09/11/2026
On this day, we remember the tragic events that forever changed our country and the world 25 years ago. I know for many of us, we can still name where we were and what we were doing the moment we heard the news. We still remember the emotions that poured out of us.
As we remember, we also pray. We pray for the families who lost someone that day, for the first responders that ran toward danger, and the 2,996 lives lost that day. We pray for those who still feel the tragic effects today.
In remembrance of that day, I would like to share this blessing from Kate Bowler, for Life After A Loss:
Blessed are we, who feel the wound of fresh loss.
Or of a loss… no matter how fresh… that still makes our voices crack all these years later.
We who are stuck in the impossibility of it. Frozen in disbelief.
How can this be? It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Blessed are we, fumbling around for easy answers or quick truths
to try to make this go down easier.
We who are dissatisfied with the shallow theology and trite platitudes.
Blessed are we, who, instead, demand a blessing.
Because we have wrestled with God and are here.
Wounded. Broken. Changed.
Blessed are we,
who keep our relationships and friendships and jobs afloat,
and who stock the pantry…
because… what choice do we have
but to move forward with a life we didn’t choose
with a loss we thought we couldn’t live without?
One small step. One small act of hope at a time.
In God's holy name we pray, Amen.
