Thus it was natural for all who saw the temple complex to be amazed, to remark on its beauty and adornments, and it was equally absurd for Jesus to predict that "the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." That a tragedy of such proportions could befall the greatest city of the nation was incomprehensible to Jesus' hearers.

***

At the end of this past August, a friend of mine from college went up to Manhattan for a wedding and stayed in the Millennium Marriott with a classmate of his, whose father is a retired high-ranking General. As they left the hotel that morning, the general's son motioned casually to the World Trade Center looming over them and said "Osama bin Laden's going to try to bring it down." My friend looked incredulous and asked "What makes you say that?" The general's son replied, "Because he tried before and failed, and next time he's going to finish the job."

Two weeks later, the World Trade Center was gone. My friend, deeply shaken, called the general's son and asked if he had had any insider's information when he prophesied its destruction. He said no, and swore to it. I guess he just knew how to read the signs of the times.

***

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified...Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven...This will give you an opportunity to testify."

At vestry meeting the other night, we talked about what role this community of faith has taken in the past two months. Several spoke of the opportunity we have been given to testify to our neighbors of God's steadfastness, and of the need to become even more hospitable to those who come here seeking solace. One vestry member testified that since the first thing the academy did when the news broke was gather in chapel, her children now know that when there's a crisis, the first thing they will do is "check in" with God, to come here. I have heard other parents in the past two months say that because of that simple chapel service on the eleventh, their children have taught them an important lesson about community, about the need to stay grounded, even at ground zero.

***

"Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them."

When we need Christ most, where are we to look for him? In the news media? In a book on the apocalypse? In the words of self-styled evangelists who have used the evil events of the past two months to hurl abuse at their enemies? When we need Christ most, we are assured we will find Christ where we have always found him, right here, at God's table, right here, on this hill, amongst your neighbors and this community of faith.

"This will give you an opportunity to testify." For those who come here seeking God, we already have ample testimony that God is here. Therefore we do not need to prepare our defense in advance, for Christ has already given us words and a wisdom that cannot be contradicted or withstood. For who can contradict community, and who can withstand love?

Of course, there are others in this world of ours who have had to testify to Christ's saving love in the face of persecution. After all, love, while it cannot be withstood, can be oppressed. I think in particular of those eight who up until they were liberated this past Wednesday were imprisoned by the Taliban for preaching Christianity in Afghanistan. They had been arrested before the September 11th disaster, and I remember hearing one of the prisoners' mothers on National Public Radio two days after the attacks speaking of how uncertain she was what this would mean for the fate of her daughter and her daughter's friends.

***

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to...prisons and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name."

By the grace of God, the Taliban did not summarily execute those eight relief workers before abandoning Kabul. To think that those workers could just as easily have died there for doing something our own Constitution protects here makes me extremely grateful that somehow God moved the hearts of their captors, whether by pity or by fear I do not know, to spare their lives.

***

"You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

By our endurance we will gain souls, and perhaps not only our own but the souls of others as well. But we should not be tempted to misunderstand Jesus' words about endurance as meaning we can accomplish anything apart from his words and his wisdom, which none are "able to withstand or contradict."

For the love that has built this community of faith is not our love alone. Our love alone is paltry in comparison to his love. Parents and brothers, relatives and friends, even in well-meaning love, have betrayed each other and led others astray. Community crumbles when built upon common bonds of blood or of belief alone. The temples we erect from false sources of security, whether of wealth or of power, fall until not one stone is left upon another. The twin towers of peace and security in which we mistakenly put our trust topple all too easily when founded upon material things unable to withstand the onslaught of evil.

***

The temple in Jerusalem was built upon the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people. Likewise, the World Trade Center stood as a monument to the American Dream, and held out the hope of prosperity to all. Neither the temple in Jerusalem nor the trade center in New York represented bad things; on the contrary, they summed up, in many ways, what was best about our society. They did not deserve destruction, but when temple and tower were no more, both the Jews of old and the Americans of today realized that the true glories of this world are made not of stone or steel, but of endurance that is built upon faith in God alone.

After the temple was destroyed, some of the People of God, remembering Jesus' words, began to understand that we have another temple, "not made by human hands," in which they could put their trust. The center of their spiritual lives shifted from the transitory to the eternal.

In our own day, as we mourn the loss of so many innocent lives, we must continue to strive for justice and peace. But above all, we must not miss our opportunity to testify to God's presence on this hill, not with our own words of wisdom, but in Jesus' own words, which he has promised to give us when we need them most. And, as the collect of the day reminds us, these words have already been given to us in the Scriptures. When we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, we will embrace and hold fast that blessed hope to which we are all called to testify.

Today, and tomorrow, and in every moment of your life, you have an opportunity to testify. By your endurance you will save your souls.