Day of National Prayer and Remembrance

Goshen Health System – Chapel

12 noon, September 14, 2001

“For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from God comes my salvation.

God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;

I shall never be shaken.”

Welcome to this time together. Today we join with our sisters and

brothers throughout this country and throughout the world to remember, to grieve; to share strength with one another, and to find refuge, peace, and hope in God.

Our service will be brief. We will pray together. We will sit in silence

together to offer our prayers to God and to listen to God’s voice. And,

at the end, we will have an opportunity to receive a blessing with oil in

order to carry God’s strength with us.

Let us come before God.

May the God of all consolation be with us.

May the God of mercy and peace be with us.

May the God of all creation be with us.

May the God of compassion and justice be with us.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Let us begin by praying for those in need. After each prayer petition,

please join me in responding “God of all, have mercy”.

Almighty and compassionate God, our eyes can hardly watch, nor our ears hear, nor our minds conceive, nor hearts believe the unfolding of the tragedies of this week. Fear and mourning have gripped our souls. Tears and anger flow with abandon. Life and liberty have been challenged. O God, we hardly know what to pray. And yet, we know in you alone will we find hope, comfort and strength. And we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For those who died, that they may know eternal life with you, we pray:

“God of all, have mercy.”

For the untold thousands of injured and bereaved in our nation, that they may know your comfort and healing, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For those who do not know the fate of their loved ones, that they may feel your arms around them, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For the rescue workers, the medical staff, the support staff who continue to search for survivors, that they may be encouraged and strengthened, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For our national, international and local leaders, that they be filled

with your wisdom and discernment, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For each person in this land, that we may continue to show to one another acts of generosity, kindness, and heroism, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

For those who perpetrated these acts of violence and hatred, that their

hearts may be touched by your Spirit, we pray: “God of all, have mercy.”

We have all experienced many emotions in the past few days….shock,

anger, sadness, grief, anxiety, fear. Our mind and our hearts feel weighed down with concerns and worries. How do we cope?

The answer is that we turn to the One who created us and in God find our strength, our hope, and our life. And we remember that we are held – always and lovingly – by our God. When our grief threatens to overwhelm us; when our fears shake us; when our strength is fading….let us turn to the One who holds us close, and gives us grace and mercy and peace.

Let us pause before God in a time of silence…to listen for God’s word

and to receive the strength of God’s Spirit.

(Time of Silence)

My friends, hear these words of promise and hope:

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

All religious traditions pray for peace…..let us join our hearts today

with our brothers and sisters around the country and the world:

Our Jewish brothers and sisters who pray: Come, let us go up the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

(Pause)

Our Muslim sisters and brothers who pray: Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations, that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other. Help us to incline towards peace, and to trust for the Lord is the one that hears and knows all things.

(Pause)

Our Christian brothers and sisters who pray: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there

is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console. To be understood, as to understand. To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

(pause)

Oil is a symbol in all religious traditions of God’s healing and blessing.

Following our service, if you would like, you may come forward to receive a blessing with oil as a symbol of God’s care for you.

My friends, remember that God is our strength. God is our hope. God is our peace. Let us now stand and offer to one another a sign of God’s peace.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep us faithful and courageous. The peace of God be with us all. Amen.

=========================

Later, I also posted this poem written by an 11-year old girl on my

bulletin board:

In memory of the fallen in New York and Washington, D.C.

Does the sun not know the pain we’ve been through?

It keeps on rising.

Do the birds not know the sorrow we know?

They keep on singing.

Do the children not feel what has been done?

They keep on laughing.

Should we?

Should we forget what has happened?

No, not yet.

We will still know the pain.

We will still know the sorrow

And we will still know what happened,

But

Our life will go on.

Slowly but surely,

Our life will go on.

-Gabrielle Steed-

11 years old, Cary, NC

September 11, 2001