About 40 years ago, as a young pastor, I was touring the Holy Land for the very first time.  One afternoon, a friend and I took the bus west from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv--and on to suburban Jaffa, the biblical seaport.  In a narrow street of this town where Jonah embarked to meet his great fish, I spied something in a shop window that made me stop and enter.  "Shalom," said the man behind the counter, adding a few more Hebrew words that I didn't understand.

    "Do you speak English?" I asked.  He shook his head.

    "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" I then tried.  "Jawohl!"  -- "Yes, indeed!"  So we continued to converse in halting German.

    "I'd like to buy that yarmulke -- that Jewish skull cap -- in the window," I said.  Counting out a few Israeli pounds, I took the package from him.  Then I asked, "Are you a native of Germany?"

    "Nein," he replied, "I was Polish."

    And then I asked the man a totally thoughtless question.  "Well, where'd you learn German?"

    How stupid, how naïve of me!  I was wholly unprepared for his answer!  "In Auschwitz," he murmured.  Hesitantly, he pointed to a number tattooed on his arm.  "My wife and children died in Auschwitz," he added without elaboration.

    I dared not ask him how he survived that worst of the Nazi death camps.  Being young and strong at the time, he was one of the few "lucky" Jews - one chosen to live.   Perhaps to empty gas chambers and ovens of their contents -- surely a task as horrifying as that of the workers who, eight years ago this past Friday, dug through the massive pile of rubble that once was lower Manhattan-and, in Washington, one whole wing of the Pentagon!
        
    Friends, how can a person walk in the flame?  How can we Americans go about our business in a land where the unthinkable happened on September 11, 2001?  How can any peace-loving peoples exist in a world capable of igniting the Holocaust, the infernos eight years ago in New York, Arlington, and the Pennsylvania woodlands, and a seemingly endless WAR in the Middle East-not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan-- that apparently no one in Washington is capable of bringing to a conclusion?

    Can we find, maybe, a clue in the story in our Second Lesson today, from Daniel, chapter three? -- Nebuchadnezzar is the fierce King of Babylonia-ironically, the Iraq of today!   The Babylonians have defeated Israel and taken the Jews into captivity in their homeland.    One day King Nebuchadnezzar orders a huge, golden statue to be crafted and set up on the plain, where all can see it.  And he commands that, whenever his musicians play their orgiastic music, everyone must fall down and worship this idol.  Anyone not doing so, he warns, will be burned alive in a furnace!

    But three devout Jews -- Sharach, Meshach, and Abednego -- refuse.  Enraged, Nebuchadnezzar orders them brought before him.  "Is it true," he cries, "that you three won't worship my golden statue? - If you don't, I'll burn you up in a flaming furnace!  And who's the God who'll save you?"  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer the king, "We have no need to defend ourselves to you.  If our God is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us.  But if not, we still won't worship your idol!"

    In a great rage, his face distorted, the king orders his guards to heat the furnace seven times hotter than normal.  Then he has the three Jews tied hand and foot and thrown, fully clothed, into the fire.  So deadly are the flames that even the men who shove them into the oven perish!

    And what of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? -- They give Nebuchadnezzar the scare of his life!  As the raging king sits, staring, from a distance, into the furnace, suddenly his eyes bulge! He jumps to his feet, unable to grasp what he sees! "Didn't we bind and throw three Jews into the fire?" he screams to his advisors.

    "Yes, O king!"

    "But I see four men, unbound!" he gasps, "walking in the middle of the fire, and they aren't hurt!  And the fourth has the appearance of a god!"

    Nebuchadnezzar cries out:  "Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!"  And the three emerge from the flames totally unharmed, their hair and clothes unscorched, without even the smell of fire about them!
        
    You know, what strikes me so about this story is that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego don't merely survive the fiery furnace, but they actually walk about in its midst!  Think about it:  the three young Jews, because of their faithfulness to the Lord, suffer the consequences -- an inferno, a holocaust!  Yet not only do their ropes burst apart, but the men actually get up and walk in the middle of the fire.  And right there with them strides a fourth figure-God Almighty!

    Friends, is it possible for you and me to get up and walk, in confident faith and peace, in an America that has known the inferno of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the continuing, prolonged, Middle Eastern ethnic and civil conflict that, at least for the U.S.A., by now has lasted YEARS longer than even World War II and killed thousands of our youngest and finest men and women?  God's message to you and me today is a loud, "YES!"

    You see, our Nebuchadnezzars are still with us!  Indeed, they've always existed.  Our Nebuchadnezzars are of every nationality, including American.  Nebuchadnezzar is any power-mad human being who constructs some pet golden image and would command us to worship it -- whether that idol be race or national glory or money or  - God forbid! -- religion! Yes, our Nebuchadnezzars are boastful individuals and groups and associations and movements who would have us bow before something other than the Lord God!

    And, friends, whether we like it or not, never forget, national security and militarism themselves can so easily become our Nebuchadnezzars.  And they have, at times! Sadly, too frequently in the short history of America, xenophobia-fear of foreigners and their culture and customs-- has reared its ugly head.  -Recently, for example, such fear seems utterly to have THWARTED any rational solution to the problems connected with illegal aliens who perform much of our manual labor-not only in Florida, where in our neighborhood I see them working on our lawns, doing heavy construction work, including roofing, amid tropical heat, and performing tasks that you and I don't want to do,  but throughout the U.S.A.!

