Remembering

There's not much to say today that hasn't already been eloquently said over the past five years. The truest and the most profound things one could say are still the plainest and most obvious: Thank God for those who gave their lives for us that day -- perhaps quite literally for my colleagues and me who were in Washington at the time. God help the ones who loved them and will never forget them. God protect us and keep us all.

If you haven't already rewatched the footage today, James Lileks has posted a short compilation of clips that I really think is worth watching. It's personalized by shots of his daughter playing on the floor as the buildings went up in smoke. Nothing could be simpler or more heartbreaking.

The music at the end of the video is the same tune we sang in our church choir yesterday, with different words, under the title "A Prayer for our Time." The new lyrics were written for the first anniversrary of 9/11. I can't find them online to link to, but I can at least post the closing lines:

Eternal Father, ever be
Our refuge in the time of need. Amen.