A Not-So Mighty Fortress: America After 9/11
The day started like any other. Nothing has ever been the same since.
I was on a bus heading towards downtown Minneapolis for work while listening to the news on my radio. As the bus neared the University of Minnesota, there was breaking news about a small plane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. My mind went back to something I remembered from history; when a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945. By the time I was near work, the second plane hit. Now I knew something was up. The rest of the day was filled with trying to work and listening to National Public Radio about what in the world was happening. There was a sense of not feeling safe. America has always seen itself as a fortress; a place that is protected from the rest of the world by two large oceans. September 11 showed that the fortress could be breached. So, it was not a coincidence that I heard a familiar hymn being sung in churches; “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Having just spent the last four years at a Lutheran seminary, I knew this song very well. Written by Martin Luther and based on Psalm 46, the hymn was trying to reassure a nation traumatized; yes our earthly fortress was attacked, but we can place faith in God who is and always will be an impregnable fortress.
