A little boy a few weeks ago in a store was asking his Mom when summer would be over.  It was plain that he didn't want school to start, and that he wanted a few more vacation days before the dreaded school year began.  His mother explained to him that summer was indeed over and school was starting the next day.  There would be no more long, lazy afternoons of that sweet boredom of youth or riding his scooter on the sidewalks or playing ball with his friends.  There'd be no more weekend camping trips or visits to Grandma in Iowa.  Summer vacation was over, and now it was time for the reality of going back to school.

          Well, dear friends, our summer vacation is over too.  The innocence of America's playtime is past.  Last Tuesday reality hit us in the face with the force of a sledge hammer as we watched the horrors of planes slamming into sky scrapers and thousands of people plunging to their deaths.  For reasons you and I will never fully understand, a dozen and a half unknown people assaulted our nation with such force of evil that we almost felt them inside our own homes, trying to kill us just assuredly as they killed those hundreds and thousands on the east coast.  Summer vacation is over and it's time for us to go to school.

          A pastor's temptation in a crisis-prompted sermon is to offer pat answers, but this time there are none.  But we do have plenty of questions.  Are we at war?  And with whom?  Pearl Harbor had a return address called Japan, but this enemy won't show its face.  What kind of person would commit suicide and kill so many civilians?  Why did they do it?  Are they jealous at our success or do they really believe we're the evil ones?  Next time will they use a nuclear bomb or germ warfare?  Will stopping terrorists require giving up some of our freedom?  Will the insanity of a few zealots finally wake up the silent masses of Christians to stand up for godliness?  And where do we see God in all these horrible events?  And isn't it amazing that it took such tragedy to close the malls and bring untold thousands into our churches?

          Though we may want answers, today we need to hear eternal truths.  We've heard enough interpretation of the news, so let's look at what God is telling us.  In 1 Timothy St. Paul told us how God had mercy on him even though he had arrested and jailed innocent Christians.  In the Gospel, Luke 15, the Good Shepherd had mercy on the lost lamb, bringing it back into the fold even though it was responsible for straying from the flock.  But the most interesting message from God comes from Exodus where we learned that God had to change His mind in order to show mercy.

          God rescued a whole nation from the horrors of slavery, doing some terrible things to set His people free.  Slavery had been terrible, and they were exhilarating in their new found freedom.  They had seen the massive power of God, parting the waters, being fed with heavenly food and protecting them through the pillars of fire and cloud.  God had given them a mighty leader, Moses, and the promise of a new land all their own.  All He asked was that they obey Him.

          But one day they abandoned God.  They began worshipping a golden calf, in idolatry, the worst of all sins!  They who had known the awesome mercy of God decided to play with Satan.  They who knew better became really stupid and now God was furious!  "Enough already!" said God.  "I'll get rid of them and start over with a new people."  Anyone would be better than these fools!

          At just the moment of God's righteous rage, Moses prayed, and God changed His mind.  This is a rare moment in the Bible!  At other times when the prophets pleaded with God, He punished them anyway.  But here we learn, "the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He threatened."  He was still angry at their unfaithfulness, but He spared them.  They were still His children and so He gave them another chance.  God spared His people from certain death!

          What does this mean for us today?  Does the presence of terrorism mean God is angry with us?  Did He allow a band of misguided zealots to take us into the valley of the shadow of death to teach us a lesson?  Perhaps so, but I wonder what we will learn from the events of last week.  We Americans have the incredible ability to go back to normal, and often that means turning our backs on God as soon as things are going well.  And we Christians are among the chief offenders.  The minute things go well, we're off like the wandering lamb, chasing some rainbow, looking for greener pastures and newer pleasures.  Perhaps I'm a bit cynical, but I wonder what we will learn from these events, and how long it will take for us to go back to the old ways.

          Will we worship God more regularly or continue taking our summer vacation?  Will we keep enrolling our kids in events that happen on Sunday morning?  If only these terrorist events would shake us up so that we make worship the top priority for Sunday or make us study our Bibles more, or pray more, or be more forgiving, or support our church more.  If only this wake-up call would lead us to stand for the Truth instead of caving in to popular foolish thinking.  May God give us all grace to learn lessons that will stay with us for life instead of just a few weeks!

          In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Almighty God of the Universe once said, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  Oh, that we could be humbled from all this and pray and seek the face of God and turn from our wicked ways!  If we did, then God would forgive our rebellious sins and heal our broken land.

          But we must stop worshipping our golden calves of pleasure and possessions and foolishness.  We all need to pray more and worship God more and serve Him more.  We need to live more like God's people rather than people of the world.  We need to live so that others will know we are Christians.  We need hearts that are broken, and a repentance that is genuine.  I so pray this will be the result of all the terrors we have witnessed this week.

          It's easy to point the finger at evil people or to call down God's judgment on the "bad guys" or to wring our hands in frustration.  It would be easier just to question why God would let all this happen.  And many pulpits will do that today, leaving God to be a inept old guy who should have known better.  We need more than a pep talk about how the human spirit will prevail.  Right now we don't need rhetoric, we need repentance;  we don't need a pep talk, we a change of heart!

          Moses pleaded with God and God answered his prayer.  God does that when people pray.  We must never forget that God still loves the world.  It appears that plane crashed in Pennsylvania because its passengers sacrificed themselves to save the White House.  God loved us enough to give His only Son for us.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, plunged to His death on Calvary, an innocent man who sacrificed himself that you and I might live forever with God.  On Tuesday it appeared our world had gone insane, and on Good Friday it must have looked the same.  God's Son was dead and now what?

          But thanks be to God it didn't end in death!  Jesus Christ rose again so that we can rise too.  Friends, there is a life after death, and God offers us that eternal life by trusting in His Son.  The other life after death is an eternity of terror and destruction that we don't want, for it's like forever being inside one of those towering infernos as they burned and fell.  But life with God forever will be joy and gladness instead of pain and sadness.

          Friends, God changed His mind about Israel and He can change His mind about America.  But it will take people of God praying and pleading.  It will take churches willing to forego popular and shallow causes and to stand up for eternal truths.  Last Tuesday was a wake up call, not just to terrorism, but to the judgment of God on a society that has largely forsaken Him.  A society where schools offer counsel in homosexuality but ban the mention of God will not go unpunished.  "Be not deceived;  God is not mocked.  A man reaps what he sows!" (Galatians 6:7)

          Something amazing this happened this week:  the malls closed but the churches opened.  They flew planes into buildings but we are flying flags on our porches.  They tried to pull us apart, but we are pulling together.  They tried to make hate, but we're having an outpouring of love.  Terrorists want us to be afraid of the dark, so let's show them we live by the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

          Moses prayed and God changed His mind.  I believe God is listening to the Moseses and Miriams of the Church right now as they pleading with Him for our nation.  Let's be among them!  Let's pray for America, but also pray for our enemies.  We must hunt them down, for evil like this can not go unpunished.

          But let's also pray for hearts to be changed, all hearts!  We Americans are not without blame.  People of other nations have reason to envy, even hate us.  But let's turn the tables.  Let's love rather than hate.  Let's love God above all and love our neighbors as ourselves.  And may God bring comfort to us all, especially those who have lost loved ones.  God has spared His people once again, so let's keep on praying to Him and loving others and worshipping Him!  And may God bless America with repentance and with His peace.  Amen

Copyright © 2001 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.