Presbyterian Devotions: Light of Liberty

Matthew 5: 14 "You are the world’s light. You cannot hide a city on a hill.

The days following the 9/11 tragedy were amongst the weirdest that many of us ever experienced. To begin with, there were no planes in the sky anywhere, so it seemed empty and quiet. Mostly everyone hunkered down in their own homes, glued to the continuous coverage on television. Restaurants and malls were practically empty and it appeared as though large and small communities throughout the United States would never be the same again.

And then flags started to appear everywhere. People had them attached to their cars, in the front of their homes, and at their businesses. The local newspaper contained a magnetic flag to be placed on automobiles or fridges in every home. We were brutally broken and totally shocked by the turmoil, but we crawled out of our caves and restarted to live our lives as the means to honor the innocent dead and to defy the terrorists their complete victory.

Out of the ruined rubble of our society, we rose up and overcame the darkness of despair. Freedom and liberty were now even more precious to us because they had been snatched away from us for a couple of days. Lady Liberty still stood as a sentinel before the smoking Manhattan skyline and we became just as resolute. Our duty was to show the world not just our resilience and defiance, but our faith in freedom and our light of liberty.

Within a week, our skies were filled with vapor trailing planes carrying our people from state to state and city to city. Within our hearts, we all silently vowed that we would prevail and that this would never happen again on our watch, in our cities, and across our land. We have remained true to that promise, and maintained that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are still the noblest and highest of rights to which any nation, kingdom, or people on Earth can ever aspire towards.

Even after eight years, we are still that light of liberty which the world seeks. We are still that shining nation of strength and hope that the Earth still needs.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we remember the dark days of 9/11 and continue to live our lives in honor of those who died. We pray for the bereft families, who were most affected by the losses at the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania. Keep us mindful of those days and ever watchful of the days to come. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Sunday Devotions: The Wrong Path

Psalm 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

There’s a controversy brewing over an ad that the World Wild Life Fund had commissioned in Brazil. The ad depicts over one hundred airplanes heading directly to Manhattan with the intention of impacting the skyscrapers. Beside the Panda logo is a line which reads: "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it."

Many people, especially New Yorkers, are outraged about the ad. With the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks just a week away, it is tasteless and insensitive. If the ad company just wanted to shock people, then they’ve obviously succeeded, but if they wanted to get people to support the World Wildlife Fund, they have seriously gone down the wrong path.

What is it with people these days? Do they have no conscience? Is 9/11 so far removed from our hearts and thoughts that we can mock it like this? I remember that apocalyptic day very well and it changed my life forever. I’m certain that those who lived through Pearl Harbor have kept December 7^th sacred in their hearts and memories, so why can’t we respect and honor those who innocently died on that tragic day in 2001?

One of the important qualities about the Christian faith is that it is meant to show us how to take the right paths in life and avoid the wrong ones. As Christianity diminishes in Western society, it makes me wonder how many wrong paths we will brazenly take over the next 25 years. Will there be no moral boundaries? Will there be no honor or respect? Will humanity just drag itself down into a morass where faith, hope, and love no longer survive?

I honestly hope not, because I think we were created for higher, nobler, and greater things. So my prayer today is that we all return to Christ’s teaching and God’s precepts to show us the way forward and keep us from going down the wrong path.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we appear to be fragmenting as a faithful society and Christian community. We follow our own paths and march to the sound of our own drums. Forgive us for our foolish notions, wasteful ways, and misguided choices. Help us to return to Your words, so that we can we can be restored to God’s love and kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.