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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany
February 3, 2025
John 15:9-14
As the father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Meditation
On September 11, 2001, 24-year-old Welles Crowley went to his stockbroker’s job on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center south tower. At 9:03, American Airlines flight 175 struck and exploded on the 78th through 81st floors of the tower. Welles Crowley, who was a volunteer firefighter in Upper Nyack, found the single passable staircase that allowed people to escape below the inferno. He descended 26 floors from his office and encountered a panicked group on the 78th floor. Using his firefighting training, Welles cleared a path and then led a small group of people down 17 floors to safety. He returned to the fire on the 78th floor and led a second group to safety.
After making three trips above the 78th floor, Welles went to the fire command center in the south tower lobby to see how he could help. He died when the tower collapsed at 9:59. Out of more than 500 individuals who were above the south tower’s 78th floor, just 18 made it to safety. At least ten of them recognized that Welles Crowley, who was wearing a distinctive red bandana as the man who had fought fires and saved their lives.
Welles Crowley’s sacrifice needs little elaboration. His decision to rescue people in severe distress is selfless and extraordinary. Welles Crowley laid down his life for people who he did not know.
If few of us are likely to confront the Welles Crowley’s decision, does this imply Jesus call “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” no longer applies? To infer that Jesus’ call mandates sacrificing our earthly lives is too literal and perhaps too harsh a reading. Jesus is calling us to recognize that our knowledge, skills and most importantly our character provide us the resources we need to give of ourselves to our friends and to contribute to our communities. We may not be called to monumental action; nevertheless, we are called to grow in God and to offer what we can to help others grow in God.
A complete documentary about Welles Crowley and 9/11 can be viewed on Youtube.com at:
Welles Crowley: The Man In The Red Bandana
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