In 1997 Jeanne Calment was the oldest living human whose age could be verified.  She was 120 years old and this remarkable French lady claimed she owed her longevity to chocolate, olive oil, and port wine.  At her 120th birthday party, someone asked, "What is your vision of the future?"  With a twinkle in her eye, she replied, "Very brief."

          As we near the first birthday of 9-11, what's your vision of the future?  More such attacks?  More restrictions on our freedom?  More metal detectors?  More America-bashing?  More airport frisking?  Countless commentaries will reach our ears in the coming days with visions that will be mostly negative.  But I'd like to give you something positive this morning, something hopeful from the Lord.  But it will require being awake.

          Last Friday evening I was watching a short video of a trip Carol and I took to Israel in 1998.  I hadn't watched it in several years and was surprised how interesting it was when all of a sudden I realized I'd fallen asleep.  Listening to my own voice, I fell asleep.  How do you guys do it week after week?  We all should be wide awake with so much of interest that's going on around us.

          But the 9-11 tragedy caught us sleeping, didn't it?  We were completely unready for the insane acts of radical people bent on destroying us.  We were too busy pursuing our personal peace and prosperity.  Theologian Francis Schaeffer once summed up the primary goals of most Americans:  that we want to be left alone so we can pursue a quiet life and enjoy our prosperity.  But what's wrong with that?  What's wrong with enjoying life and the blessings God gives us?  Nothing, so long as we don't ignore the rest of the world and our responsibilities in it.  We dare never become so engrossed in ourselves that we neglect the poor and needy, and especially the unsaved.  God didn't give us all these blessings to hoard for ourselves.

          When you concentrate only on yourself, you get lulled to sleep.  And most Americans are sleeping when it comes to the reality of sin and its consequences.  Whatever we may think of it, sin is a reality we cannot ignore.  We can't deny it because it separates us.  Sin separates God and people forever unless God steps in.  Satan never sleeps - he only wants to destroy.  Despite what modern thought may be, there is a God-given standard of right and wrong, so St. Paul said, "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over;  the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."  You and I can sleep if we want to, but sooner or later the alarm will go off and we must wake up.

          9-11 was an alarm, and it did, for awhile, wake us out of our slumber.  Church attendance rose for a few weeks, but soon returned to normal.  The entertainment industry shut down a week or so, then came back more crude than ever.  The war against terrorism was popular a few months but the boys in the beltway soon made it a political football.  Police and fire fighters were given respect long overdue, but already we're tiring of the sirens and cussing the cops when we get a ticket.  There are even arguments over what kind of a memorial to put up at Ground Zero.  But the cross there is still standing!  Even our Lutheran church got embroiled in controversy over praying in public with non-Christians.  The pursuit of personal peace and prosperity resumed full force.  The past is gone and I'm not sure how much we learned from it.

          9-11 woke us up in a way that will keep us from ever sleeping well again.  But you know what?  We're really not suffering!  Grocery stores are full of food and people are still driving cars.  America still employs over 95% of its work force, and schools are still teaching kids.  Wall Street is not the barometer of happiness in America.  Our strength is in a loving God who blesses us even when most Americans turn their backs on Him.

          I don't like getting frisked at airports, but the airlines are still flying and most of us still can buy a ticket.  The Twin Towers are no longer there, but the rest of America is.  And because we mostly are back to normal, because of all these fantastic blessings still showered on us, it's going to be easy to fall asleep again.  To really wake up means to make a big change, to alter our priorities, to stand up for our Lord Jesus, and I'm not sure many of us want to do that.

          A man from the mountains of Appalachia had a bad rash and came to town to be examined by a doctor.  After the usual history-taking and medical tests, the doctor advised him he'd have to get rid of his dog.  His filthy old bird dog was the source of his allergic reactions and unless he got rid of him, he'd probably end up in the hospital with a heart attack and die.  As the man was leaving the office, the doctor asked him if he planned to sell the animal or give it away.  "Neither one," the old man replied. "I'm going to get me a second opinion.  It's a lot easier to find a new doctor than a new bird dog."

          Many of us would rather change religions than follow ours when the news is bad.  Our Christian faith has two basic messages - one good news and one bad.  The bad news is that we can never be good enough to get to heaven.  You and I are kidding ourselves if we think we have it all together.  We barely know where we left it!  Sin has driven a wedge in this world that we can't fix.  It separates us from God, from each other and even from creation.  I ran across a garter snake in my lawn last Friday and didn't tell Carol.  I can hardly get her outside the door if she finds a snake is in the yard.  For others their "snake" is a spider or anything that goes "bump" in the night.  The bad news is that we're separated from each other and from God.

          The Good News is that Jesus re-unites us, with God and also with each other.  Our Lord bridges the gap of separation.  He gave His life so we might know how to live, not just exist.  We humans live by our deadlines, but Jesus throws us a lifeline.  We're drowning in excess and living in denial and He throws us a lifeline.  We think we're wide awake, but we're asleep at the wheel, so Christ wakes us up!  He tells us, "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."

          You and I and everybody else in this world, Arabs, Jews, Russians, Europeans or whoever - need a Savior or we will all perish.  The Good News is that we have one, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of Mary.  He kept the commandments because we couldn't.  He did everything right, and He did it for us.  No other world religion has God doing it for people;  they all have people doing it for God.  But God did it for us, all of us, "that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)   He's the One Way to heaven.  "No one comes to the Father but through Him." (John 14:6)   But life after 9-11 goes on, whether we're awake or asleep.  And we still have a lot to learn, even if often common sense seems to have disappeared.

          It was a college course in ornithology, the study of birds.  The young man knew his professor was a bit eccentric, but he had studied several nights and was prepared for whatever the professor might throw at him.  When he got to the classroom, however, there were no test booklets.  Instead, one wall of the classroom was covered with nothing but pictures of various birds, and not even the complete bird - only bird legs.  The test was to identify each bird from the picture of its legs.

          This was something the young man was not prepared for.  He was frustrated and angry, but still he tried.  Finally the professor said, "Time's up!"  As the young man walked to the front, he said, "This is not fair.  This is the dumbest test I have ever seen."  The professor looked up at him and said, "Young man, you just flunked."  As he left, the teacher picked up his paper, saw he hadn't put his name on it, and said, "And what's your name?"  The student paused a moment, pulled up his pant legs and said, "Here - you guess!"

          I wonder when our time will be up.  And I wonder how many more foolish and terrible things we'll have to endure.  How long will terrorism feed on its self-righteous hatred of success?  How long will people, even Christians, keep fighting each other?  I don't know the answers, but this I do know:  God is faithful.  He'll never leave us nor forsake us.  He'll keep loving us no matter what, and in Him we can love each other.  In Him we can even forgive our enemies.  They may live on hate, but we live on God's love.  "So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.