September 12, 2011, People of St. Paul's (42), Christianity (85), Food for the Soul (55), In the News (Nation, World) (80)
Post by The Rev. Gena Adams-Riley
On the morning of September 11th 2001, I was traveling north toward Washington D.C. on I-395 from our apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. I wrote a poem in the weeks that followed as I sorted through the experience of watching American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon killing 64 people on the plane, 125 people in the Pentagon, and 5 hijackers.
I accelerate;
move left, the fast lane,
tune in my lifeline, NPR—
Terrorists
Attack
New York City
American Airlines
Towers.
What's this about?
I hear it,
then see it play out before me—
silver capsule
red letters
darting through the sky,
too fast, too low, the wrong way,
sharply veering.
Metal meets concrete,
strikes without warning.
The nightmare of a soldier-
a burst of orange,
cloud of black
gray is swallowed.
A mighty wound,
gaping hollowness
cannot be touched.
Steel, rubber, metal,
grind to a halt.
I'm not alone,
they see it, too.
Hands clutch shaking heads,
people bewildered,
stopped in a place we do not belong.
I stand in the roadway,
reaching.
My heart floods with tears,
my eyes are dry.
I shake with coldness,
my stomach burns.
I circle my car,
there is no safety in this place.
You are with them,
whoever they are,
I cannot know them,
they are gone.
Nameless to me—
mothers
fathers
children
sisters
brothers
lovers.
You call them by name;
call them by name!
Have mercy,
deliver them from evil.
They are dust,
to dust they return.
Give me a balm
to heal my sinsick heart.
- The Rev. Gena D. Adams-Riley, Revised September 2011
Pictured: A steel bench from the Pentagon Memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
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Tags: 911, gena adams-riley, poetry, september 11
September 02, 2011, People of St. Paul's (42), Church (77), City & Commonwealth (63)
Posted by Wallace+
All are welcome to visit St. Paul's for quiet reflection and prayer whenever we are open (daily, 10am - 4pm). However, next weekend, ten years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, we anticipate some individuals may feel a special need for refuge. In response, we are reminding the community of our prayer presence and inviting them to visit anytime on Saturday, September 10 and join us for a service of prayer and music that day at 5 pm.
To help welcome any visitors, we are looking for volunteers who can help greet during the day and pass out bulletins during the 5 pm service. If you're available, please email John Taylor at taycamp@aol.com or contact me at rector@stpauls-episcopal.org.
If you'd like to know more about our offerings that weekend, visit www.stpauls-episcopal.org/911 .
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Tags: 911, september 11, welcome
July 19, 2011, City & Commonwealth (63), In the News (Richmond) (74)
Posted by Wallace+
Following up on yesterday's post, two items in today's RTD keep the question before us: how do we, as people of different faiths, live together?
M.P. Williams has it right. Of course Henrico should OK the mosque. Likewise, the editorial page has it right, the President should do as President Bush did and meet openly with the Dalai Lama. Granted, that's easy to put in a web post, and hard to execute foreign-policy-wise; nonetheless, it's the right thing to do.
In only a matter of weeks, we will arrive at the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001. With this mind, may each of us, and may each community of faith, do all that we can do to promote respect and compassion for people of all faiths. It's the right thing to do; and it's the holy thing to do.
Amen, amen.
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Tags: 911, interfaith, michael paul williams, richmond times dispatch, september 11
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