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2001
16th September (pm) - Praise Service with Church and Crusade Choirs

Where were you when you heard the first reports from America on Tuesday?
People will remember that awful day, for many years, and they will remember where they were - just like an earlier generation remembers John F. Kennedy's assassination.
I was in the car, travelling to Antrim Hospital. I had turned on Radio 5 Live to listen to the sports news, as I often do.

I just couldn't understand what I was listening to. - and the commentators didn't understand much more.

Was this a disastrous, if straightforward, plane crash?
Was this a hi-jacking that had gone wrong?
....... and then, gradually, unbelievably, appallingly, it began to emerge that a group of terrorists had deliberately caused a plane to fly directly into the World Trade Centre in New York, and that there would be many, many lives lost because 50,000 people worked there. And I wondered, how could terrorists bring this about - how could they make a pilot and his flight crew do this?

...... And then, almost beyond belief, it sank in with me that this outrage of unimaginable proportions, had been carried through by suicide terrorists - trained to take over the flight deck of the plane; determined to crash it as devastatingly and destructively as possible; willing, no eager, to sacrifice their own lives and become martyrs for Islam. In their eyes, no price too high for them to pay, no sacrifice too great for them to make. I cannot begin to explain their Islamic fanaticism and their hatred of all things western, nor to understand how they think that their faith drives them on to do such awful things. I cannot find words to express the horror or to condemn the twisted, demonic evil of such actions.
Our hearts just go out to everyone who has been directly affected, to the rescue services with the awful task they have had, and to world leaders who must try to decide, wisely, what can be done.

But I find myself coming back to that desperate fanaticism that drives those Islamic terrorists on to do what they did.
They are ready to face the total extinction of their own lives because they believe that their martyr's death will bring them immediately into the Muslim heaven/paradise - that what lies ahead is infinitely better than anything that they are leaving behind - and therefore that no sacrifice is too great for them to make.

They are the most extreme of extremists, they are the most evil of evil fanatics, they are the most dangerously misguided men on earth - and everything possible must be done to deal with the threat they pose to all civilization ..... but, but, there is one way in which they make me think, and maybe should make you think.
In a strange sort of way, these demonically misguided men challenged to think about matters of dedication, and commitment, - the question of what willingness there is in me to see my whole life in terms of my faith in Christ, the readiness, if any, that I have to make real sacrifices in the service of Christ

Sometimes we want to have it all too easy and too comfortable. We enjoy the happy, inspiring praise of an evening like this, but we aren't so keen on the call of faith upon our lives - the call to real loyalty to Christ and real service for him. We talk about our faith in Christ, but sometimes our lives do not match our actions.
Do we recognise any of this in ourselves?
We are most certainly called to trust Christ in a way that grips us at the very deepest level, and we are called to serve Christ in a way that really does have a cost. We are appalled by terrorists who would kill so many innocent victims - but we ought to be challenged by how their convictions about heaven drives them on.
Are we driven on like that - we sing about heaven, we like to take comfort in its promise and hope - but does it drive us on to serve Christ as we ought and as our community and our world needs?
Are there any significant risks we would take for Christ, any sacrifices we would make? Paul, the apostle, surely had understood and accepted that challenge for his life. He spoke about it to the Philippians in the section of his letter that we read:
- how he was willing and ready to be in prison if it helped to advance the cause of Christ. (vs.12)
- how he rejoiced that members of the palace guard had been influenced by the Gospel, through his imprisonment (vs.13)
- how he could cope with those who were glad that he was in prison, so that they could push themselves forward in the Christian community.

Listen to Paul's over-riding desire: vs.20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Paul was so persuaded and gripped by his faith in Christ, so filled with the sense of safety and hope that came from trusting in Christ, that he wanted his whole life to be lived in a way that honoured Christ and helped to advance his kingdom.
He was fanatical about his Christian faith and commitment in the right way!
And he was absolutely sure that whatever happened to him, whatever way things worked out, his life was in safe hands and had a safe future: vs.24 I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
Does our trust in Jesus Christ amount to anything like that?

How does Paul's conviction about departing and being with Christ grip us? Are we ready to give him the best loyalty and service of our lives - through our family life, at our work, with our friends, and in the service opportunities of his Church? These new halls that we are so privileged to have - we must think of ourselves as stewards of these halls - given to us that we might use them well, with commitment, with vision - because we are sure that in Christ we find our life, our hope, our future - and we want others to find that hope also.

We abhor and condemn what those Islamic fanatics did in New York and Washington on Tuesday ..... but it should make us think about how we can be 'fanatics' for Christ in a far better way. Otherwise our praise becomes very hollow and not very convincing. May that not be said of us - may we be people who say and who show that whether we live or die, Christ is exalted.