Who We Are

‘So Much More in Common’

Posted by Wallace+

Blessings to all of you who participated in "Moving Forward Together - In Remembrance of 9/11" at St. Paul's last Sunday and joined in our prayer service on the eve of September 11. It was a weekend of moving memorials and remembrances. I was especially uplifted by how many individuals, of various ages and faith backgrounds, came together at the forum we hosted at St. Paul's.

As the Rev. Jim Somerville said, "I think we can really begin to see that we have so much more in common than those things that divide us." 

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Tags: interfaith, september 11

September 11, 2001

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

9/11: Ministry of Welcome

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

Say Yes, Say Your Prayers (2): The Tenth Anniversary of 9/11 Nears

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

Only the World’s Religions

Posted by Wallace+

I hope you saw the Reverend Bill Sachs' Faith and Values column on Saturday, "Who Will Heed Call for Unity?" In the words of the United Nations General Assembly last fall,

In his column, Bill references an interfaith group of clergy that have been meeting and making plans for the establishment of a Faith Forum in Richmond, to help bring together people of all faiths and to help deepen understanding and a sense of shared community. That group of clergy met today, as a matter of fact; and we are looking at this fall, with the 10th anniversary of September 11th, as a natural and fitting time to hold the first annual Faith Forum. While we are still in the early stages of planning, I am a strong sense that we're working on something that will be important for the Richmond community. Please join me in praying for God's guidance and blessing as we continue in our planning.

May God lead us, his children; may God help us to love one another; and may God help our community become more fully the community that he would have us be.

Pictured: Flag at Ground Zero, photo by "snickup" at stock.xchng.

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Tags: interfaith, reverend bill sachs, richmond times-dispatch, september 11