Day of Infamy

Often, when seeing video clips of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, his address to Congress on the event of Pearl Harbor stands out.   His opening words ring out for all time.  “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” 

            Every generation in every culture has a “day of infamy.”—an event of great tragedy which changes one’s views about life here and a Greater Life.  For many in our time, the events of September 11, 2001 mark a day that will live in infamy.  For others, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, or the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a profound impact on what we consider to be the most important elements of life. 

            So too, each of us can have a day that will live in personal infamy.  For some, the death of a loved one, especially in a violent or sudden way, changes life forever for the survivors.  For others, job loss or a major fire or a natural disaster can have the same impact.

            To trust in a God of all creation is essential—One who can save us from ourselves in a fallen universe—can bring us great assurance.  At the same time, God is within that infamy to hold us and bring us through the challenges.  After all, the greatest day of infamy was the death of Christ on the Cross.  For in that utter sadness, God also paved for us the way for glory in the Resurrection.  Christ alive is the final word for all people and for all time.

            On 9/11, I was scheduled to conduct a prayer service for the typical Tuesday mornings as chaplain at Proctor Endowment Home in Peoria, Illinois.  We gathered at 10:00 a.m., barely two hours after the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center in New York.  The room was jammed with people.  Staff members were weeping in shock.  The residents, however, sat stoically and prayerfully. 

After the service, in which I preached of the power of God’s steadfast love in the midst of the times of trial, some of the residents said to me, “Yes, this is terrible.  But we remember December 7^th.”  And they remembered also the incredible blessings God bestowed on them and on this nation after the victories in 1945.  That day, I learned that, when one fully trusts in God in the midst of infamy, so God truly will prevail in victory.  We will receive blessings—if we are willing to be blessed rather than to cling to bitterness.