    Former Governor of Mississippi William Winter, an elder in the Fondren Presbyterian Church, in Jackson, speaking two years ago at the first ever National Presbyterian Elders' Conference, in Nashville, received a standing ovation, after he said THIS to us Christians in post-9-11 America.  He urged the elders, not to be "haunted by fear, mistrust and alienation, retreating into cultural enclaves to get away from people with funny names and different skin color.  We have to recognize what some of us white southerners had to learn more than 40 years ago," he said, "that no one is free until we are all free.

    Governor Winter continued, "We are not supposed to play God.  We are called simply to follow God."

    But, friends, what about those who would have us worship the idol of militarism as a solution to national security?   Eight whole years of futile attempts have failed to drive from his hiding places Osama Ben Laden, the main perpetrator of 9-11. But even if we finally manage to capture him and bring him to justice and, maybe, execute him, this won't bring real peace to America or to the Middle East or to our own hearts!    Years ago a fine West Point graduate and expert general and U.S. President (and also, incidentally, a Republican and Presbyterian) named Dwight Eisenhower dared warn us of what he called "the military-industrial complex."  Today, that complex has mushroomed into the giant, multinational corporations that thrive on selling arms all over the globe, even to terrorists and rogue states. And that dazzle us with the ridiculous suggestion, not long ago, that we can and should spend billions of dollars to build some kind of missile shield over the whole U.S.A., like a giant Superdome!
    
    Friends, remember: Nebuchadnezzars never tolerate any dissent!  They decree that everyone must worship their pet idols, and they grow furious at anyone who resists!  When you and I, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in faithfulness to Jesus Christ, find the courage to stand up against these Nebuchadnezzars, we often have to face the consequences:  fiery furnaces of various kinds!  Tell me, does some such oven sear your own heart today?  If so, take courage!  Nebuchadnezzar is vulnerable, you know!  In fact, all Nebuchadnezzars tend eventually to die in the furnaces of their own making!

    And, be assured, you and I don't stand amid these flames alone!  No!  The Lord God is right here alongside us!  Indeed, in Jesus Christ, God's been here before us.  He whose feverish brow, on the cross, bore the crown of thorns not only accompanies us through the inferno -- even the flames of Lower Manhattan, of the Pentagon, of a peaceful, western Pennsylvania field, and of exploding IEDs and suicide bombs in Afghanistan -- Christ not only accompanies us through this holocaust, but he feels and bears the pain and the sin of all his suffering children - Christian, Jew, and Muslim alike.

    Moreover, please know that one day, in God's own, good time, Christ will ultimately defeat every Nebuchadnezzar -- and destroy forever every fiery furnace!

O God of great compassion, who wept at the tomb of Lazarus, who mourned over the city of Jerusalem, who stretched out your hands to embrace the suffering of the world on the hard wood of the cross: draw near to us now and hear our prayers, as we remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy of September 11, 2001. We recall before you the individuals who died-office workers, firefighters, police officers, airline passengers, flight crews.  And we remember before you all, whatever their nationality or religion, who have perished in subsequent warfare and strife in the Middle East.
Mindful of your judgment and your mercy, we recall also those who, driven by darkened zeal-- some of them, even to the point of self-destruction--committed the terrible deeds of September 11, eight years ago.
We remember the families and friends of the victims, both of 9-11 and of subsequent, ongoing warfare and occupation, who continue to mourn the loss of parents, children, husbands, wives, companions.  Lord, in your mercy:
    Hear our prayer.
O Christ, the great Healer, as you comforted Mary and Martha in their time of sorrow, so encircle still grieving families with your loving care. We recall the Presbyterian and other congregations and parishes who lost faithful members in the violence of 9-11 and/or in the strife that has followed, in the Middle East, including this very flock of your people, where your son Sung Gap Suh was nurtured in Christian faith, where he was confirmed, and where he served as a faithful, young member. O God of hope, give all your children the assurance that as the one Body of Christ, we may look forward to being united with those who have died in the Lord, in the glory of Christ's resurrection.  Lord, in your mercy:
    Hear our prayer.
We remember the cities of New York and Washington, D.C. that suffered particular losses eight years ago.  Lord Jesus our Savior, as you longed to comfort Jerusalem, so bring comfort to the neighborhoods and communities not yet wholly recovered from the devastation of airplane crashes and collapsed buildings.  Surround those staggered by sudden tragedy with a growing sense of your presence, and lead them again in hope. Lord, in your mercy:
    Hear our prayer.
We recall all the nations that lost citizens in the tragedy of 9-11:  each land, each person.  Watch over every commonwealth of this earth, comfort the righteous in their distress, and draw us together into your one Kingdom that cannot be shaken.  Lord, in your mercy:
    Hear our prayer.
Almighty God, deliver us from hatred and from those leaders who would use fear and prejudice to make us violent and intimidated.   Kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that justice and international harmony may increase, until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen.
Healing God, deliver, we pray, all who suffer in body or in soul:  the hungry and destitute, those in doubt and despair, the sorrowful and bereaved, prisoners and captives, and those in mortal danger, including armed services personnel and civilians who face sectarian and ethnic violence.  Comfort and relieve them, grant them the knowledge of your love, and stir up in us the will and patience to minister to their needs; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen.
Unison:  Eternal God of unchanging power and light, look with mercy on your people everywhere.  Bring to completion your saving work, so that the whole world may see the fallen lifted up, the old made new, and all things brought to perfection by him through whom all things were made, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.