Quotable: Poe

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.

Sermon Notes for Fifth Sunday of Easter

Ploughing in Hope
1 Corinthians 9
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 22, 2011


Hope is an oft-neglected but rich virtue. Hope sustains us day to day, delivering us from despair and motivating us to sacrifice in the present for the sake of a future which we can only see from a distance. The ploughman and thresher do their work in hope, as does the Apostle as he labors in the Gospel for the sake of those he loves and as a servant of the One who called him. This is the essence of Easter, just as Job reminds us: "I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and those worms destroy this body, yet from my flesh shall I see God."

* Hopeful about the Church: Messy Churches are True Churches - 9:1-2
(And so are Messy Christians): The Perfectionist, Sectarian Spirit Can't Be Allowed to Prevail
* Hopeful about our Work: Proper Support of the Ministry - 9:3-11

I. Hope, Renouncing Power - 9:19, 23

* Once Again, All Things for the Sake of the Gospel
We need to recall now the essential core of Paul's approach to everything in life - all things for the sake of the Gospel. That's a Copernican revolution for the soul. That's never more true than right here in an American culture where we typically demand our rights, our 'powers' (exousia) Paul calls them, fighting any suggestion that one of our rights be infringed upon. Remember what we learned last Sunday - Paul is embodying the humility and self-giving sacrificial love of Jesus Christ so that Christ might be seen and proclaimed in his life.

II. Hope, Embracing Sacrifice - 9:7, 10

A. The Soldier - Hoping for Victory

B. The Vintner - Hoping for Beauty

C. The Shepherd - Hoping for Redemption


III. Hope, Revealing the Savior

A. Who is the Warrior who fights for us against our foe and wins the day on Golgotha?

B. Who is the Vine, whose blood is the wine of our forgiveness and eternal life?

C. Who is the Shepherd who lays down his life, and the Lamb who becomes our Passover?


Against the prognosticators of despair, Christ arises to remind us that our work with our children, our labor in the culture, our service in the Church, our mission with the Gospel into all the world is a long-term venture that summons us to Faith, Hope, and Love. Faith in Christ; Hope in his Future; Love for All.

O Taste and See

Among the many graces bestowed upon us is the capacity to embrace, measure, and savor the aromas that surround us, making of these memories filled with pleasant associations. Couples in love, or those people who work in vineyards or kitchens or sanctuaries - together with those who savor the fruits of that labor - know this joy.The bouquet offered to our senses by the irresistible subtly perfumed scent of a lover, of incense burning in worship, fine wine resting in a perfectly formed glass, a glorious garden exploding in color and beauty, rosemary dancing with a wonderfully seasoned ribeye, or fresh, hot, handmade biscuits emerging from the oven are all a reminder of the joy of Eden. There, surrounded by the perfection of creation man was created and sustained by God's mercy, formed to take hold of the beautiful world and 'plough in hope'.

God has given us the capacity to 'taste and see', and this is yet another reason to pause and offer thanks to the One who made us in his image, the One who by his grace restores in us the very same, undoing the vandalism of sin we have inflicted upon ourselves and others. Perhaps this is one reason why food and drink stand at the central place of memory in our worship - the aromas of life offered by bread and wine lift and transport us back to the Cross and the Resurrection where once again we see the living and true God, the dying, suffering God who is love, there offered for us once for all and in the Supper offered to us continually. Perhaps this is why the love of our neighbor and the care of our friend must more often than not be characterized by food we bring to them, lovingly prepared, joyously offered, and thankfully received. In such gifts our hearts are united, reflecting the daring love of the Savior who offers himself as the true food of our souls, not only by this grace giving us life in knitting our souls to God, but in the same act strengthening our eternal friendship with the greatest of all Neighbors.

The moment the lid is removed from the tray with the cups of wine and the trapped aroma of the vintage explosively escapes to surround us at the Table is one of my favorite moments of every Lord's Day Eucharist. The same is true of taking the bread and tearing it asunder - how glad I am we use real bread prepared in the kitchens of our congregation's members, with each us receiving, breaking, and offering the bread. The texture and aroma of life are in that simple but profound movement and moment in worship. I 'receive' the bread - grace; I break the bread - remembrance; I offer the bread - love; herein is the Faith, the sacrament of the Table proclaiming Christ's death until he comes. The power of scent and taste claiming our memory is unmistakable; just so, Christ by bread and wine claims our hearts, our imagination, our memory, and our future. O Taste and See that the Lord is Good.

