Saturday, September 8, 2012

REPENTANCE; NOT DEFIANCE

The Twin Towers went down on Tuesday morning. A day and a night before, dear friends, Ted and I had sailed in to Gramercy Park in the evening and were awestruck by the New York skyline, with the magnificent Towers standing tall and elegant midst the giant buildings containing the business dealings that have in the past made us the wealthiest nation in history. We were residing for the week in White Plains, thirty miles west,  with a thought of returning to the City on Tuesday, but at the last minute, changed our minds and headed west toward Niagara Falls. Midway we turned on the radio to learn of the shocking events unfolding behind us that changed our world forever. The next days were spent attempting to believe that what we were watching on television was actually happening. On Sunday, we were allowed back into the City and were able to walk within a few blocks of Ground Zero from which billows of black smoke were still rising. Nearly all of the tourists and many of the residents had fled, leaving a city locked in silence.  One broadway show, "The Music Man" was playing so we entered the nearly empty theater and watched a courageous cast present a superb show, ending with a gigantic American flag dropping from the ceiling at the back of the stage and the cast singing "God Bless America" with tears streaming down theirs and our faces.

We did not know then what I have learned since. When the nation began,  its capital city was not Washington, D.C.. On April 30, 1789,  the city of Washington did not exist. Our first president was sworn in on what is now Wall Street in New York City. A statue of him stands there facing the New York Stock Exchange. An inscription on the pedestal at his feet reads: "On this site in Federal Hall, April 30, 1789, George Washington took the Oath as the First President of the United States of America."  Washington placed his hand on the Bible and swore the oath,  then withdrew into Federal Hall where he delivered the first presidential address before Congress. After that, he led the nation's first government on foot in a procession through a courtyard into the sanctuary of a little stone church to commit the nation's future in prayer to God. The same little stone church still stands.  In 1789 the church was surrounded by land it owned.  On this land, the Twin Towers would one day be built.  George Washington, John Adams, and America's Founding Fathers all came to this corner to pray on the day that America's foundation was laid. It was here they came to commit the nation's future to God's holy protection. ...and it was here where that holy protection would first be withdrawn.

The shock of 9/11 did not send thousands to churches to pray and worship for very long.  Seven years after 9/11 the American economy collapsed. Then , as did Israel so long ago, we fortified our systems of defense, launching a global war against terror. ...all a reaction to 9/11, trying to reverse the consequences.  ...but the poison at the root of our nation's soul remains. A spiritual problem cannot be solved by a military or political solution.

Judgment isn't our Lord's desire, but His necessity. Yet God's mercy is still greater than His judgment.  This is our hope. Remember Sodom? God would have spared it had there been even ten good men. Remember Ninevah, the city in the most brutal empire imaginable?  God turned away His judgment. ...and yes, He could and may still turn away His judgment on our America.

C.S. Lewis spoke of his time of this earth as "my little life". Me too. I meet with a handful of women and men and young people in scripture and prayer each week, and I wonder: "Lord, what more can I do?"  Lord, lead me, guide me, fill me, use me; help me to have enough sense to keep myself healthy so I won't siphon off energies from others that had best be spent leading others to repentance, to Jesus and His Word.  
                                                         
I cannot be too fervent in my suggestion that you read "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn. (Front Line Publishers)   Ted's podcasts and other stuff: 12stoneslegacy.com.
                                                 
                         HYMN OF THE WEEK: FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

Faith of our fathers, living still in spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy when'e'er we hear that glorious word!
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS, HOLY FAITH
WE WILL BE TRUE TO THEE 'TIL DEATH

Love, Jo

ARCHIVE