Remembering 9/11/2001

Today, we gather in remembrance. As we gaze upon 2,977 American flags, each representing a neighbor killed in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts, we gather to remember a day that changed the course of countless lives, families, communities, and nations.

September 11, 2001, began like so many ordinary mornings. People went to work. Parents kissed children goodbye. Commuters boarded trains, buses, and planes. Office lights came on, coffee was poured, and meetings were scheduled. The world moved forward in its familiar rhythm. And then, in a matter of moments, the ordinary was shattered.

We remember the images now carved into our collective memory: hijacked commercial airliners crashing into buildings, the smoke rising into a clear blue sky, the stunned faces of witnesses in the streets, the collapse of the World Trade Center’s North and South Towers once thought immovable, the fire at the Pentagon, and the scar in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We remember the silence that followed the disbelief—the phone calls of the doomed to loved ones, the prayers, the confusion, and the grief.

We remember the 2,977 victims taken from us. We remember that this was a global loss, with citizens from 115 different countries represented among the fallen.

We remember the eight children killed on the flights, and the more than 3,000 children who grew up having lost a parent that day.

Each life was more than a number. Each person had a story, and a future imagined but not fulfilled. To remember them rightly is to resist reducing them to history. They were living souls, beloved and irreplaceable.

We remember the families who waited for calls that never came, and the survivors who carried trauma in their souls, bodies, and minds long after the smoke cleared. We also remember the thousands of rescue and recovery workers who have since succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses, their sacrifice continuing long after the towers fell.

We pause today because memorializing is an act of honor. A nation that forgets its pain may forget the threats of its adversaries, and it may also forget its strength, its compassion, and its responsibility to one another.

Stories of Courage on 9/11/2001

Yet even on one of our darkest days, love and courage rose.

This day reminds us of the truth of John 15:13: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Love and courage rose in smoke-filled stairwells and in the voices of emergency dispatchers who stayed calm while others cried for help. We saw it in the 441 emergency responders who gave their lives—343 from the Fire Department of New York, 23 from the New York Police Department, and 37 from the Port Authority Police. They entered danger not because they were unafraid, but because others needed them.

We remember the story of Welles Crowther, the “Man in the Red Bandana.” A 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter, Welles was temporarily trapped on the 104th floor of the South Tower. He acted selflessly, tying his signature red bandana around his face to block the smoke and went to work. He found the only passable stairway, leading groups of scared and injured people to safety. He even carried an injured woman on his back down 17 flights of stairs.

He made three trips back up into the inferno before that South Tower fell, last seen helping the FDNY. His sacrifice reminds us that heroism is love in action.

We remember the uprising on United Airlines Flight 93. Passengers Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and others chose to fight back against the terrorist hijackers.

Before storming the cockpit to prevent the plane from reaching Washington, D.C., Todd Beamer recited the Lord’s Prayer and uttered those famous final words: “Are you ready? Okay, let’s roll.” Their brave struggle forced the plane down in an empty field, saving countless lives at the cost of their own.

We also remember Washington, D.C. Air National Guard F-16 pilots Lt. Heather Penney and Lt. Col. Mark Sassville, who took to the skies prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if necessary, knowing that because there was no time to place missiles on their aircraft, they would have had to fly their own fighter jets into a hijacked commercial plane to neutralize the threat.

In the face of destruction, people chose compassion. In the face of terror, people chose service. They showed us that tragedy reveals not only what human beings can destroy, but also what human beings can give.

Wisdom for Our Journey Since 9/11/2001

On this day of remembrance, I offer both a thought of comfort and a challenge for the journey ahead.

We live in a world that often feels arbitrary and dangerous. We see the consequences of human failure and sin rippling across the globe like stones cast into a still pond—whether in the acts of terrorists, dictators, or tyrants around the world. These ripples impact individuals, families, and communities far beyond the initial splash.

In seeking wisdom for this journey, I am reminded of the words of theologian Frank Tupper, who, after facing his own deep grief, asked the questions we all face: Is God as good as Jesus said God is? Does the arc of the universe bend toward justice? Do I matter? Why is there suffering? His conclusion is what has served as a spiritual and emotional anchor for me during crises and what I offer you today: “Life is arbitrary, but God is not. Grace. Grace.”

Life may be unpredictable, but we can find our footing in the promise of Hebrews 13:8—that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is the Source of the courage, joy, peace, hope, and love we will need on our journeys.

The wisdom of 9/11 is that we must not let hatred define our hearts. The answer to terror is not the surrender of our own humanity.

We honor the dead best by how we live: by loving and obeying our God, cherishing our families, strengthening our communities, seeking to develop the unity our nation experienced on September 12, 2001, and refusing to let cynicism have the final word.

Not all of us will be called to run into burning buildings, but all of us are called to consistently demonstrate the love spoken of in John 15:13 by living sacrificially, by carrying light into dark places, doing what is right, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.

In so doing, let us remember the Apostle Paul’s words, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

With that knowledge, let us live in the love our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ taught us, and with the grace that Welles Crowther, the heroes of Flight 93, and countless other 9/11 heroes showed us, proving that even in the shadow of sorrow, we can choose to “roll” forward with faith, hope, and love.

May God bless you. May God continue to bless the United States of America. May we never forget. And LET’S ROLL.