It was difficult to avoid the fact that last Wednesday was the first anniversary of the tragic events that took place in New York and Washington on memorial services that were held and gave them extensive coverage. Several spent considerable time going over the tragic events that rocked the world.

Several things about the day impressed me from a spiritual point of view. One was fragility and uncertainty of life that had suddenly hit home to many people. Here were thousands of ordinary people going about their ordinary, everyday lives who were suddenly confronted with the fact of their mortality. Their dreams and plans for the future, the things that they had worked hard to attain, were suddenly irrelevant. In the Epistle of James there is a short passage that does not fit well with the average person. (James 4:13-17). James warns of the foolishness of making plans for the future without submitting them to the Lord's will. He sees our life as but "a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes". September 11 is a vivid illustration of that.

Another thing that impressed me was the number of times that God was mentioned. Even though the US have banned prayer from their schools, the depth of this tragedy brought prayer to the fore. In the songs that were sung, the speeches that were made and the prayers that were offered there was an unashamed recognition by the cast majority of the need for God in their lives.

A third impression was the tendency to sentimentalise the whole event. Numbers of speakers referred to all those who had died as "heroes". Certainly there were many who were. The airline passengers who tackled the hijackers of the fourth plane, and averted further tragedy through the sacrifice of their own lives, were heroes. The firefighters and police who went into the burning buildings were heroes. Some of the occupants of the building, who considered the safety of others above their own, were heroes. But the great majority of those who died were just ordinary people overwhelmed by a tragedy beyond their control. Certainly, it is right to honour them as victims, and to mourn them as in some way symbolising the ordinary people that we are. But it is stretching the meaning of words and over-sentimentalizing the whole event to call them 'heroes'.

The fourth impression had to do with the significance of the reading out of the names of all those who perished. These were more than just statistics, these were real people, each distinct from the other, each valued and loved in their own right. Many of the names were strange to the ear, and sometimes the readers had difficulty in their pronunciation, but the names were important, to identify every single individual who was being remembered.

In the famous words from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", "What's in a name?". The hero would suggest that names are not really significant. But that is not the case. Names identify us and distinguish us. They even, at times, indicate something about us. In some circumstances our names can carry our authority.

The Bible gives great significance to people' s names Jesus said: "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me" (Luke 9:48). He promised his disciples "I will do whatever you ask in my name" (John 14:13). However, probably the greatest significance of all is when God names Himself!

When God sent Moses to rescue His people from Egypt, Moses sensibly asked what name he would use to identify God to the people. God said to Moses "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites 'I AM' has sent me to you." God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites 'YAHWEH...has sent me to you'." (Exodus 3:13,14).

The name YAHWEH was considered by the Jews to be too sacred to pronounce, so they read "the Lord" instead, and it is this that appears in most English translations. However, throughout the Hebrew Old Testament YAHWEH is the name that distinguishes the true God, the God of creation and redemption, from all the other gods of the nations. In Isaiah 42:8 we read, "I am YAHWEH; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another." In the New Testament, YAHWEH is identified with Jesus.

At a time when we are becoming more aware of the other religions in the world, and other gods, we must be clear about the identity of the one true God, and take the words from Isaiah to heart.

John Davies
15 September 2002