Today and this month, there has been a lot of reflection and looking back on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Pastor Mark wrote an essay for the Washington Post's On Faith blog, "The horror of death and hope of resurrection." Also, on the Resurgence, Glenn Lucke has written a four-part series of Letters on 9/11.

Here on this blog, we wanted to give you five clips from Pastor Mark throughout our sermon series on the Gospel of Luke that speak to our tragedy and our fears, and Jesus and our hope in him—in all circumstances. From the sermon "Jesus and Repentance," Luke 56, Nov. 21, 2010:

So the first thing Jesus says is, "When you see suffering, don’t ask the wrong questions." Don’t ask, "Why God? Why them? What happened? Are you not just? Are you not good? Are you not sovereign? Are you impotent? Are you evil? Do you not care? Do you exist?" When tragedy happens and death is absolutely thrust before us and we can’t avoid it because it’s in the news, we need to be careful not to ask the wrong questions. We don’t always know what God is doing. We live by faith, not by sight. We get some of our questions answered in this life but the Bible teaches elsewhere that we know in what? Part. We see? Dimly. One day when we’re with Jesus on the other side of resurrection all the questions will be answered. We’ll see it all clearly. We’ll know it all fully. Until then, we live by faith, not by sight. God doesn’t give us answers to all of our questions. He gives us Jesus, someone who has suffered and died and risen to take away our sin, give us new life, and get us to the kingdom where it all makes sense.

From the sermon, "Jesus and Anxiety," Luke 54, Nov. 7, 2010:

What does your mind fear? What does your mind fear? Who, what are you afraid of? Jesus has this to say about fear, Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock." Fear not. This is the most frequently uttered command in the whole Bible. The first five books of the Bible alone have 613 commands. And if you take the totality of the Bible, the sixty-six books of Scripture, and you pull out every single command, the one that is repeated most frequently is fear not. How many of you, that surprises you? This must be a perennial issue because the Bible was written over the course of a few thousand years by roughly forty authors in multiple nations. And one thing is consistent: People are governed by their fears. The book is timeless and so it’s always timely. And Jesus says, "Fear not."

From the sermon, "The Beatitudes, Part 2," Luke 25, April 18, 2010:

Some of you need to understand the fullness of forgiveness and forgive, and leave those people to God that ultimately he will judge them, and if they don’t repent, he will condemn them, so that you can judge them and forgive them, and then leave them to his care. Maybe they’ll repent and God’ll forgive them. Maybe they won’t and God will condemn them. That’s his business. For your heart of bitterness, for your life of hypocrisy, and forgive others just like the Bible says as God and Christ forgave you. Who do you need to forgive? Who do you need to forgive? What did they say? What did they do? What did they fail to do? I’m under no illusion that this is easy or simple.

From the sermon, "The Parable of the Persistent Widow," Luke 76, April 17, 2011:

Roughly twelve of the books of the New Testament at or near their conclusion give an exhortation to persistence and patience that culminates in perseverance. Keep on keeping on, keep going. Dear victim, don’t quit. Trust the judge and get to the court date. … And some of you are tempted to quit. Some of you are tempted to doubt God. Some of you are tempted to deny God. Some of you are tempted to disregard God. Some of you are tempted to disobey God. Persistence plus patience equals perseverance. … God exhorts us, God encourages us, and, let me say this, God enables us and God empowers us to have both persistence and patience. The life we live is not just a life lived for God. That’s what religion teaches. It is the life of Christ lived for us. It is the life of Christ lived in us.

From the semron, "The Worst Tragedies Can Be the Best Opportunities," Luke 86, August 14, 2011:

Yes, things are hard. Yes, days are dark. Yes, the world feels like it’s falling apart. Yes, the nations are literally shaking. Earthquakes, tsunamis, poverty. It is global pandemic. …  And it’s our opportunity. It’s our opportunity to say there is a world after this world. There is a King beyond our kings and queens and princes and princesses and politicians; his name is Jesus. That King has a Kingdom that never ends. That ultimately this life, though it is exceedingly important, it is for a little while, and the one to come is the one that lasts forever. There is life after this world. This world is not our home. This world is not our heaven. This world is not our hope. That ultimately, things are not as God intended, and Jesus is coming to make all things new. We have a message of hope. We have a message of help. We have a message of healing. That Jesus Christ is alive. That Jesus Christ is King of Kings. That Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords. That Jesus Christ makes life meaningful. That Jesus Christ makes death meaningful. That Jesus Christ makes suffering meaningful. That Jesus Christ makes persecution meaningful. And one day we will die and we will leave it all here. And we will be with him. And everything we need will be given by him. And everything we’ve suffered will be healed by him. And everything we’ve longed for will be fulfilled in him.