, that he has remembered about you, and all that he has chosen to forget out of his great love for you. Remember also the command of God: "Remember the Sabath day and keep it holy." Let's pack the churches again with people set on remembering...

See you Sunday

<>< Pastor Craig