ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 10, 2025
I know that the anniversary of September 11, 2001, isn’t until tomorrow, but I was thinking about how different our lives were on September 10, 2001. No one was even pondering such a horrific event, yet when you think about it, there have been so many historic events that dramatically shifted our way of thinking. There was a BEFORE and there was an AFTER. Though because I’m old, it suddenly hit me that there are more and more people who, because of their age, have no memories before September 11, 2001. In fact, approximately 1/3 of the U.S. population would be among those who were either not yet born or were so young that they’d have no recollection.
As I did last Sunday, I will again reference the Babylonian Exile in my sermon this Sunday. Most scholars date it to the year 587 BC, though it started a decade or two before the actual fall of Jerusalem. Within the larger narrative of Judaism, the Babylonian Exile ranks as one of the top three or four events that shifted how people viewed their faith. Today, we talk about it from a historical perspective, as those who can view both the before and after from a distant vantage point. Yet many, if not most of those who were taken from Jerusalem and into Exile, died before returning to Jerusalem. So even though we talk about the Israelites returning from Exile, almost all of them were not technically returning. Why? Because you have to have been somewhere and left to be able to actually return. Basically, a significant number of those who “returned” were those who were born in Exile. Since life expectancy, especially for someone who had lived through the ordeal of the Exile, would probably have been between 30-50 years of age, and the Exile was nearly 50 years long, it only makes sense that a small number of people actually made the round trip.
So what does it mean that there were those born in exile, who felt the same passion about returning as those who actually remembered what it was like? You can imagine that there was a lot of storytelling from the older generation to the younger generation, though it makes me wonder how accurate the memories were that produced those stories. Nostalgia and longing can skew our memories. That same thing happens even today as people speak about returning to some specific moment in history, often described as the good old days. Yet the descriptions of those glorious moments are often warped by a whole host of things, including the interplay of nostalgia and grief. When things seem to feel out of control, and change is happening at such a fast pace, a common response is to try to anchor oneself in a memory. We all do it, yet if we are going to be true to that memory, then we need to be honest about everything that was happening around that moment. We cannot selectively choose memories. It’s intriguing how people reminisce about a day long ago with longing, only to become frustrated when someone points out that their memory is somewhat incomplete in capturing the full essence of the event. While it’s acceptable to reflect on a memorable moment in our lives, we shouldn’t pretend that our experience was universally shared or should expect it to be.
I am grateful, Lord God, for the incredible and joy-filled memories I have. They are a blessing, but I also pray for the ability to see the broader narrative that unfolded around my specific memory. Help me to remember that what was a truly wonderful experience for me and perhaps even my friends might have been one of the most terrible moments for someone else. Maybe our best moments are not in the past, but in a future we are just now beginning to create. Amen.
