A Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18, Year A)
September 10, 2023
Text: Romans 13:8-14
Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Where were you on 9/11? It’s been almost twenty-two years since that terrible day back in September of 2001, but in some ways, it seems like only yesterday.
Like with most traumatic events we experience in our lives, we can still remember vivid details of that day. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news that the World Trade Center had been hit. At first, people assumed that it was a small, personal aircraft. It wasn’t until later in the morning, after the second tower had been hit, that we realized the truth of what was happening. Our country was under attack.
I was living with my grandparents in Andalusia at the time, and I had just started my first semester at LBW. That Tuesday morning, I got up and got ready to go to my first class of the day, and as I walked the into main education building, I noticed, as I walked by each classroom, that people were gathered close together around the television.
At first, I thought to myself, “What in the world is going on?” “Why is everyone starting at the TV?” It wasn’t until I got to my classroom that I learned the news.
Well…needless to say, we didn’t get much accomplished that day in any of my classes. We just kept watching the news, staring in disbelief and waiting to see what would happen next.
I remember other details of that day as well.
I remember sitting on the stage of the auditorium in the Dixon Center at LBW, praying that we would be safe in our little corner of the world. Looking back on that day, it seems silly to think that Andalusia would’ve been the target of a terrorist attack, but at the time, the fear was real. The people responsible for 9/11 had accomplished their goal. People everywhere were scared for their lives.
I remember going home that day from class and hugging my grandmother for a lot longer than I normally did. She gave the best hugs.
I remember calling my mother and just weeping—not only for all of the people who had died in the attacks—but also out of fear for our country. What was going to happen next? Will there be more attacks and more innocent lives lost? Does this mean we’re going to war? There were so many questions that day and so little answers.
I remember being glued to the television for the rest of the day and night, watching the news and waiting to see the latest headlines and updates. Life as we knew it came to a standstill, and all we could do was watch and pray.
Where were you on 9/11?
We all have stories from that day and vivid memories we’ll carry with us, probably for the rest of our lives—memories of people scared and suffering, wondering, “Where is God?”
But, there are other memories of that day I’ll carry with me as well. Images of heroes who, instead of running away from danger, ran toward it. Images of first responders—police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and probably so many others we don’t even know about—who risked their own safety and well-being in order to help those in need.
Many of them made the ultimate sacrifice that day, giving their lives in the service others, and each year on the anniversary of 9/11—which we’ll commemorate tomorrow—we pause to remember their bravery, to remember how, in the midst of darkness, their heroic acts of service served as a beacon of hope for the world and an example of love overcoming hate, of light overcoming the darkness.
Just a few days after 9/11, the late Rev. Billy Graham, in a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., had this to say: “The lesson of this event is not only about the mystery of iniquity and evil, but second, it’s a lesson about our need for each other. What an example New York and Washington have been to the world these past few days! None of us will forget the pictures of our courageous firefighters and police, or the hundreds of people standing patiently in line to donate blood.”
It’s true.
Even though 9/11 will forever be remembered as a tragic day in the life of our nation—and the world—I also see it as a sign that, even when all hope seems lost, God is there, working to restore and build up that which has been lost and torn down.
God never abandoned us on that terrible day. God was there, present in the brave men and women who showed up in the midst of the chaos and confusion, the pain and the suffering.
As so, it’s good for us, as a church, to remember their sacrifice and offer our thanks to God for their willingness to serve others.
And it’s good for us to remember and give thanks to God for all first responders everywhere, for those who serve in ways that we may never understand or hear about, for those who work while others sleep, for those who put themselves in harm’s way to be a force for good in the world when others seek to do harm.
That’s the purpose of this day, which we’re calling “First Responders Sunday.” This is not a church-wide feast day in the Episcopal Church or a special day of remembrance. This is something that we, as a parish at St. Mary’s, have decided to do to show our appreciation for those who serve our community and to ask for God’s blessing to be upon them in their work.
As I was preparing for my sermon this past week and reading the lessons appointed for today, there was one verse in particular that I thought was especially appropriate, and it comes from our lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Paul writes, “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
These aren’t Paul’s words. These are the words of Jesus.
Paul, in this instance, is merely pointing others to them and reminding the church in Rome that the truest form of love—the love that God calls us to share with others—isn’t an emotion or a feeling, not that those are bad things.
True love is an act of service. Loving one’s neighbor as one’s self means putting the needs and concerns of that person before our own. Love is self-giving and sacrificial, never selfish.
And, this is what Paul means when he goes on to write, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As Christians, in all that we say and do, in the way we treat friends and strangers alike, we are to “put on the Lord Jesus.” We are to clothe ourselves in the love of God and imitate Christ in walking the way of the Cross, trusting that God will be with us wherever our journey may lead.
On this day, we give special thanks for our brothers and sisters who put themselves in harm’s way every day in order to serve and protect others. We give thanks for those who’ve laid down their lives while serving in the line of duty. And, we look to all of them as an example of what it means to love as Christ has called us to love. We may not all be called to serve as police officers, firefighters, or paramedics, but we are called to a life of service through our faith in Christ Jesus, who said to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Amen.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 