From the archives

Apologies from TRW.  I know its been a while since we’ve spent any time together but all of a sudden life seems to have become rather busy! It’s not all cucumber sandwich making in the rectory (I know that’s what you think I do!)  As a result the blog has become rather sadly unattended.   Then The Rector had a genius idea (it’s his mind I married him for readers) and suggested I add some of the articles I’ve written for my old church magazine in Cornwall. I’ve written for about four years now chronicling the ups and downs of life, the universe but mostly me trying to make sense of anything!  Hope you enjoy.

September 2007
So we’ve been back from our holiday nearly a month now and it already feels like something I imagined or dreamt.  However, I’m going to relive for the space of 400 or so words what a great time we had when we went to the States this year.  We caught up with family in Baltimore and friends in Detroit which is so far north I could wave across the border to Canada which is much cheaper than actually going.

We crammed in three wonderful days in New York; if you ever get the chance go!  It’s exactly like you see in the movies or on television; noisy, busy,sensory overload. Fire trucks flew by with worrying frequency, horns sounding, the stars and stripes streaming from the back of the engine.  We took the tourist bus down town where we drove past Broadway, Times Square, Macey’s, Bloomingdales, Empire State.  And everywhere one is dwarfed by the canyons of buildings.

A short walk from the Statton island ferry (this is a must if you want to see the Statue of Liberty) is the business district and it’s here the World Trade towers once stood.  I realised that I felt apprehensive the nearer we got.  The last time I saw these streets it was on that dreadful day shot on wobbly hand held cameras.  They were full of smoke and choking dust. But of course that’s all gone now, along with the wall of photos of the missing many of whom were already dead.  Suddenly you are standing in a concourse filled with midday sun and office workers eating sandwiches and musicians busking and you are actually there looking at what seems an unbelievably narrow gap where the towers used to stand.  You can’t see much from street level, the area is blocked by sheets of hardboard and inside a construction site of some sort is under way.  I believe the plan is to build upon the site but to incorporate a memorial to those who lost their lives.

I know I expected to get a sense of that terrible event.  Something of that magnitude must have left its mark in the very dust. What I did become aware of was an absence, not a presence.  A sense of peace if you will. For those left behind life has painfully and slowly moved on.  It’s a tribute to those who died and the courage of their loved ones that this place, the target of hatred, is once again thriving and full of life. I’m reminded of the verse from Genesis when Joseph tells his brothers ‘This thing you meant for evil but God meant for good.’  Not an end but a beginning and God will always have the last word.

In Jesus’ hands eternal life overcomes death and acts of atrocity are consumed in the blaze of his outrageous love and grace.  To know that is more than a comfort.  I say a prayer for them in that place then we make our way slowly back to the bus.

Love in Jesus,
Lisa