Lest We Forget

I went to see "United 93" today. I was rocked by the entire experience. If you look at reviews, many have questioned whether it was too soon to make a movie about this. My opinion now is that the timing is impeccable. I found myself caught up not in the drama but in the memory of the experience. I cried through half the film. How poignant to see the moment of the muslims in the front of the plane praying to Allah while the folks in the back prayed to God (talk about contending houses of prayer). I felt Greengrass did a good job making the movie apolitical, although there were clear statements throughout. This movie is a huge window into the spiritual state of America and the Western Church in 2001. The first three hijacked planes made it to their targets before our intelligence organizations had a clue what was going on. We were only able to scramble four military aircraft, and they came too late and unprepared. The first two were not armed, and the other two flew east instead of north. Is that a picture of where the praying Church was at that time? Half of us had no weapons, and the other half of us were going the wrong way?

I'm not criticizing the people or agencies for their response in that event. My thoughts turn more to the Church, her place at that time, and her continued response now. Damon Thompson shared a story at our RumbleUSA conference in January that has stuck with me. He told of how he sat stunned and angry in front of his television on 9/11 watching the tragedy unfold. He stood up and threw his remote against the wall smashing it yelling, "God, where were the prophets?" God responded by asking back, "Where were you?"