Deus refugium/God Is My Refuge

At this writing, we are at war-even though the enemy has not been named. The enormity of the terror attacks of September 11 obliterating thousands of Americans has made all of us hostages.

Now in our lifetime, a foreign power has attacked two of our major icons of American life and hurled forty-five Americans into the hills of western Pennsylvania.

It is not the first time our native soil has been invaded. The War of 1812 saw the White House torched while the attack of Pearl Harbor destroyed American property and American lives. This time the horror was universal, as the whole world joined the United States in witnessing the calamitous events of September 11 almost as soon as they happened.

It is new. It is a new horror, but it is not an unknown horror in most parts of world. We now take our place beside those who have been bombed, who have been sold into captivity, and who have suffered the disfigurement of their nation.

All of it has now thrust us and our ministry into a completely new phase. We must minister to comfort, to generate hope, and to add to the national quandary of what we must now do.

For us, we must pray and we must sing.

We shall sing of comfort and hope and of the God who will never abandon us.

The six verses of Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 89 are summed up in the last stanza:

O God, our help in ages past Our hope for years to come, Still be our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.

You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net