Lisa Brosious Beamer ’91 | Wheaton College Chapel | 20th Anniversary of 9/11

[Music] well thank you jada marvelous to come into chapel this morning and be blessed already with the excellence of our god two chapel notes uh for at least the next several weeks we won't be singing together indoors including today we'll let the gospel choir minister to us but we will be singing out of doors including next friday we were planning a music chapel anyway we're going to do that outside on the quad so we're going to try to make the best of some of the challenges we have from a worship perspective and continue faithfully in the worship of god tomorrow as you may realize is a day of solemn remembrance in the city of wheaton many will be gathering in memorial park at 9 00 a.m and our campus is invited as well to reflect on the events of 9 11 20 years ago tomorrow that makes this day a day of solemn remembrance on our campus a day particularly to remember three of our own alumni who were killed that day on flight 11 on flight 93 and in the north tower of the world trade center for the next minute you're going to have an opportunity to see a few photographs of those beloved alumni and in these minutes as we stand in silence although we'll be led in music during the time i invite you to reflect on the beauty and brevity of life there is no need to grieve for those we have lost they are already in the place we long to be in the presence of our savior but we do mourn their loss we do pray for their loved ones and we do reflect on the significance of our own precious lives [Music] so [Music] um [Music] hmm [Music] so [Music] let's pray together father our lives are in your hands and that was true every moment of every day for jason for jeffrey for todd and it is true for us you teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom and we do pray pray for that heart of wisdom we pray today your blessing on the loved ones of our beloved alumni we pray for them today tomorrow and every day that they would know the goodness of your care and we pray for ourselves lord that you would teach us to make the most of this day the most of it in worship the most of it in learning and studying the most of it in work and play and rest the most of it in expressing our love for one another for jesus sake this is our prayer this morning lord in jesus name amen oh [Music] is our lord name [Music] me um oh [Music] is [Music] our scripture reading today comes from the version that the choir is going to be singing this psalm from it's from psalm 8 in the new king james version let's listen carefully for we'll be hearing our father's word oh lord our lord how excellent is your name in all the earth who have set your glory above the heavens out of mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger when i consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have ordained what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him for you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor you have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands you have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen even the beasts of the field the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea together oh lord our lord how excellent is your name in all the earth and this is the word of god good morning how many of us know that we have a mighty god despite our circumstances despite you all can remain standing as we worship together because we are going to worship together feel free to clap your hands move your feet even though we can't sing together we can still praise our god amen amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the heavens [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Applause] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] get praise to walk out so that's the first time gospel choir is singing in chapel this year praise god not the last uh before you sit down i realize i forgot to welcome our fridays at wheaton people we have prospective students here we want you to learn with us and worship with us and we welcome you this morning and now you can have a seat the uh i think the most important thing i can say about lisa beamer is she's a wheaton mom and some of you know david and drew and morgan big shout out to wheaton college women's soccer in the state of washington today so great to have one of our wheaton parents in chapel to speak with us this morning lisa chairs the wheaton college board of visitors and i have learned to appreciate as has my cabinet and the trustees of the college her wise perspective her penetrating questions her generous encouragement and her heart of compassion for people in need that kind of leadership is a blessing to you as a student in ways you you'll perhaps never never fully know this morning lisa is going to tell just a little bit of her 9 11 story but more so her heart for you and who you are in christ to be honest and lisa don't hate me for saying this for those of us who lived through 9 11 and saw what you might think of as an ordinary wheaton college alumna express her courage and clear witness for christ in a way that ministered to the soul of a grieving nation she will always be for us a hero but then don't you think all wheaton moms are heroes let's welcome her that way this morning good morning thank you and thank you to the gospel choir what a great um tone you set this morning i appreciate that it always feels like a great privilege and a great responsibility for me to be in this room whether speaking here at the podium or sitting in your seats or listening remotely and it's one that i don't take lightly edmond chapel is a place where i know that god speaks into hearts and minds who will go out from here to serve his kingdom well and i certainly appreciate the honor of sharing some of my story with you this morning just going to get out of tissue just in case twenty years ago today i was on a flight home from a work trip to rome with my husband todd some of you may know a bit of what comes next but since about half of you were born after this story begins i'll take a step back and fill in some details todd and i both graduated from wheaton in 1991. we went on to careers in software sales todd earned his mba we got married moved to the great state of new jersey bought a pretty house joined a flourishing church made some great friends had two adorable little boys with another baby on the way and she turned out even cuter we lived right between our extended families in new york and washington dc and love the fact that we could see them all often some of this life we had planned for and some of it sort of just happened but all of it was more than we could have ever hoped for as we sat as students in edmond chapel wondering how we would get started in this thing called adulting although we didn't call it that then we were grateful for the existence that god had given us and we were cognizant mostly because of the teaching and example of our parents and because of all we had been exposed to at wheaton of the fact that our life was a gift with a purpose while we were just getting started and still had much to be refined todd and i were intent on seeking god and loving people as best we could through the life he had given us perhaps what i cherished most about that time was