TODAY IS different. Because of the dramatic events of last week when terrorists attacked the US, we are going to specially remember all those affected and reflect on this situation.
We'll begin by singing
SS 529 Holy, Holy, Holy

Let's pray...
Father, today we have come to do something we have never done before.
We thank you sincerely for a way of life which has ended.
We have many memories associated with it.
It's a way which was imperfect, yet you made it, and it reflected you,
despite the human evil which constantly tried to swamp it.
It was what we knew, and it has served us well, and now we miss it.

As we pause in our sense of shock and loss we ask you for special grace
to pass through this sorrow knowing your great comfort.
But we also need grace to comfort others with the comfort we have received.

Lord, we think of all who are grieving now.
We think of those whose families and friends and workmates were killed in the aircraft or on the ground.
We think of those who still live in uncertainty and fear as they wait for confirmation
that someone they cared about is dead,
or for reunion with someone miraculously alive
And, our Father, we specially remember all who will receive little comfort.
Wrap them in your love, we pray, just as you wrap us in your love.
Through Christ we pray, AMEN.

How do we do justice to a way of life in these few minutes? Yet we need to stop, to remember, to reflect. It's sad that in one way a sense of security is gone, but somehow we know God is still in control. If we are happy that that way of life existed, was part of our lives, and I'm equally sure that we understand the need to move on.

Let's welcome one another.
The announcements for the week are...

Here's a Bible passage which speaks of loss, and reflects some of the anger we feel.

PS 137 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us—
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

We are all distressed and disturbed by what has happened to the US. We protest to God. “How can such things possibly happen?” We replay the dramatic images: the aircraft slicing into the building, the falling bodies, the utterly bewildered people, the tears and the unbearable grief.
I can say, “God's love for the US is greater than any human love. God gave his one and only Son for the nations as well as for you and me. One day everything in all of creation will be brought under the rule of Jesus our Lord.”
I can say: “Be glad. We are still in good hands, the hands of the God who loves us. Don't despair. A way of life has ended, a brash innocence is gone. But our hope is in the Lord, not in a lifestyle.”

We will declare our thankfulness and trust by presenting our tithes and offerings.

Let's sing again...
Hy 401 Rock Of Ages

America seemed invincible. To be struck and brought almost to its knees by 50 determined people and four commercial airliners is incredible.It couldn't happen, but it did, and it happened so easily.

We are tempted to curse the killers and on their tribe. We begin to think, “If we can't touch the hijackers, we can touch those who are like them. We can seek out their families. We can seek out their supporters. We can hunt down their leaders and abuse their fellow countrymen and co-religionists.”

America seemed invincible, but now we know it's not. And if America can be touched, so can we all. An era has ended. Nowhere is safe anymore. Grieve that loss.

The old alliances and enmities are changing. China, Cuba, Russia, Lybia, Iran, Pakistan are all expressing solidarity with the US. Old strategies have suddenly become irrelevant. Millions of dollars have been spent on the Starwars defence projects to protect the US against a "rogue state", and a rogue state slips four of the US's own aircraft past ordinary, everyday sensible security measures.

What will our world be like by the year 2005, now that 11 September has come?

We'll sing that quintessential American hymn, the one with the words by a British clergyman and a Scottish tune,
SS 401 Amazing Grace

Let's pray again:
Our Father God, as we pray, we think of the leaders of the nations.
This week they have seen that, when one nation suffers the world suffers.
If terror has been globalised, so has suffering.
Lord, grant them wisdom to care effectively for the security of their people.
Grant them grace to deal justly and effectively with their enemies
and with the issues which create enmity.
Lead them through the maze of conflicting issues
so that they do not oppress those who are different.
Guide them to solutions which truly accord with your will.
We pray through Jesus our Lord, AMEN

We will now hear a passage of scripture, read to us by Joyce Bautista...
Matthew 24: 1 – 14

This is God's word. We praise him for it.

When I heard news of the disaster in the US, I was working on the church newsletter. My daughter called me into her room and we watched as news of an aircraft's crash into the World Trade Centre tower was supplemented by news of a second such crash and rumours of a possible bomb at the Pentagon.

It was totally incredible. I was stunned and unable to react.

The next morning, it was sinking in. I kept thinking of how apocalyptic it all seemed. It was as though all the prophesies were coming true as we watched on TV.
When someone said, years ago, that it would be easy for every eye to see the return of Jesus, because it would be on TV, I scoffed. But we saw just how immediate news can be. Our TVs were only minutes behind America's.
I thought of sermons I heard in the 1960s about how Russia and the Middle East were keys to understanding of the last days, and that we would soon see clear signs of the appearing of Jesus as the countdown to Armageddon began. I thought that maybe that countdown was beginning as we watched.

