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Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
News
2001
From the Pastor
PEACE IN THE VALLEY
As I write this it is early evening. The air is still. Everything is at a quiet rest. The sun is no longer visible but its light is still in the sky, making it possible for me to write this outdoors.
I know in a few short weeks it will be dark at this time and too cold to sit outdoors, so I am savoring these moments and looking for the same quietness of spirit I see in nature on this evening.
Of course thoughts of our country are always present. How can you ever adjust to the traumatic occurrence of September 11? What's next? How will we respond? Will there be anymore acts of violence filled with hatred but perpetuated in the name of one whose name is above our own?
How different life seemed less than a month ago. It is silly now to think of things that upset us then. Everything has become more serious and placed in a different perspective. What use to be front page news is now not even in the papers.
I worry most about the children. I remember how frightful sometimes headlines in the newspaper were to me as a child. I can't imagine what it must be like for children to watch these events as they happened on television. I hope every parent holds their children tight and reassures them with lots of hugs and kisses.
The stillness of this quiet night is broken with the sounds of sirens in the distance. Another accident, a fire, someone hurt. It seems as though since September 11, I have become more sensitive to the sounds of sirens.
On the Sunday following the Tuesday tragedy one of the hymns we sang begins, "Oh, God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come." It was written in the eighteenth century but it could have been written for today. I think what we were ready only a short while ago to discard as old fashioned and out-of-date might be the very things that carry us through this terrible havoc wrecked upon us.
I think going to church will be more important to us. I think Christmas will be more significant to us this year, as well as Thanksgiving and birthdays and family and friends and even the words in ancient hymns. The past that a short while ago we thought hopelessly out-of-date may give us the strength and wisdom to carry us through. Somehow the word "contemporary" doesn't seem to have the same luster it had a few weeks ago.
The sun has now set. I have had to move inside. I think about the security and freedom I have as an American. The night need not be fearful or my thoughts recorded in secret.
During the colonial period of our country's history one colony in particular was a safe haven for such freedom. It was Rhode Island which was founded by two Baptist, Roger Williams and John Clark. The colony became a safe place for nonconformists, Jews and Catholics. That security of religious freedom has long since become a principle of our nation, and I have only to look close at hand to see how much it is a part of our lives. I think of the mosque down the road and the pacifist Amish communities that are so evident in Ohio.
The night descends. The day is over. These are uncertain times, but not times without God. Nature finds its rest. It is peaceful in my backyard and in my home. I must learn from these nights. In the midst of the chaos peace can be found. Christ still beckons us, "Come with me to a quiet place and find rest for your souls." In worship and in private moments may we still seek that rest that only Christ can give, and in that rest, there alone with God, may we pray for our country, its leaders, its soldiers, its volunteers and the security and peace of the world. Amen.
Dr. David W. Andersen
          
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