The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
September 11, 2011
Vol. 14 no. 35
Clever titles for bulletin boards and sermons are legion, yet it always seems rock groups have taken most of them first. “Ten Years After” is being used a lot on this anniversary of the unhappy events of September 11. Ten Years After was a British rock group of the 1960’s and ‘70’s who played at Woodstock, among other things. The name of the group was changed in 1966 to reflect ten years after the appearance of Elvis Presley. Ten years means different things to different people and different eras.
On the Sunday following that infamous Tuesday I preached about it here. Ten years after I have looked back and found that most of what I wrote then still applies, granted that the world has changed as all the pundits and media were wont to declare within the first ten days. I will take the risk that what I will say this week will be no more than a decade old.
September 16, 2001, was Year C in the Lectionary and Luke 15:1-10 was the Gospel reading – the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. The world does change and it is now Year B and the parable of the unforgiving servant is to be read, along with the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus. Most will think it matters little what is read in church, but I still am convinced that such scriptures persistently offer a handle to grab hold of an event as enigmatic and outrageous as September 11th and begin to make sense of the senseless.
Media, governments, commentators and security people have worked exceedingly hard to ensure that the world has been changed, although I am not really sure who has won. It is never easy to cross the Red Sea in the best of times.
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan