September 11


In the Upper School Cornerstone this morning, Mr. Gould asked the students if any of them remembered 9/11.  A few seniors, who were three or four years old in 2001, sheepishly half-raised their hands.  Most of the room was unresponsive.

I remember the years in the early part of the new century when we were holding assemblies to commemorate the event and were still dealing with the raw emotions among the Trinity community.

Now the event recedes into the historical background each year, and we wonder how to deal with it.

The faculty gathers each Friday for devotions, and this morning Ellen Van Tongeren led us in a time of remembrance, confession, prayer, and singing.  The American flag sat behind her, and the song she brought us was a prayer for the healing of the nations.  We prayed for people fleeing Syria, Central America, and Mexico, and we remembered our own people who were lost.  One person on staff shared how her daughter's life was changed forever by that event, how she headed with focus and determination into the military career that she is pursues still today.  One persons reminded us to pray for all Muslim people on this day.

Here is the hymn we sang:

O God of every nation,
of every race and land,
redeem the whole creation
with your almighty hand.
Where hate and fear divide us
and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us,
and heal our strife-torn world.

I left the devotion, glad to be in a community where we pray like this.  I walked out the front door and looked down the walkway to the gym and saw the picture I've pasted here.


Comments

Unknown said…
My son David, then 4 yrs. old, and I were driving down Hope Valley Rd that morning headed to Epworth Preschool when the radio announced that a jet plane had hit the World Trade Tower. All I could exclaim was "Oh my God!" and as I never used the Lord's name in that manner ... David immediately piped up from the back seat "Mommy is that God!" referring to the radio announcer. Most of us who can remember 911 vividly recall where we were when we first heard the tragic news of that day and yes, many of us ended up talking to God that day as well. Just like Pearl Harbor, President Kennedy's assassination (which I remember as a young child) and 911, our collective memories dull over time but the need to talk to God and pray for peace in this world never ceases.

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