Remembering

It's hard for me to believe that 11 years ago today, devastating acts of terror were taking place in my own country.  At the time it felt like I was watching a movie unfold right before my eyes. It felt surreal. 

Now I know how real that day was. I've been to the World Trade Center site. I saw the holes in the ground where two massive buildings used to stand. I rode in a subway that passed a destroyed train platform. I was seeing destruction in real life that I only thought could happen in the movies. I was seeing the aftermath of pure evil. 

As I think about it now, I'm still at a loss for words. Even though I was not personally affected the events themselves, I still ask "Why?". I know I may never have the answers to those questions, but I still have them. 

Today, I am reflecting a little bit on the events of 9/11/01. Why? Maybe because I saw a similar post like this on a blog or facebook. Or maybe because it's good to remember. Remembering helps us to see how God has changed us from those times. How we've grown, hopefully to Him. It helps us to see who we were, as individuals and as a country then, and how we are today. 

So as we remember, here are links to a couple of videos we did at Riverside Church last year where I was the music minister. We purposefully took time to remember and pray for individuals affects by these events, and for our country and its leaders. Maybe today, we could all do the same. 

The first link is how we opened our service last year, a video of the band playing Alan Jackson's 'Were Where You?'  Oh, and sorry for the poor video quality on this, it was the only camera we had. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z998M5RBoxk&feature=plcp


The second is to an interview video we made of people telling their stories from that day. 
http://vimeo.com/28870401 


-DS

Video - Where Were You

This video is really special to me.  For the 10th anniversary of September 11 we were able to do something completely different than we've ever done in church before, play a country song by Alan Jackson.  Now that may not seem like a big deal for some people, but it's not a normal thing to do in a church service.

Anyway, this song set up a remembrance video that you can find in one of my older post here.  

Here is Alan Jackson's "Where Were You" as played by me and the Riverside Band. 

9/11 Ten Years Later

So today is Friday.  By the time I finish writing this post it may actually be Saturday but who’s really keeping track.  

Anyway, this Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the events that happened on 9/11/2001. Since this day fell on a Sunday I had (or God gave me) the idea over a year ago to do a video interviewing different members of our church about what they remembered from that day ten years ago.  

Going through the interview process was an interesting one as I was able to listen to five different, however, eerily similar stories about that day.  I was amazed at the clarity and vivid details of the memories and stories from each person.  (I’ll share the completed video with you soon). I felt blessed just to be able to listen to their stories, because as we were all reminded of on that day, life is fragile.  We are never guaranteed tomorrow.  

But as I was putting together this video by reviewing each interview, watching clips on YouTube and reviewing pictures from September 11, 2001, I began to feel wrecked.  So many emotions flying around at once.  I nearly began to weep just watching the video I was creating for our church to use as a remembrance of that day.  I was once again put through the disbelief that somebody would attack us on our own soil.  I felt the pain, sorrow, and grief for the families that lost loved ones on that day.  I was reminded that the world is not safe.  Evil is real, Hatred is destructive, and security is an illusion.  

As I was begin drug through this feeling of being wrecked, I was reminded through a small video clip from my friend Ron, that we can never be sure of anything, but it is the love of Jesus that will always prevail.  Now I never forgot this, but it was amazing to be reminded of that by a friend in a video interview talking about one of the worst acts of terrorism ever in American history.  

I think it’s amazing that through this terrible event we can still find hope.  We saw that heros do still exist.  Courage and Bravery knows no limit.  There is power in Unity and joy in Community.  And as the time continues to pass we will never forget that Faith is our refuge, Hope sustains us, and Love endures all things.  I love this passage from 1 Corinthians 13:6-8 (yea, the love chapter) 

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails …”

  

To close I just want to say thanks to Rose, Ron, Linda, Jennifer, and Jeremy for willing to be a part of this project.  Your stories are what made this project successful and they have had a great impact on me. Also, thanks to the Riverside band for helping write the questions.  It was your input that got this project off the ground.