I do not set aside the grace of God. (Gal 2:21)
Before being ordained a priest in 1984, I used to work for Bankers Trust in New York, next to the Twin Towers. At lunchtime I would often walk across the pedestrian bridge that connected the bank to the World Trade Center and get something to eat from the food court. The attack on 9/11 also wrecked the Bankers Trust building beyond repair so it’s gone now.
The other now famous landmark that’s gone from that spot is Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, also wiped out that day. It was a tiny space of grace in the middle of a big parking lot behind Bankers Trust and in the shadow of the WTC. The parishioners had long ago refused to sell and close up, so the church remained there as a peculiar witness among the cathedrals of finance.
Faithful volunteers opened it every Wednesday afternoon, and I would go and sit there, listen to the Byzantine chant playing on a tape recorder and take a piece of Antidoron given out to visitors by a grandmother at the candle desk. The Greek Archdiocese has fought long and hard to ensure that it won’t be forgotten, and finally received approval last year to rebuild the church at 130 Liberty Street. And now the church will also include a nondenominational bereavement center.
Both the epistle and gospel of this day are about grace. Saint Paul is astonished that his Galatian flock has forgotten the grace they received and experienced. It’s not that they have abandoned “church,” it’s that they now live as if it all depends on them and not God. And Jesus amazes the people in his home synagogue when he preaches. But they immediately then question where he got this wisdom, because, after all, they know him and his family and a carpenter’s son just cannot have that kind of wisdom. They’ve figured it all out. And they miss seeing the grace of God at work in Jesus.
May God comfort all those who lost family and friends on September 11, 2001. May He grant rest eternal to all those who died in those attacks. And may He give each of us the eyes to see His grace at work all around us, even in the most familiar places and familiar faces.
About the Author
Fr. John Jillions is Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America. He has a PhD in New Testament (University of Thessaloniki), MDiv and DMin degrees from St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and a long record of pastoral service, university teaching and academic writing.
~Taken from the website of the Orthodox Church in America: http://oca.org/reflections/fr.-john-jillions/september-11-2012.
