wfn.org | PC(USA) national staff gather for tearful prayer service in wake of

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6829 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

terrorist tragedy
11-September-2001
01312

PC(USA) national staff gather for tearful prayer service in wake of
terrorist tragedy

Participants find hope and comfort in familiar Scriptures, hymns

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - Members of the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
gathered for a somber, highly emotional prayer service in the wake of
today's spate of fatal terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington,
D.C.

	Several hundred squeezed into the third-floor chapel in the Presbyterian
Center, some weeping, some holding hands, some hugging friends, many with
dry eyes and vacant, shell-shocked looks. Nearly all of them have colleagues
who live and work in the cities where the terrorist attacks took place.

	General Assembly Moderator Jack Rogers prayed: "Oh just and merciful God,
we are all shocked by this series of terrible acts against humanity and
against our country. Help us not to speak or act harshly. Fill our hearts
with compassion." He also expressed gratitude "that we can all get together
at this difficult time."

	Then the participants cleared their thick throats and sang:

 From trust in bombs that shower
When hatred and division
Destruction through the night ...
Of days when war shall cease,
Keep bright in us the vision
Give way to love and peace.
Eternal God, we pray. ...
Deliver every nation,

	Former moderators Freda Gardner and Syngman Rhee also took part. They and
Rogers were at the Center to help choose members of a GA-mandated task force
that will study the theological issues that divide the PC(USA).

	In the 11:30 a.m. service, planned on very short notice by Charles Wiley of
the Office of Theology, Worship and Discipleship, Gardner led the group in
prayer for "all who have been injured this day  all who are troubled by
confusion or pain ... all who practice the healing arts ... (and) all who
fight fires and keep the peace."

	Participants in the service took comfort from the words of Scripture and
the sustaining expressions of love and faith of familiar Protestant hymns.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the
earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall
see God ...  My heart faints within me!

	John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, also
was on hand, and offered a prayer and a reading from Scripture.  Shortly
before the service, Detterick learned that his son, who works in the World
Trade Center in New York, was safe.

Lord, make us servants of your peace:
Where there is hate, may we sow love;
Where there is hurt, may we forgive;
Where there is strife, may we make one.
Where all is doubt, may we sow faith; 
Where all is gloom, may we sow hope;
Where all is night, may we sow light; 
Where all is tears, may we sow joy.

	The only high-ranking official of the denomination not present was the Rev.
Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly stated clerk, who was attending a
meeting of the World Council of Churches executive committee in Geneva,
Switzerland.

	Rhee prayed, "Oh Lord our creator ... We commend our nation to you. ...
Give all in authority your wisdom and your strength, the wisdom to know your
will and the strength to do it."

God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the
mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with tumult. ... God is in the midst of the
city, it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.

	Rogers told his listeners, "To be here with you today gives me a great
sense of gratitude to God for all the people who work in this building, and
all the volunteers who are here today to serve on various committees and
task forces."

The Lord is my shepherd. ... Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort
me.

	Gary Luhr, director of the Office of Communication, gave the flight numbers
of the four commercial flights that were hijacked and destroyed, offering a
prayer that no one on hand for the service had a loved one or friend on any
of the flights.

I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us. ... What then are we to say about
these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ... Who will separate us
from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers ... nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

	Rogers told reporters later, "I tried to pray that we wouldn't lash out at
the people behind these terrible attacks. Our Christian faith teaches us
that we are all sinners, and that we must be able to forgive; because we are
all human, we are all fallible."

	O day of God, draw nigh
	In beauty and in power 
	Bring to our troubled minds,
	Uncertain and afraid,
	The quiet of a steadfast faith 
	Bring to our world of strife
	Your sovereign word of peace
	That war may haunt the earth no more
	And desolation cease.

	The moderator pointed out: "This is the way it is every day in Jerusalem
and Ramallah and many other places in the world."

See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; He will wipe
every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying will
be no more.

	In response to a question, Rogers said: "Our internal quarrels seem trivial
in light of these awful events."

	He recommended that Presbyterians "support the leaders of our government,
and also be a voice of compassion and restraint" at a time when "it would be
so easy to lash out blindly and vindictively."

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In
my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself - so that
where I am, there you may be also.
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