For the facing of this hour...

It’s safe to say that September 11, 2001 is a day that everyone remembers where they were and with whom they witnessed those horrific events unfold before our eyes.  I was a much younger and novice teacher at Broughton High School in Raleigh, about to give my first test of the academic year.  It was a crisp Tuesday morning bursting with the hopeful promise of a robust autumn which would alleviate the summer’s heat. 

Fast forward eleven years into the future.  Osama Bin Laden is no longer a threat to us.  But that did not come with an easy price.  The aftermath of wars and conflicts, some of which are still in progress was a by-product of that one single event.  A very unstable national economy, corporate greed, overly inflated gas prices and soaring unemployment rates have beset what I believe to be one of the greatest countries on the planet.  Beloved, these are praying times.

At today’s chapel service at Saint Mary’s School, we paused during the Prayers of the People to remember the victims and events of September 11, 2001.  At the conclusion of the service, I was reminded by hymn # 594 in The Hymnal 1982, that God is a god of Grace and of Mercy.  Through him, the redeeming power of Christ and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, we will be given wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour and the living of these days.

“Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days.”

From: Hymn # 594 – The Hymnal 1982

Peace,

Karsten