I went to work. I had three browser windows open on my computer. Every half hour or so, I refreshed the CNN news, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Süddeutsche Zeitung's internet pages. When news broke, it did it on my desktop at work.
I had the BBC News service on a portable radio on the other end of my desk and several of us had CNN streaming audio news coming from my computer. I was surrounded by inormation. Was it like that in your offices? Was it like that at your home, with the radio on every minute?

I couldn't help thinking how much of Daniel's pophecy was fulfilled,

12:4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

We live in an age of increasing mobility and of vastly increasing knowledge.
The newspapers were right about “Apocalyptic events.” It read like a filmmaker's vision of the Book of Revelation or of Daniel.

But, as Jesus said, wars and rumours of wars are not the ultimate sign. He said,
Don't let your hearts be troubled: the end is not yet.

The Kingdom of God will come in its full power when the time is ripe but, as Jesus said, wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes in various places and all these other events are merely the beginning of what is to come.
The day will come when —

The moon runs down in a purple stream,
The sun refuse to shine,
And every star will disappear—
King Jesus will be mine!

So I want to say just a few very simple things about what we have witnessed and how we respond to it.

The first is, Be sad. It's OK to grieve.
I know it didn't happen directly to us. But the fact is that human beings are social and empathetic creatures. When we see others suffer, we suffer, too.

Anyone working in Child Protection will tell you that a child who watches domestic violence is abused even when never a finger is laid on him. He can suffer Post traumatic Stress disorder from merely observing what happens to other people.

Gloria Goff told me that she kept waking up thinking of the loss of life and the numbers who jumped rather than face being burnt.

I kept thinking that they said about 10 000 had been killed, and that was around half what was killed from the Allied Army on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Britain's worst day of losses ever.

We'll all react differently. Different things will touch different people in different ways. Whatever you are doing in reaction to the unfolding drama is probably OK as long as it's legal and moral.

The second thing is, Be gracious.
When we are angry, we want vengeance. It is easy to take that anger out on defenceless people.
God says,

Vengeance is mine: I will repay.

Some Muslim kids celebrated this attack and a riot nearly broke out at the local High School. As a Christian, I would say, “You don't need to take that on board. Nor do you have to consider all Muslims to be assassins because some are.”
Some people, regardless of the culture they come from, are driven more by pride or anger than by any idea of compassion or justice. You can't change that quickly.
The best solution is unfailing compassion, reason in the face of unreason, and calm refusal to react.

On the other hand, you read of Muslim women having their headdress torn off and being spat on in the streets.
We have to resist such barbarity.
If you see it happening, stand up against it.

No matter how just they claim their cause is, those who persecute the innocent are as much terrorists as anyone with a Molotov Cocktail. That's what terrorism is: persecution of the innocent. If others want to seek revenge and their beliefs allow it, we probably can't entirely stop them, but we can certainly steer clear ourselves.

My third piece of advice is, Be alert.
As I said, these events don't say to us, “Jesus is just around the corner.” What I mean is, don't quit your day job and stand gazing into the sky.
On the other hand, these events do say to us, “Things can't go on this way forever. God must intervene. Jesus must come before too long.” We can join with the martyrs around God's throne, as we read in Revelation, who cry out, “How long, Lord?”
So don't give up hope. Be alert. Watch the signs. Jesus will come again. Be ready. He will come like a thief in the night. We all know the sound of an ambulance as it speeds to a tragedy. We all know the sound of a police vehicle, roaring along Illawarra Road with its siren going. Is there a special siren for a Thiefmobile, that says, “Everyone out of the way, I'm on my way to your house?” Of course not. In the same way, there's no specific warning that Jesus is coming, but you can tell if you live in a risky neighbourhood.

One more “be”: Be trusting.
If Jesus is coming back, if these things are known in God's plan, it's safe to say that God is in overall charge. We may not have all the answers. We may not always avoid disaster, but we know that, behind it all is a God who cares. Keep trusting. It's the main thing you can do. Without it, you will become a terrified hermit, but disaster will still come if it's coming.

Finally, I say, Be truly Christian.
Violent reactions, fearful withdrawals, arrogant disdain all work against us and against our world. If Islamic fundamentalism is behind this, only the truth of the Gospel is greater. Only the courageous love and faith of truly born-again people can withstand and change this demonic evil. Buffy the Vampire Slayer says you withstand demons with superior human power. Maybe that's America's answer to evil. But Jesus says you withstand demons by fasting and prayer and the power of his resurrection.

So let's pray as we close this time together:
Our heavenly Father, we close our time of reflection by offering all our thoughts,
our fears, our dreams, our joys and our sorrows to you.
Take it all and transform us to make us ever more like Jesus our Lord.
Father, we are sad, we are distressed.
We share with those around the world who also grieve this horrible disaster.
But we determine to move forwards in your enabling grace.
Give to us the courage and grace to accept what we can't change
and to live confidently beyond this moment.
Through Jesus, who passed through death into eternal life we pray, AMEN

Our final music:
SS 668 Worthy, O Worthy

And the benediction (said together)...
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace,
AMEN