From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
DNS -- Two Disciples members feared dead, Church responds to
From
"Wilma Shuffitt" <wilmas@oc.disciples.org>
Date
Tue, 18 Sep 2001 15:46:10 -500 EST
{ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}Title: Two Disciples members feared dead, Church
responds to national tragedy
Date: September 18, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org
01a-49
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- At least two members of
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations were still
missing Sept. 18 after the Sept. 9 collapse of the World Trade
Center in New York City. The Rev. Pablo Jiminez, Disciples
National Hispanic Pastor, reports that Eliezer Jiminez, a
member of Iglesia la Evangilica (Evangelical Christian
Church), Bronx, is among the missing. He worked at the
Windows on the World restaurant, atop the north tower. The
Disciples Northeast Regional Office reports that Jose Peqa, a
member of Iglesia Cristiana la
Tercero (Third Christian Church)
in upper Manhattan, also is
missing after the attack on the
Trade Center.
Esmerlin Salcebo, 36, the
son of a member of Iglesia
Cristiana la Tercero, is missing
after the Trade Center collapse
as well. And Todd Weaver, the
son of Dennis and Marilyn
Weaver, members of
Community Christian Church,
North Canton, Ohio, is among
those missing in New York.
Weavers office was on the 96th
floor of one of the Trade Center
towers. 518 of his colleagues
escaped alive but he and 81 of
his colleagues are unaccounted
for.
While a number of members
of Disciples congregations work
in and near the Pentagon, the
Capital Region of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ)
reports no Disciples killed or
injured in the attack there.
Once again, the United
States finds itself the target of
unspeakable acts of terrorism,
said the Rev. Richard L. Hamm,
general minister and president,
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). Our hearts go out to
those who were killed or injured
and to their families and friends.
Thousands of Disciples
congregations held special
prayer services on the day of the
attacks and on the days that
followed. Regional ministers
issued pastoral letters to their
pastors and congregations.
Sunday sermon plans were
altered across the life of the
church.
Let us pray for one another
and draw closer to one another
that we may live our lives in the
confidence and hope made
available to us by the love of
God, wrote the Rev. Jack
Sullivan, Jr., regional minister,
the Northwest Region of the
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ).
As we come together at the
Lords Table this week, we offer
our most eloquent answer to
this attack -- that community
has not been destroyed, and our
confidence in Gods resurrecting
power is intact, wrote the Rev.
Richard Spleth, regional
minister, Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) in Indiana.
Right here in this little
corner of America, I want to talk
to you about one big question
that has come out of this ... why
did God allow this to happen?
preached the Rev. Theodore J.
Nottingham, pastor, Smartsburg
Christian Church, Crawfordsville,
Ind. Friends, Im here to tell you
loud and clear, God did not
allow this to happen. Why do we
pray Gods will be done on
earth? Because it is not done
on earth, and we witness the
result today. Our God is not a
God who is some big puppet-
master, he preached Sunday,
Sept.16.
Calling up a popular image
of Jesus carrying a lamb on his
shoulder, Nottingham
interpreted, that picture, of the
one who goes to find the lost--
who leaves the others to find the
one lost -- is a picture of our
God ... a God of compassion
and love and care for the
smallest person, the smallest
being, Nottingham preached. This is a time when Christians
are called to be true to their faith, to be followers of Jesus even
in the midst of evil and confusion, he said.
Remember -through worship, constant prayer, study and
service - that God is a caring Creator, Redeemer, and
Sustainer whose heart is broken just like ours, who has
promised to be with us through all times and events, and
whose love always has and always will have the final say in
human affairs, wrote the Rev. Robert Hill, pastor, Community
Christian Church, Kansas City, Mo., in a pastoral letter to his
congregation.
Several Disciples military chaplains have been serving the
needs of those affected by the attack on the Pentagon.
Chaplain Col. John B. Ellington, Jr., a Disciple whose
home congregation is Indian Lake Community Church,
Russels Point, Ohio, is chief of the Air National Guard
Chaplain Service. He works at the National Guard Bureau,
Washington D.C., about six blocks away from the Pentagon.
Its only because of a 10-year Pentagon remodeling plan that
he wasnt at work in the building that was attacked. In fact,
he says that Pentagon casualties were fewer than first
expected because the plane exploded in an area that was
being remodeled. Ellingtons work in the crisis was to locate
and deploy to the Pentagon and other Washington locations
all available chaplains of various Christian traditions, Rabbis
and Imams of the Muslim faith.
Other Disciples who have been serving in the wake of the
Washington attack are: Chaplain Lt. Col. Bob Chance, State
Area Regional Command Chaplain for the Army Guard in the
District of Columbia, and pastor, Aspen Hill (Md.) Christian
Church; Chaplain Maj. Lonnie Southern, Army National Guard,
District of Columbia, and pastor, Fairfax (Va.) Christian
Church; and Chaplain Maj. Andrea Foster, Army National
Guard, District of Columbia and member, Aspen Hill Christian
Church.
Chaplains minister through presence, care and hope,
Ellington said. For Christians, its about the resurrection.
Death cannot destroy the life God created. Even in the midst
of death we have hope. We bring the hope to people. But the
hope is also shared through the chaplains of other faith
traditions. Whether its a Rabbi, Imam or a Christian chaplain
... we are the symbol of hope. Were there representing God.
In a tragedy the most important thing people cling to is the
hope of God.
Disciples disaster response has been through the Week of
Compassion and Church World Service (CWS). Week of
Compassion is responding to a CWS appeal for monetary gifts
to fund present and
future relief and assistance efforts. Gifts to Week of Compassion can be
sent to: Week of Compassion, P.O. Box 1986, Indianapolis, IN 46206.
To designate a gift, write NY/DC Disasters on the check. Donations
also can be made online at:
{
HYPERLINK "http://www.weekofcompassion.org"
}
www.weekofcompassion.org.
General Minister and President Hamm offered a broader
perspective in his message to the church. We must do more than pray
for the victims of violence. Indeed, individually and collectively, we must
renounce violence as a means of imposing the will of some upon all. We
must seek justice for all everywhere, recognizing that if any are
oppressed, none are truly free. I remain with you in prayerful watch, said
the GMP.
{The full text of Dr. Hamms statement can be found at
{
HYPERLINK "http://www.disciples.org"
}www.disciples.org/rlhstate.htm}
-- end --
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