Are You Ready?
It's hard to believe that it's already been four years since the attack of 9/11/2001.
In 2001, I lived in Montclair, NJ, in an apartment that had a beautiful panoramic view of Manhattan. The apartment was on top of a mountain. The George Washington Bridge was visible to the very left, Central New Jersey was visible to the right. My bedroom had two windows. One framed the Empire State Building, the other framed the World Trade Center.
At just about 9:00 AM that morning, I looked outside and checked the weather. I saw in the distance smoke, and I thought to myself...hmmm...I don't remember seeing a factory there with a smokestack. Then when I looked closer, I could see it was one of the towers. I flipped on the TV to find static. I flipped around, and finally found that Channel 2 was clear, and it showed a close-up of the North Tower burning. I saw the first tower collapse right in front of my eyes, when I was one the phone with my sister. The second one collapsed later. Like many Americans, I couldn't sleep that night. I just stayed by the window, staring at that big gaping hole downtown.
I'll share some of my other reflections and experiences in another blog, but for today's blog, I thought I might include an excerpt from a sermon I gave a few weeks after that. In some ways, it seems a bit more relevant today than it did back then.
-----------------
I would be remiss, of course, if I didn’t mention the events of 18 days ago.
I obviously have thought a lot about this.
Whenever I look out my window, I still expect to see those twin towers there. Even today, I open the window in the morning and expect to see them there.
But they’re not there.
And every time I see that huge horrible emptiness in the sky, I don’t want to think, but I can’t help but think of the 3000 lives that were lost there. You think of that horrific scene with the planes slicing through the roofs. You think of the scenes of people jumping to their deaths. I heard a friend describe how a friend of hers escaped from the tower, and was expected to walk above piles and piles of bodies. You all heard the stories of the rescue workers who found nothing but body parts. You still see around you people whose lives were forever affected by the horror they witnessed.
These are not images that you see on TV tens of thousands of miles away in an Indian earthquake or an African famine. These are people that one month earlier, I was passing every day in the PATH station, in the Borders bookstore, in the elevators.
It’s still all so unreal.
And then, I think to myself.
Why is it that I was so fortunate to have been laid off from my job downtown at the end of July, and to have been spared? I sometimes wonder what I would have done if I’d been in the city that day.
There was a picture on cnn.com of a group of men running with terror in their faces past a Mrs. Field’s cookie store on Fulton, with the towers collapsing behind them. That picture was taken across the street from my office at 222 Broadway. Would I have been one of those men running in terror in that picture?
There was a picture on abcnews.com of a co-worker of mine, holding up a picture of his missing mother. There was a sentence on ml.com talking about how my old Managing Director, the nicest executive I’ve ever known, was one of those lost.
Of the 3000+ that died, Why wasn’t one of them me? Why wasn’t one of them you?
Let's turn to Luke 13:1.
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, `For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
"`Sir,' the man replied, `leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "
Why wasn’t it me? Why wasn’t it you?
Was it because we are Christians?
Was it because we are not sinners, and that only those who were guilty of sin perished and witnessed the horror of that day?
Why did those people die?
Some people will say things like…oh, they worked in New York, so they made the big bucks…they knew what risks they were taking.
Or, they just made the wrong combination of choices in their life that made them end up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
You start to rationalize into thinking that somehow you’re a better person than they are… that’s why you weren’t destroyed with them…. like those Jesus spoke to regarding the tower of Siloam, you start to imagine that there’s some reason besides sheer time and chance that spared your life over theirs.
You believe this, until you hear the stories. The man who sat with his friend in the wheelchair, a friend who was unable to get downstairs, and died together with him. The firemen and policemen who ran up the stairs to their certain deaths, even as everyone else was running down. You heard of the man who started the day boarding a plane in Newark, never thinking that he would end his life on the 90th floor of the World Trade Center, and yet in his hour of death, he asked a 911 operator to say the Lord’s Prayer with him and to tell his wife, two kids, and one unborn child that he loved them. You’ve heard all these stories and more.
Those people in the towers weren’t any different than you or me. If anything, they were better people, and better Christians.
So Why are we sitting here safely?
God is giving us time…we have not borne fruit for him yet, but as the axe is lifted against the base of the tree, even now he is shouting STOP. Leave it alone…I’ll dig it around and fertilize it…I’ll provide this tree with safety…and security…and my Word…perhaps after all this, this tree will bear fruit. Perhaps they will look after orphans and widows in their distress. Perhaps they will keep themselves from being polluted by the world. Perhaps they will learn what this verse means: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
But one thing we should be aware of. If the tree never bears fruit, there will come a day when the axe falls. I do not know what to say other than…let us get on our knees, and cry to God, asking him how to truly fulfill the misson that He called us to.
1.
There's a great day coming, a great day coming,
There's a great day coming by and by;
When the saints and the sinners shall be parted right and left,
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready for the judgment day?
Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready for that day to come?
2.
There's a bright day coming, a bright day coming,
There's a bright day coming by and by;
But its brightness shall only come to them that love the Lord,
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
3.
There's a sad day coming, a sad day coming,
There's a sad coming by and by;
When the sinner shall hear his doom, "Depart, I know ye not,"
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
Listen to the MIDI for Are You Ready?