Hymn for the Day: I Was Glad

Sermon Notes for Fourth Sunday of Easter

All Things for the Sake of the Gospel
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 15, 2011

• The Issue of Difficult Questions: Is it Jeopardy when I’m at a fuel pump? All I want to do is fill up, not pass a final!

We often think of the Bible as a book with the answers, and of course in many ways this is true enough. Yet it is also a book of questions; sometimes these are questions we have for God, but more often than not the questions are those God poses to us.

• Job; Hagar
• The BIG Questions –
- “Who do you say that I am?”
- “Who are you? What do you say about yourself?”

One of the most intriguing questions in the Bible is one asked by a youthful David, the man who would years later become Israel’s King and Shepherd. He had come to a battlefield where Israel was being challenged by Goliath. He was showing some signs that he might want to get into the fight but his older brothers began to mock him and his youthful zeal. In return, David asks them a question:

”Is there not a cause?” – 1 Samuel 17:29 (AV)

Down through the centuries that question is asked of us today. “Is there not a cause?”

It’s the question we have for the men ordained today.

“What is your cause?”

It’s the question before every heart today.

“What is your cause?”

This past week marked the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Bob Marley. He once famously said, “The people trying to make this world a worse place aren’t taking a day off, so neither can I.”

The Apostle Paul knew his cause; he knew the reason for his sacrifices. Listen to his testimony: “I do all things for the sake of the Gospel.”

I. All Things for the Sake of the Gospel Means This is the Question that Must be Asked of All We Seek to Do Personally.

II. All Things for the Sake of the Gospel Means This is the Question that Must be Asked of All We Seek to Do Congregationally.

III. All Things for the Sake of the Gospel Means This is the Question that Most Reveals Jesus Christ Missionally.

A. Who supremely gave up his rights and made himself a servant of all? 1 Corinthians 9:19
- Jesus Christ

B. Who supremely became a Jew under the Law to win his People? 1 Corinthians 9:20
- Jesus Christ

C. Who supremely came as a Jew to save to non-Jews of the whole world as well? 1 Corinthians 9:21
- Jesus Christ

D. Who supremely became weak that those who were dead in sin might be raised to life by the power of God? 1 Corinthians 9:22
- Jesus Christ

* All of Paul's mission is a reflection of what he writes of Christ in Philippians 2

Here we find Paul following his Savior and urging upon us the same self-giving, the same love that lays down one’s privileges for those who are weak and poor and who have not yet heard of the Lord Jesus and his great love, his grace that recovers what the thief stole from us and restores to us abundant life.

* The Good Shepherd - John 10

Its been said that the world at its worst needs to see the Church at its best. Well, yes. But what does this mean? The world does not need to see a strong church, if by strong we mean merely powerful or perfect, but a weak church, one which knows its strength and hope and life is in Christ alone; the Church that, like her Savior, lays down its 'rights' in order to serve rather than demands service.

* Philippians 3:10 and life's great purpose

We do not need to go find a vision or define our mission. Our task is clear – to know Christ and make him known.

And tomorrow morning when we rise the answer to the nagging question that rolls around in our heads as we go about our activities - Why am I doing this? - can also be the same as the answer Paul would give: “I do all things for the sake of the Gospel.”

So let me come back to the question before us –

“Is there not a cause?” There is. Is the cause of Christ your cause as well? Now that’s a good question.

First Things Tackles Wright Tackling American Exceptionalism

I rather upset some folks with my piece on the execution of Osama bin Laden. I also upset some people by pointing out that while NT Wright was asking a good question about the action, his proposed answer just wouldn't pass muster. The good people over at First Things have also weighed in on this issue:

www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2011/05/09/american-cowboys-and-the-hapless-international-sheriffs/

Lets Get Cookin! Mothers Day Edition

Toni asked for some old southern style fare: deep fried chicken, corn on the cob, cheddar cheese biscuits, followed by carrot cake with Blue Bell ice cream for dessert. It was all delicious. I had to soup up the recipe for the fried chicken breading with some extra spices, but it turned out reasonably well enough: great crunch on the exterior and a moist interior. The carrot cake was terrific, though I added fresh pineapple to the original Paula recipe. The cheddar cheese biscuit recipe was straight from the Barefoot Contessa. All in all, an excellent day cooking and feasting.

