It was just a Tuesday. Like every other day I was getting ready for work. Tuesday was staff meeting day, so I was moving through the same routine I had followed countless times before. Nothing about that day felt significant. It was just another day. While I was brushing my teeth and looking for a pair of matching socks, little did I know that the world was changing. Then, somewhere during the morning, I turned on the television. Like millions of people across the country, I watched as smoke was pouring from one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It was horrible, it was tragic. But, at the time it was just that. My thought process was somehow a commercial airliner had a malfunction, and I was seeing one of the worst tragedies in American history. It was that, but as we now know, it was actually far worse. Like so many others, the weight of the moment turned into an even deeper disbelief and horror. While watching live on television the second plane hit that second tower. Immediately the broadcasters knew, the viewers knew, everyone knew. In that moment, everything had changed. It was just a Tuesday, until it wasn’t just a Tuesday.
The rest of that day saw more and more catastrophe. By the end of the day, two more planes had been hijacked. One hitting the Pentagon. Another being taken down heroically in a field in Pennsylvania. We continued to watch as the towers collapsed. People jumping from the high skyscrapers. Almost 3,000 people lost their lives that day, including so many first responders that intentionally went into the buildings to rescue others. It was just a Tuesday, until it wasn’t just a Tuesday.
That evening people were looking for answers. We were all looking for answers. Where do we go? What do we do now? The country was in shock. All flights had been shut down. Life as we had known it had changed in an instant. That evening the church I served at had an impromptu prayer meeting, as did many other congregations across the country. This was a last minute thing. No time to rehearse songs. No time to prepare sermons. No time to advertise. Besides, what do you say in a time like this? So, we just opened the doors and the altar for prayer. To this day, I believe that is the largest prayer meeting I have attended. Without a doubt it was the most emotional prayer meeting I have attended. I remember tears. Those that weren’t weeping visibly, were most certainly weeping internally. The room was somber. I remember people that never prayed out loud in public, passionately praying to God. No one knew how to say it, but we all felt it. This event, this day was different. No one had answers. No one knew what was next. So, we did the only thing we knew to do… We prayed!
I remember that day. I remember that Tuesday, that wasn’t just a Tuesday. I remember that prayer meeting. Praying was the right thing to do. At the time it felt like the only thing to do. But, here’s the question that comes to mind 25 years later: Why does it so often take a tragedy to bring us to prayer? As we answer that, I admit that crisis prayer is real prayer. We should pray in those times. The Bible is full of people crying out to God when they are in distress. But why does it take these events to bring us to this place of prayer?
A deeper concern is that dependence on God that is awakened by tragedy is often replaced by self-sufficiency when ordinary life returns. This shock of the crisis lasted long enough to fill our pews, but it didn’t last long enough to change our habits. For a few weeks in 2001 we prayed with a desperation for God. Then, life slowly returned to normal, and so did we.
The battle cry of the country over those few months was “Never Forget”. It could be seen on signs, bumper stickers, t-shirts, memorials. It was everywhere. We said it because we meant it. We wanted to honor the sacrifice of those first responders, and remember all of those innocent people who lost their lives. We said “Never Forget” and we meant it. To this day, I would agree that we haven’t forgotten 9/11 and the horror of that day. But, could it be that there are things we haven’t necessarily forgotten, but we no longer allow to shape us? Could it be that we remember the tragedy of that day, but fail to remember the utter dependence on God from that day?
This isn’t just about that Tuesday in 2001. We do this all too often. We cry out to God when the diagnosis comes. We cry out to God when the relationship is on the rocks, or the job is ending. We pray with an intensity in the middle of the storm, but lose our focus when the skies begin to clear.
On this 25th anniversary of 9/11 ceremonies will take place. Names will be read and flags will be lowered. The videos and the images will be broadcast. We should remember. We should honor those lives that were unfairly lost. We should honor those first responders that ran toward danger, and the ordinary citizens that displayed great courage. But, perhaps we should also remember something else. We are still fragile. We are still dependent on the God that holds this world together. We still need Him, and we still need each other.
“Never Forget” should mean more than remembering what happened. It should mean remembering what mattered more than anything else on that Tuesday. We don’t need to wait on the next crisis to pray. Remember now. Pray now!