Blue Lake Presbyterian Church | 9-11-2016
That Tuesday, started as a beautiful, serene, peaceful September morning. The sky was blue, the sun was shining. There was a soft breeze blowing. In New York and in Washington, just like here in Blue Lake, Arcata or Eureka, parents were getting their children to school. Workers were getting that next cup of coffee, beginning the activities of the day.
In Boston and Newark and Washington, just like any other city in America, people were boarding planes. Some on business trips, others on vacation trips.
Barbara Olson, a well-known television commentator and lawyer, just had breakfast with her husband, Solicitor General Ted Olson, and was getting ready to go to Los Angeles.
A family of four was getting ready for a vacation trip to Australia. They were so excited. Three school children and three of their teachers were on their way to Santa Barbara to attend an ecology conference. Their parents were so proud and so happy for them.
Little, did any of them know that Tuesday September 11, would be their last day? On this day, 15 years ago, 2996 people lost their lives, in the largest terror attack in the history of our great Nation.
Good morning, welcome to Blue Lake, on this National Day of Service and Remembrance commemorating September 11 2001. The sermon is titled: “Amazing Grace” I once was lost but now I am found.
Most of us, can still vividly remember where we were on that morning, when the news of the attacks broke, I remember, being in meeting… driving home from the farm to take the kids to school at 8.00 in the morning, quickly turning on the television, and watching in disbelieve seeing the images of the planes flying into the twin towers and the subsequent collapse.
3 weeks after the attacks we visited Crottonville New York to attend a conference at the GE learning Center…………
The Old Testament reading today was from Jeremiah 4: in which the prophet wrote: A hot wind comes from me, out of the bare heights, 25I looked, and behold, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. 26I looked, and behold, and all its cities, were laid in ruins, the heavens above grow black.
Jeremiah saw a lot of darkness when he wrote this in 625BC; On that morning of September 11, our Country was filled with fear and images of darkness.
Tim Keller’s “Redeemer Presbyterian Church” is located just a few miles from where the Twin Towers once stood.
His congregation was particularly impacted by the horrors of 9-11. Keller prayed: Almighty and most merciful God, you are the consolation of the sorrowful. You are the support of the weary. Look down then, now, in tender love and pity on us whose joy has been turned into mourning, so that while we mourn and grieve we may not have our hearts darkened, but rather that we might grow in wisdom and have our hearts grow in hope….
Our opening hymn this morning was “Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. On this National day of remembrance, this beautiful hymn (sung on the melody of Finlandia by Sibelius), gives a striking depiction in moments of adversity, and darkness, yet it also provides hope and the glorious prospect of eternal live.
Our Heavenly Father wants all to enter into his kingdom. Not just some, no, all of us, and like the shepherd of a flock of sheep, he goes out looking for the one that has gone astray.
This is what brings us to today’s Gospel reading in Luke 15 verse 1-10 found on page………… in pew bible.
15Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying,
“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven, over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.8“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully, until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found, the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The three parables in Luke 15, of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, are among some of the most familiar parables in the bible.
Tax collectors and sinners had come to listen to Jesus, and Jesus welcomed them, and ate with them, and he was hanging out with these sinful folks. Then the religious types, “the Pharisees”, grumbled and complained. What does Jesus do??
He starts telling stories, not one, not two, but three in all. First of a shepherd with 100 sheep who loses one, and he puts everything else aside to find that one sheep.
He tells a story of a woman with 10 coins, and if she would lose one coin, she would be obsessed to find that one coin, and doesn’t let up, and keeps looking until she finds that coin.
Today’s reading stops there, but Luke 15 rounds out this narrative with the story of the prodigal son. In all three stories the emphases lies on the pervasive joy, after the sheep and the coin are found, and the son returns. It is the manifestation of the Amazing Grace of our Father in Heaven who rejoices when anyone repents of theirs sin, when the one who once was lost is now found.
Friday night, teen challenge held their annual fundraiser banquet in Eureka, more the 300 members of the community showed up for this great event. Last year they raised more than $100,000.-. The food was great, and 70 students sang and gave amazing testimonies. What a blessing, these students once were lost but now are found by the Amazing Grace of the Lord our God.
