This is a month of mixed emotions. Today we have the celebration of Fatherhood and next week is the celebration of Education, with all the wonderful achievements that we see today. Later this month is the Willoughby Festival, and the celebration of this beautiful part of the city which God has placed us. However, in between is the first anniversary of the Twin Towers disaster in New York, the tragedy that has changed the world.

One of the most significant consequences of the September 11th disaster is that it has vividly reminded us of our mortality. While the actual number of people killed was relatively small compared with the millions killed in the two World Wars, or the hundreds of thousands killed in later conflicts, or the million killed in Rwanda, this was something that struck at the heart of civilized society. Most of the people killed on September 11th were ordinary people like you and me, going about their ordinary business. Since September 11th the shadow of death has fallen over all of us.

It is significant that when I asked my Year 6 Scripture Class recently what was the greatest problem in the world today, many of them answered "death". Two years ago this would hardly have entered their thinking. The tragedy is that most do not know that in the Christian faith is the perfect answer to the problem of death. In voluntary accepting death on our behalf, Jesus has broken its power and opened up for us the door to eternal life. That is why Christians down through the ages, and even in some countries today, can face martyrdom with confidence. Death, for a Christian, is not something to fear.

I was reminded last week of the words of a young missionary, Jim Elliott. "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliott was a brilliant young man who responded to the call of God to missionary work in South America. With four other young men he undertook a daring project to take the gospel of God's love to an unreached tribe deep in the jungles of Ecuador.

One of the young men was a pilot with the Missionary Aviation Fellowship, and with very clever flying they were able to make contact with the tribe without actually landing. After considerable time, and indications of a positive welcome from the natives, they decided to land on a beach by the jungle river. Within 24 hours the natives had killed them all.

News of the death of these fine young men sent shockwaves around the Christian world in the mid 50s. But a strange result was that many others were challenged about their own response to God, and thousands of young people volunteered for missionary service. Jim Elliot's prophetic words became a catchcry for a new generation of Christians who reassessed their priorities concerning this life and the next: "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

Jesus put it another way: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matt.16:24,25)

Some of the most wonderful stories to come out of the September 11th tragedy tell of the self-sacrifice of ordinary people who gave their lives in the attempt to save others. Surely this is what the heart of the Christian gospel is all about. In a world that is caught up in itself and its comfort, we who have been put in touch with eternity are called to a new level of self-sacrifice and service. In the end, may we not be judged a "fool".

John Davies
1 September 2002