Remembering Mom

Today is Mother's Day. I love to see children honor their mother, though the Scriptural injunction intends far more than Hallmark would endorse or flower shops promote. Its a good start, but that commandment is one for every day not for one in three hundred and sixty five. That said, I especially enjoy seeing my children honor their mother with some thoughtfully prepared cards and gifts, making a general fuss over her, just as she deserves, and perhaps as atonement for the angst they layer on her heart between the joys they just as equally offer.

While it will be fun to celebrate the moms we see daily hugging, tending, feeding, comforting, confronting, instructing, taking to, picking up, and cracking on the head the often ungrateful louts we call our offspring, the day also reminds us of the moms who did all of that - and more of course - but who are no longer with us on this side of the great divide. I received word yesterday that a good friend and great lady we know had gone to be with the Lord after a brief battle with cancer; one can't blame her daughters if they aren't all that excited about celebrating Mother's Day when they are making arrangements to bury theirs. Just a few weeks ago, another dear friend also buried her mother, likewise after a painful but mercifully short battle with cancer. Is today sweet? Maybe bittersweet; joy in the remembrance, sorrow in the absence. Mother's Day can be tough. I'm glad its not part of the Liturgical Calendar because frankly, I'd skip it. It would be too painful.

Moms really aren't around forever. Intellectually we know this is true and experience teaches us this hard fact as well. Yet emotionally we keep that reality at bay, telling it go lay down if it rears its head, sending it into a time out or threatening it with the loss of dessert if it won't be quiet. But one day, sure enough, it stomps right through the living room of our hearts and plunks down rudely, smashing vases, interrupting everything, and wrecking the moment, like a lightning bolt blowing out the television right in the middle of the Super Bowl. Death - especially the death of a mother -is horrid and altering and damaging. Especially if it is premature, at least in so far as we can label such things.

My mom taught me to read and to love sports; she taught me about civil rights and to love politics; she taught me what it meant to celebrate gifts and make the most of what little abilities God has given to most of us - making me take piano lessons (torture!), but equally taking me to art lessons, and sending me to basketball camp. She taught me to pray, and to pray for the people I didn't like very much, like my Little League coach. He benched me when I was ten, and I felt quite aggrieved by this slight. He was no doubt right to bench me - I am baseball fan in part because I couldn't play the game very well, and understand from terrible experience how exceptionally talented even the most unsung minor leaguers must be - but at ten I was certain the man was secretly a warlock, working a dark conspiracy of spells against me in an effort to make me look bad before my peers. I did what all other ten year olds do when they get mad - I huffed and stormed and then lay down on my bed and cried. Mom came in and sat with me. I expected some comfort after telling her about the great injustice inflicted upon me by 'the man'. After all, my mom, strident Republican to the core, was nonetheless a big Bobby Kennedy and MLK fan, and knew injustice when she saw it. No luck though. She had a deeper magic. "Lets pray for your coach", she gently said. "YOU pray for him", I half-shouted and half-sobbed. And she did, out loud, one of those kinda long prayers that were unusual for her and signaled to me she really meant it.

I didn't see a dove descend or anything like that while she prayed, but that terrible anger did lift, her prayer sucking it out of me like some medieval poltace applied to a festering wound. Mom had the goods.

My mom's name is Dolores Anne Cassidy, and she is the daughter of William and Reta Saunders. My maternal grandparents are buried on a hill overlooking what used to be the fifty yard line of what used to be a high school football field. Things change. My mom died unexpectedly of of a massive coronary on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006. She had an appointment with a cardiologist scheduled for the next day. Too late. She was a wonderful mom, a good nurse, and terrific friend. She possessed little fashion sense and did not care. She loved literature and she thought I was an artist. Hey, everyone's entitled to at least one major misjudgment. She is buried in a Veterans Cemetery outside Nashville, Tennessee, not because she is a vet but because my dad served.