These parables in Luke 15 are about things that are lost.
On this morning, 15 years ago, so many were lost in a matter of hours.
Let’s reflect for a moment, on the tens of thousands of men and women in New York City and others in other parts of the world, husbands, wives, children, rescue workers, firemen, relatives, co-workers, who were looking for the, lost, or news of the lost, in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre.
Think of the retired marine in Connecticut…Dave Karnes a sr accountant at Deloitte… eventually rescuing Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin port authority police officers…under 20 ft of ruble … faint screams for help.
And think of the joy when the few survivors were rescued from the wreckage.
God loves all his sheep, the righteous and the sinners. The sheep that remain in field and the one that has strayed, God makes no distinction, he loves all. When lost he seeks us out.
Yesterday I was talking to a sheep rancher, who described how sheep easily get lost, they see the green pasture on the other side of the fence, and do anything to get there. Once they get through the fence they don’t know how to get back, and then they start to wonder.( sounds familiar)
The rancher goes on the lookout for his lost sheep and he is filled with joy every time he retrieves a lost sheep. Jesus said: And when the shepherd finds the sheep he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says ‘rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep”
And the woman who finds that lost coin calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin'”
Earlier this year I lost my cell phone in the Denver airport, after looking for it for 30 minutes we went to a lost and found counter. They had some phones. The person asked that we dial the number to check it was mine. I knew my phone was down to less than 1% battery power. It still had enough power to ring and got phone back, what a joy.
Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner, who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
We are the sheep; we are all valuable to the rancher
You and I, each one here today, or those listing on the internet later, we are valuable in the eyes of the Lord.
God rejoices over each of us, he shows his amazing grace. He especially rejoices over those of us, who have been lost, and now are found.
And if we are feeling lost today, if we are confused, and alone, or frightened, if we have strayed off the path for whatever reason, raise up our voice and call out so that we may be heard. Just like those 9-11 survivors, under 20ft of..
Call out; because we are valuable, God is seeking us.
A memorial service was held on September 14 in the National Cathedral in Washington DC just days after the attacks. Billy Graham gave the sermon and he said, to those in attendance and watching across Nation.
“Difficult as it may be, for us to see right now, this event can give a message of hope, hope for the present and hope for the future.
Yes, there is hope. There is hope for the present, because I believe the stage has already been set for a new spirit in our Nation. We desperately need a spiritual renewal in this Country, and God has told us in His Word, time after time, that we need to repent of our sins and return to Him, and He will bless us in a new way.
Graham continued: There also is hope for the future, because of God’s promises. As a Christian, I have hope, not just for this life, but for heaven and the life to come. And many of those people who died this past week are in heaven now. And they wouldn’t want to come back. It’s so glorious and so wonderful. That is the hope for all of us who put our faith in God. I pray that you will have this hope in your heart.
This event reminds us of the brevity and the uncertainty of life. We never know when we too will be called into eternity. I doubt if those people who got on those planes or who walked into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon on Tuesday, thought that it would be the last day of their lives. And that’s why we each must face our own spiritual need and commit ourselves to God and His will……..
Ladies and Gentlemen as we reflect on these events 15 years later, over 3000 people were lost that morning, 20 of them were rescued from the ruble, they were lost and then were found by the amazing Grace of God.
The shepherd rejoiced, and put that lost sheep on his shoulders, the woman was delighted, to find the lost coin. So our Heavenly Father rejoices when we repent of our sins and turn to God, turn to Jesus and accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Paul wrote to Timothy: 12I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, even though I was formerly a persecutor, and a man of violence. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom, I am the foremost, making me an example, to those, who would come to believe in him for eternal life.
Jesus said in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
At the start of that peaceful day 15 years ago, the people in the twin towers, the passengers on the four airplanes or those working at the Pentagon had no idea this would be their last day.
Our heavenly Father loves us and he sent his beloved son who carried the burden of our sins on the cross.
We ask Jesus to come into our hearts and into our life, by repenting of our sins, and accepting him as our Lord and Savior.
There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see.
We ask the Lord our God,
To shed his Amazing Grace on the people,
To heal our land,
And to bless the United States of America,
Amen
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