He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls. – 2 Chronicles 3:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 11, 2019): 2 Chronicles 3

September 11. It is just a date, and yet one that is filled with significance. Eighteen years have passed since the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Eighteen years have passed since the passengers on United Flight 93 revolted against the hijackers on that plane and spoiled the intentions of the authors of the event to destroy a third target; likely the White House. Reading the story that we have rebuilt from the voice recorders and cell phone calls made from the plane still can bring tears to the eyes. One can almost hear the voice of Todd Beamer as he recited the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm before the revolt began. Beamer’s last words to GTE Airphone Supervisor Lisa Jefferson, “Let’s Roll,” became a catchphrase for getting a job done.

In Canada, I remember it as the day that the planes disappeared from the sky. It was an eerie feeling, and probably the first time in my life when I could look up, and no planes were flying overhead. On September 11, 2001, life changed. On that day we were reminded of all of the hate that exists on this planet that we share.

Solomon wanted the Temple to be a different place on the earth. And so he had carved on the inside walls, cherubim or angels. The idea was that hate might exist on the outside of the Temple walls, but inside it was heaven on earth. Just as the angels surrounded God in heaven, so the angels surrounded the worshiper in the Temple. For a moment, the stress and anger of the outside world could be left behind for a peace that existed with God and angels on the inside of the Temple.

But the angels themselves were not objects of worship. We don’t worship angels or any other kind of heavenly being. Our worship is dedicated to the God who created the earth and still walks upon the face of the planet with us. We don’t worship angels, but there is no question that we worship with the angels. Both of us give our allegiance to the God of the earth, and the one who sacrificed so much to bring humans back to him. And a God who cries with us at the result of our hatred and our unwillingness to create a peace on earth

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 4