My sister lives in Nolensville, Tennessee and so visits her grave regularly. I love my sister - and she looks just like my mom, which startles me every time I see her. Whenever she goes to the grave she takes my mom a cup of Starbucks coffee, with cream and sugar; my sister drinks half of the coffee, pours the rest on the grave and then sets the cup on top of the marker. Then she cries. Last week we drove out there together, bringing some flowers freshly picked from my sister's pretty incredible garden. We stopped for the Starbucks. We stood there arm in arm on a bright Tennessee Saturday morning, fabulous green hills and lush trees all around us and remembered her; we thanked her; we cried; and for me at least, that was Mother's Day.

Sure, I don't cry every day about her death - that stopped some years ago. But at any moment, spurred on by some distant echo of a very present memory, I still cry about her and all her absence means to me and my family. I still want to call her.

Not that she's utterly gone. One Sunday morning a couple years ago I was standing in the chancel behind the Table as I always do during the Lord's Supper, singing 'At the Lamb's High Feast' with the rest of the congregation, feeling nothing but great joy, and not thinking about my mother at all - nor had I been doing so that day or the day before. And then suddenly, just to my right, she was there. Or I was there. Not sure really - one of those unexpected moments when the veil of seeing through a glass darkly gets pulled back slightly and the audience sees the stagehands moving the pieces around for the next scene. She was singing along with the congregation quite happily. Then that moment passed; as quickly as that awareness came, it left, but not without leaving a mark.

Was it real? I think so. We serve the God of the living, not the dead. And mom liked to sing in Church and take communion. Fine, the psychoanalysts and cynics can make of it what they will, and the anti-supernaturalists can register my experience as mere projection; or maybe a kind of madness brought on by postponed grief; I get it. Yet nothing like that has ever happened again - I peek out of the corner of my eye at times during communion to check for such things! Its no use doing so during sermons; she'd just be sitting there telling me to wrap it up, that 'the brain can only absorb what the butt can stand', as she liked to say.

I'm pretty sure that one day she will welcome me to the service that doesn't have a benediction and we'll get to sing together again. Until then, well, Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I still miss you. We all do.

NT Wright on the Osama Operation and American Exceptionalism

NT Wright has a VERY different view of the operation against Osama than my own. That said, he asks some good questions. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts and responses.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/05/america-lone-ranger

A Mom's Wisdom

The following words were written by A Mom, one of my readers. Her wise and passionate words here deserve their own blog post. Thank you A Mom for putting so well the painful challenge we have faced in the decade since 9-11. I appreciate your passion and wisdom.



I think we should all celebrate that there is discussion, and so many of us taking pause, whether to celebrate that there is no further plotting and execution of such plots from Bin Laden and how that brings inner peace, or that murder, even when used for justice, should not be celebrated in the streets. I most definitely do not think this is just a debate amongst Christians.

No matter the rational, or interpretation of scripture, may we all think about the journey that has lead us to this thinking spot. I hope in this time of celebration or quiet moment, we remember and hold those effected by this war in our prayers.

Somewhere there is a relative of Bin laden that sits head in hands, he or she is ashamed, heartbroken, and questioning why God did not hear their prayers, and give light to a very dark path that their brother, Uncle, or Father Osama Bin Laden took.

Somewhere there is a mother in Iraq, still mourning the loss of her child after the bombings left them without clean water and she had to watch her child die slowly, a child seen as collateral damage, she is so confused, because while there are plenty of evil men in her town, Iraq was not hiding this particular evil man.

Somewhere in just about every town in America there is a Father so very proud of his baby, who at the ripe old age of 19 went to Iraq as a soldier, and without bullets helped Iraqi or Afghanistan schools continue teaching and carried burned and limbless children to medical attention. A soldier, and someones baby, so courageously gave his/her life without question.

While there are always so many reasons to Thank God, I do believe Evil breathed in deep all the way on this very thought provoking Journey to the justified death of Bin Laden.