watching todd be a dad and knowing that my boys were being raised by the best of course this matters to any mom but it was especially poignant to me when i was 15 my own father had died suddenly leaving my mom to raise four children by herself i knew how hard this was both for her and for us and i knew the grief of what it felt like to live with a missing piece my heart often overflowed as i relish knowing that my boys you only completeness getting back to our flight home from rome we landed picked the boys up at my mom's and arrived home that evening thoroughly exhausted todd gave the boys a bath i unpacked a bid and we went to bed todd being a thoroughly dedicated employee and probably a bit crazy was up at 6am the next morning and out to catch a flight to meet a client at his company's headquarters in san francisco the plane never arrived in california of course as it was one of four that day which was overtaken by terrorists and crashed killing everyone on board because todd and other passengers had placed phone calls from the plane it became known almost immediately that the passengers and crew on his flight had staged a counter-attack an attempt to regain control of the plane from the terrorists todd's role became particularly noteworthy because his call was routed to an operator in chicago who spoke to him for about 15 minutes as he described what was happening and tried to get information that might help them she eventually prayed with him and listened as he and a team of other men plotted and executed their plan her reports of the call were quickly seized on by the media as one moment of strength and resilience in what was otherwise a horrific news cycle and todd became a national hero within 72 hours of his death i can only describe what happened next as divinely orchestrated chaos and i do believe that everyone from the white house to cnn to oprah winfrey wanted to talk to me i wanted to know more about todd wanted to put me on tv wanted to take pictures of my family wanted to know how i was coping the phone rang non-stop for days and weeks and when there's when there was a knock at the door it may have been anyone from a neighbor delivering dinner to a full news crew with cameras rolling to say that neither i nor anyone in my circle of family and friends had any frame of reference to manage what was happening is an understatement but that does not mean that i ever felt out of control god used certain certain clearly ordained touch points to show me quickly that there were pieces of this that could be used to share his gospel and to the extent that i could bear it i should engage in opportunities to point to him the operator mentioning that todd had asked her to pray the lord's prayer and psalm 23 with him was something everyone asked about when she said that he was so calm through the conversation that she initially doubted the severity of his circumstances they wanted to know why i answered those questions the only way that rang true to me because todd loved his life but he knew that his life was much more than his 32 years on this earth his soul was secure even when his body wasn't because jesus was his savior these questions quickly grew to become focused on me how are you not falling apart where does your peace come from i answered these questions as truthfully as i could too i'm sure of god's love and provision for todd and i'm sure of god's love and provision for me and my children the weeks and months after september 11th were a particular time of vulnerability and many people were open to consider these points in a way that would not last god spoke this truth into my heart giving me courage and purpose he provided wisdom and words far beyond my own and enough clear signs of his presence that i could never doubt that he was at work and yet todd was gone my family's completeness was gone i was now called a widow and a single parent titles that literally made me sick to my stomach my sweet husband had become a mythic figure to the public an idealized version of manhood who died valiantly defending his country people revered me too putting me on a pedestal as god's chosen woman for such a time as this others were not as charitable deriding me for trying to grab fame for my husband's demise since mark zuckerberg was only 17 in 2001. the power of social media had yet to be unleashed which kept me somewhat more protected from both praise and criticism than would be true today but even so i was painfully aware of both i found myself forced into a most significant identity crisis i actually looked up the definition to be sure i was using the right words and here's what i found a period of uncertainty and confusion in which a person's sense of identity becomes insecure typically due to a change in their expected aims or role in society yup that was it i know that identity is a big deal today but growing up in the 70s and 80s i'm not sure i ever used heard the term used to to describe the essence of self and i definitely never considered my own identity per se until much later in adulthood but that's not to say that as i grew i didn't have an increasing sense of who i was what forces drove me both good and bad and possibly even a small inkling into why i was ever born to begin with this foundational knowledge of my who what and why anchored by something even greater was my saving grace and navigating the unpredicted and unwanted circumstances i found myself in after september 11th i had two big areas to sort out one was more external how could i push back on the false identities that the world was trying to put on me i was not a stately superhero of american christianity nor was i a conniving hypocrite the other was more internal how could i make peace with the loss of the role that i wanted and expected wife with my children's father as my partner and instead embraced the one i actually had widow and single parent my work was different for each and of course one took a lot longer to resolve than the other but both processes made me more firmly convinced that the titles we have the talents were given the roles we play the labels the world puts on us the people we come from and even the innermost desires of our hearts cannot be the core of our identity these are only layers on top of the core the core of healthy human identity is a thorough rooting in god's goodness and in his greatness thorough rooting in god's goodness allows us to love and be loved without reserve thorough rooting in god's greatness requires us to check ourselves with humility the balance of both is a core identity that produces healthy and useful humanity in any place at any time under any circumstance with a thorough rooting in god's goodness and in his greatness we can then explore and make peace with our outer layers so we can serve his purposes well through our unique intersection of talents and deficits experiences and history i had a number of aha moments while a student at wheaton but one i remember most clearly happened while i was speed reading through romans one night for new testament homework been there i had been struggling with the whys of my father's death a few years earlier and though it wasn't too visible my spirit had developed an edge of bitterness both towards god and towards people who had what i didn't i wasn't really interested in