I'm still not sure what I'm going to say - you'll have to come to church or check out the sermon on the web-site on Monday to find out - but, the media has already begun talking about the anniversary and NPR has been having various people share their memories of that day.
But one of the things that I am thinking about is - oddly enough - Mount St. Helen's - the volcano in Washington St. I have aunts and cousins in Oregon and we went out to visit them just after the 1980 erruption and visited Mt. St. Helen's. My mother still has a jar of the ash. One of the things that I remember about 9-11 was how much the ash that covered people and buildings reminded me of the Mt. St. Helen's ash that covered everything.
However, the reason I'm thinking about it today is that about 5 years after the erruption we went back to visit Mt. St. Helen's and the trees and flowers were beginning to push their way through the ash - the ash was still there - but there were saplings and flowers growing in the midst of the ash.
I'm hoping that as the 10th annivesary of 9-11 nears that we are able to see some saplings and flowers pushing up through the ash of that day as well.