Quotable: Rough Men and Safe Sleep

“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

Celebrating Justice

My colleague and friend Greg Ward wrote this in an email about the celebration of justice, especially with reference to the commission/ministry of the civil magistrate; he was responding to those who hold that we cannot celebrate the just execution of Osama bin Laden:

Actually Rom 13 is the crux of the argument. The question isn't whether or not the people of God (in either the OT or now) should celebrate the meting out of justice. The question is whether or not the event in question is just. Romans 13 doesn't have to mention celebrating justice, it needs only clarify how God meets out justice in the period between Christ's coming and his return.

God has given the sword to the governments of the world. When those governments properly wield the sword for justice, it is cause for celebration, clearly what the OT passages have in mind. When the government wields the sword for injustice, it is not. The OT is replete with examples of the King of Judah/Israel, the chosen mediator of God's justice wielding the sword for all the wrong reasons, and it was unjust, and prophets were sent to address the issue. The issues really weren't any plainer then than they are now.

So, when an event takes place, the question is, was justice properly meted out by a proper authority. For example there have been "Christians" that have bombed abortion clinics, or killed abortion doctors. This is not just, and it is no cause for celebration. On the flip side, our government has made abortion legal, which is also not just. Again no cause for celebration.

However, when our government pursues a terrorist that has acknowledged and even celebrated his part in heinous crimes, and brings him to justice . . this is proper justice, properly meted out, by a proper authority. It is the way God intends it to work, and unfortunately it seems a fairly rare event these days. It is an appropriate time to celebrate that God has meted out his justice through the government. Further, this is actually the celebration of life you mention. If there is no joy in justice, how will there be joy in heaven?

Greg

Lets Get Cookin!

Had a wild and crazy cooking day on Sunday, a major Carb Loading Fest. A particular success were the Pearl Onions in Port Sauce.

Biscuits were from a Bobby Flay recipe.

Made up the Strawberry Cheese Danish dessert.

Ribeye steaks as I usually prepare them.

The Garlic Potato Puree was delicious as well.

You Bet I'm Rejoicing in the Death of Osama bin Laden

Stop the Hand-wringing and Start the Bell Ringing!

When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. (Proverbs 11:10)

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58:10)


Since I first heard the news reports last night of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of US Navy Seals conducting a special forces operation under the nose of the Pakistani government, I've been rejoicing in the news and bewildered by the bizarre response of many Christians to this development. My Face Book page lit up with predictable joy, but also with comments condemning those celebrating the death of the Terrorist leader and architect of the 9-11 attacks (as well as others), together with other comments ranging from exhortations not to rejoice in the death of the wicked to instructions about loving our enemies and not pursuing a path marked by vengeance. It seems to me that such comments often arise only from theological confusion, often inflicted on congregations by hand-wringing, guilt-tripping preachers, or from being more informed by a bizarre sentimentality than Scripture.

"What? How can you say such a thing when we Christians are supposed to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, just as Jesus said?"

I'll come to that matter. But lets begin with a look at the big picture, and make sure we consider the whole range of Scripture rather than isolated verses here and there - something one might accuse me of doing if all I offered were the texts quoted at the beginning of this article.

First of all, whatever motives may be in the hearts of fallen people, the act of killing Osama bin Laden was an act of justice and mercy not revenge. It is crucial to recall the proper place of the civil magistrate in the execution of God's justice in a fallen world.

Here's what Scripture says about the necessary place for the sword-bearing civil authority in our fallen world:

"For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also (F)for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: (H)tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." - Romans 13:3-7

The civil authority 'bears the sword' as a servant of God to protect the innocent and punish evil doers. Private vengeance is thus criminal and not allowed to the Christian, while civil magistrates may - and indeed must - discharge the duty of 'avenging' when such action is called for.

Many Christians take Jesus words with regard to turning to the other cheek in a civil way rather than in a private way. Jesus was speaking of a personal persecution ethic - how we respond to the state or individual persecution for what we believe - rather than the duty of the state to punish wickedness and protect the innocent. The confusion over the civil and the private runs right through large sections of the Christian community. I may not as a private citizen take vengeance; I may not as an individual Christian respond to persecution for my Faith with violence or hatred, but rather with mercy, prayer, and a willingness to continue to embrace suffering - the way of the Cross in order that the sacrificial and merciful love of God may be seen by his enemies. On the other hand, I cannot as a private Christian citizen refuse to acknowledge our need for the state's proper place under God - bearing the sword to mete out just punishments on wrong-doers and serving to protect the citizenry from evil.