addressing that bitterness but that night paul's used in romans 11 of isaiah's worship grabbed my attention oh what a wonderful god we have how great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge how impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods for who can know what the lord is thinking who knows enough to be his counselor and who could ever give him so much that he would have to pay it back for everything comes from him everything exists by his power and is intended but for his glory to him be glory ever more for me god's grace in that moment planted the seed of a core which would become increasingly rooted in his goodness and in his greatness to be clear this rooting is not a one-time event or decision but a lifelong journey of seeking to know god through prayer study through the influence of other disciples and maybe most importantly through obedience to what we already know to be true in the words of oswald chambers god is not a fact of common sense but of revelation as this revelation grows and we increasingly live in a healthy balance of love and humility we are in a position to correctly investigate the layers of our being that make us unique and that give us distinctive avenues to serve god and to serve people when our layers are challenged or destroyed that identity crisis doesn't control us or derail us but drives us further to the god at the core with his constant supply of purpose and hope in her book gay girl good god jackie hill perry writes honestly and poignantly about her journey to build an unshakable core rooted in god's goodness and in his greatness her description of the core is as follows it is the identity that we ascribe to god out of doubt or faith in his scriptures that will determine the life we inevitably live if he is creator then we are created if he is master then we are servants if he is love then we are loved if he is omnipotent then we are not as powerful as we think if he is omniscient then there is no place to hide if he cannot lie then all of his promises are true it is faith in the truth of god's character that has the power to completely revolutionize how our lives are lived out he is so much greater than the greatest thing and much more glorious than the most glorious glory our eyes could see knowing this he becomes the aim of all our doing because if god is bigger than we can imagine we are wasting our time to chase after something or someone lesser than him and because we know that he is our all in all in our temptations our trials and in our victories we must ultimately place our identity not in who we are but in who we know god to be we must place our ultimate identity not in who we are but in who we know god to be that's it i think someone who may have gotten this right is nicodemus we can't say for sure because as you know his story is a bit mysterious and we really don't know how it ends but from the three times he's mentioned in the book of john we can gather some evidence and make some fair conclusions we know that he was a pharisee and a leader among the jews living in jerusalem this alone tells us a good bit about the outer layers of his identity he would have been intelligent placed a high value on education especially with regard to jewish law he may have come from a family of status and definitely wielded significant power himself he likely had a real heart for protecting his people from the roman empire but he may like other pharisees have forgotten that the ultimate purpose of the law was not for political control but to lead the jewish people to the messiah we don't know exactly what was at nicodemus's core beneath these layers but we do know out of all the pharisees he stands out as unique in his approach to jesus and that gives us evidence of something as he watches and listens to jesus from afar something stirs in his soul enough to make him wonder if what's unfolding could possibly be more than meets the eye his fellow pharisees hate jesus because the people love him they fear a loss of power and status if he should rise to begin a new movement causing theirs to be abandoned with their flimsy identities at stake they are driven to a total focus on jesus destruction which ultimately results in their own nicodemus is different the stirring in his soul leads him to quietly and carefully meet jesus face to face he immediately acknowledges jesus as a teacher and a miracle worker and someone who god is clearly with he listens and asks questions acknowledging his lack of understanding but wanting to keep driving to the truth as god will reveal it to him later he rather meekly asks his fellow pharisees to at least give jesus a hearing and finally he is seen at the cross helping joseph of arimathea take down and embalm the body of jesus and then lay it in the tomb something tells me that nicodemus realized that his ultimate identity is not in who he is but in who he knows god to be and that made all the difference in how he responded even when the most cherished layers of his identity were at stake when god showed up he noticed and he followed this was a hard thing for me to do today and i did it for only one reason i believe that all of you in this room are uniquely positioned to build your core on god's goodness and on his greatness and if you do your impact for christ and his kingdom will be profound for some of you that might begin with a realization that the ease built into your identity's outer layers have allowed you to be content in those alone at the expense of truly seeking god others might start by recognizing god's sovereignty even in the battles you face and knowing that because of his goodness and his greatness these identity shapers can be building to your unique mission some may need to explore the truth of god's greatness more thoroughly to develop an increasingly humble posture others may need to push back on a lifetime of wrong messages which have made you believe that you are not worthy of god's goodness the path to an ultimate identity not in who we are but in who we know god to be looks different for each of us but the result as paul tells us in ephesians 2 10 is the same we become god's masterpiece created anew in christ jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago i hope this for each of you [Applause] with deep gratitude for this powerful message let's bow for our closing prayer and benediction father at the end of this service on this 9 11 weekend we continue to ask you to heal the wounds the loss of the bemer family of so many in our nation as well as the many wounds that i know exist here on our own campus father may we all find our core identity in you in your goodness and in your greatness so we will work as the lord jesus did for justice and mercy with humility for all peoples all over the world may our lives point to you so father make make our hearts tender as yours is make our minds alert to those around us as jesus did through the power of the holy spirit at work in us may our lives reflect to one another into this world the ways of christ jesus both now and forevermore amen now wheaton community go in the peace that comes only when you know that the god who is great and good is at the core of your life go in his piece [Music] you

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Published: Fri Sep 10 2021