In 2001, I lived in Montclair, NJ, in an apartment that had a beautiful panoramic view of Manhattan. The apartment was on top of a mountain. The George Washington Bridge was visible to the very left, Central New Jersey was visible to the right. My bedroom had two windows. One framed the Empire State Building, the other framed the World Trade Center.
At just about 9:00 AM that morning, I looked outside and checked the weather. I saw in the distance smoke, and I thought to myself...hmmm...I don't remember seeing a factory there with a smokestack. Then when I looked closer, I could see it was one of the towers. I flipped on the TV to find static. I flipped around, and finally found that Channel 2 was clear, and it showed a close-up of the North Tower burning. I saw the first tower collapse right in front of my eyes, when I was one the phone with my sister. The second one collapsed later. Like many Americans, I couldn't sleep that night. I just stayed by the window, staring at that big gaping hole downtown.
I'll share some of my other reflections and experiences in another blog, but for today's blog, I thought I might include an excerpt from a sermon I gave a few weeks after that. In some ways, it seems a bit more relevant today than it did back then.
-----------------
I would be remiss, of course, if I didn’t mention the events of 18 days ago.
I obviously have thought a lot about this.
Whenever I look out my window, I still expect to see those twin towers there. Even today, I open the window in the morning and expect to see them there.
But they’re not there.
And every time I see that huge horrible emptiness in the sky, I don’t want to think, but I can’t help but think of the 3000 lives that were lost there. You think of that horrific scene with the planes slicing through the roofs. You think of the scenes of people jumping to their deaths. I heard a friend describe how a friend of hers escaped from the tower, and was expected to walk above piles and piles of bodies. You all heard the stories of the rescue workers who found nothing but body parts. You still see around you people whose lives were forever affected by the horror they witnessed.
These are not images that you see on TV tens of thousands of miles away in an Indian earthquake or an African famine. These are people that one month earlier, I was passing every day in the PATH station, in the Borders bookstore, in the elevators.
It’s still all so unreal.
And then, I think to myself.
Why is it that I was so fortunate to have been laid off from my job downtown at the end of July, and to have been spared? I sometimes wonder what I would have done if I’d been in the city that day.
There was a picture on cnn.com of a group of men running with terror in their faces past a Mrs. Field’s cookie store on Fulton, with the towers collapsing behind them. That picture was taken across the street from my office at 222 Broadway. Would I have been one of those men running in terror in that picture?
There was a picture on abcnews.com of a co-worker of mine, holding up a picture of his missing mother. There was a sentence on ml.com talking about how my old Managing Director, the nicest executive I’ve ever known, was one of those lost.
Of the 3000+ that died, Why wasn’t one of them me? Why wasn’t one of them you?
Let's turn to Luke 13:1.
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, `For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
"`Sir,' the man replied, `leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "
Why wasn’t it me? Why wasn’t it you?
Was it because we are Christians?
Was it because we are not sinners, and that only those who were guilty of sin perished and witnessed the horror of that day?
Why did those people die?
Some people will say things like…oh, they worked in New York, so they made the big bucks…they knew what risks they were taking.
Or, they just made the wrong combination of choices in their life that made them end up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
You start to rationalize into thinking that somehow you’re a better person than they are… that’s why you weren’t destroyed with them…. like those Jesus spoke to regarding the tower of Siloam, you start to imagine that there’s some reason besides sheer time and chance that spared your life over theirs.
You believe this, until you hear the stories. The man who sat with his friend in the wheelchair, a friend who was unable to get downstairs, and died together with him. The firemen and policemen who ran up the stairs to their certain deaths, even as everyone else was running down. You heard of the man who started the day boarding a plane in Newark, never thinking that he would end his life on the 90th floor of the World Trade Center, and yet in his hour of death, he asked a 911 operator to say the Lord’s Prayer with him and to tell his wife, two kids, and one unborn child that he loved them. You’ve heard all these stories and more.
Those people in the towers weren’t any different than you or me. If anything, they were better people, and better Christians.
So Why are we sitting here safely?
God is giving us time…we have not borne fruit for him yet, but as the axe is lifted against the base of the tree, even now he is shouting STOP. Leave it alone…I’ll dig it around and fertilize it…I’ll provide this tree with safety…and security…and my Word…perhaps after all this, this tree will bear fruit. Perhaps they will look after orphans and widows in their distress. Perhaps they will keep themselves from being polluted by the world. Perhaps they will learn what this verse means: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
But one thing we should be aware of. If the tree never bears fruit, there will come a day when the axe falls. I do not know what to say other than…let us get on our knees, and cry to God, asking him how to truly fulfill the misson that He called us to.
1.
There's a great day coming, a great day coming,
There's a great day coming by and by;
When the saints and the sinners shall be parted right and left,
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready for the judgment day?
Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready for that day to come?
2.
There's a bright day coming, a bright day coming,
There's a bright day coming by and by;
But its brightness shall only come to them that love the Lord,
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
3.
There's a sad day coming, a sad day coming,
There's a sad coming by and by;
When the sinner shall hear his doom, "Depart, I know ye not,"
Are you ready for that day to come?
Chorus
Listen to the MIDI for Are You Ready?