This can be clearly seen in the work of contemporary police officers and our system of courts. If a man violently assaults another man, woman, or child, the civil authority has a responsibility to apprehend him and bring him to justice, inflicting an appropriate punishment, and rescuing from attack others who might have suffered were such an assailant allowed to wander about freely. The person so attacked may well forgive the assailant, but the state must punish and restrain him to protect the innocent from further suffering. Thus an act of justice is also an act of mercy; justice for the offender, and mercy far and wide for those rescued from his hand. I have some personal experience in the need to forgive an assailant while praying for his arrest and detention so that others would not suffer as well.

In the realm of international relations and the actions of state or state sponsored terrorist organizations, civil authorities are still responsible to protect their citizens from the violent and punish those who wrongfully and criminally inflict on citizens suffering and death. They do not always do so with wisdom or restraint, and the same could be said for local law enforcement as well! Yet this does not diminish the demand that such actions be taken, however imperfectly in this sad, fallen world.

The capture and killing of Osama bin Laden was the correct response of a civil authority to a man and movement bent on destroying people around the world, and who had already murdered thousands. We should rejoice that the President had the willingness to give this order and the military the sword to carry it out. This is simply one more example of a Christian worldview informing the way we think of state actions, even when that state has forgotten the theology that is at the foundation of its very existence and the form it has taken.

No civil authority can execute eternal justice however. The wrath of the Lamb awaits the nations and all who refuse his rule. That is an eternal matter, and it is why even the executed are at death committed to the mercy of God. I cannot pronounce Osama bin Laden's eternal sentence of divine justice, nor can any state. All that can be said here and now is that because he carried out murders he was subject to the death penalty, rightly administered by the properly constituted authority. The rest we can leave with the wisdom of the Almighty.

It is in this sense that the Scriptures say that God does not delight in the death of the wicked - another verse often quoted by those who would temper or condemn the celebration of Osama's execution by Navy Seals. God doesn't rejoice in his death, so how can we? On the contrary, we must rejoice in his death because that is the will of God being carried out. We must also acknowledge that the everlasting judgement of the wicked is in God's hands alone; he does not rejoice in carrying it out, as he has already been 'pleased' to crush his Son as the sacrifice for all sins that secures eternal life. God does not wish for any to perish, just as the Apostle taught. This however is not the same thing as saying that God does not desire justice, whether now, as can be only partially and always imperfectly carried out, or in eternity when it will be wisely, perfectly, and fully brought to bear upon all.

Finally note the need for paying taxes, mentioned in Romans as well. The next time you pay your Federal Taxes, pause and give thanks for the privilege of writing that check, and offer thanks to God for the legitimate use of those funds. You think some of the uses are illegitimate? OK, and you might be correct. But while you have that debate, pay them with joy and pray for the soldiers who are putting themselves on the line so you and your family don't have to live in a war zone. The sword is being carried forward, and I for one am celebrating the fact that it was terrible and swift in its onslaught last night against Osama bin Laden. You're damn right I'm happy about it. Thanks be to God.

The Death of Osama bin Laden

I'm working on an additional column to address the Christian hand-wringing 'we shouldn't be celebrating Osama's death' goofiness some people are expressing, but...

First things first.

I am incredibly grateful today for the brilliant execution of this operation carried out by the US military. I am also incredibly grateful for the sacrificial service of every member of our armed forces and their families since the horrifying events of September 11, 2001. Navy Seals! Let the world and every enemy of freedom fear those two words.

I am also incredibly grateful for the decisive leadership shown by President Obama in this matter. He deserves great credit for showing the world and this country that he has what it takes to take down the bad guys and won't hesitate to make the tough calls when the situation demands it. Congratulations Mr. President, both to you and to your entire administration on a job well done, one from which every American can take heart and in which we can all take proper pride.

This is a day to celebrate. This is a day we have had to wait far too long to mark. Thank God it has finally arrived.