wfn.org | In the shadow of the cross

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2001-253

In the shadow of the cross

by Nathan Brockman

     "We lived and worked in the shadow of the World Trade Center. Now we live 
and work in the shadow of the cross," the Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard said in his 
sermon given in a moving service on Sunday September 16. It was the first time 
the congregation of Trinity Church Wall Street had gathered since the World Trade 
Center tragedy last Tuesday. So appropriate and accurate were his words that when 
the phrase was first uttered, the roughly 100 people filling the small church's 
wooden pews seemed to gasp.

     Trinity has been worshiping in downtown Manhattan for more than 300 years 
and wasn't about to let the disaster prevent it celebrating the Eucharist on 
Sunday.

     Trinity's staff had worked late into the previous night in efforts to gain 
permission from the city to hold the service either in the church or in front of 
it, on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. But the area including the church 
remained off-limits for safety reasons. Parish leaders then took up an offer to 
hold the service at the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-
born person to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and a member of Trinity 
Parish in her youth.

     Other offers were generously made, but Trinity wanted its congregation to be 
as close to its church building as possible. The shrine is at the south end of 
Manhattan, a red-brick building with white pillars that faces the Staten Island 
Ferry terminal.

     It was the first time "back at the bench," for Dr. Owen Burdick, Trinity's 
director of music, after his terrifying hours inside Trinity Church the previous 
Tuesday. His criteria for choosing hymns: some reference to the September 14 
service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, some correlation between 
Anglican and Roman Catholic hymnals, and some doses of appropriate theology.

     The congregation sang, "The Church's One Foundation," "O God Our Help in 
Ages Past," "The King of Love My Shepherd Is," "Taste and See," and, "There's a 
Wideness in God's Mercy."

     Four members of Trinity's clergy joined Father Howard - the Rev. Gay Silver, 
the Rev. Stuart Hoke, the Rev. James G. Callaway, and the Rev. Mitties De 
Champlain.

A sign of hope

     On Tuesday, when the south tower of the Trade Center collapsed, Hoke had 
been leading an impromptu service in Trinity in response to the attack, singing 
"O God Our Help in Ages Past." He got to finish the hymn on Sunday. "It brought 
me to tears, singing that one," he said while greeting people after the service.

     The mood in the church was at once sorrowful and hopeful. "Evil is real," 
said Howard. "We needed to be together today to think of eternity. The last words 
will always be love, mercy, and eternal life." 

     Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and New York's Bishop Mark Sisk joined 
the congregation for the service. Griswold said after the service that he was 
"trying to be centered for the sake of others, and dealing with rage and 
sadness."

     He added, "We have all suffered a trauma not quickly resolved," and offered 
the related advice to "spend a lot of time listening to people, naming the 
emotions we are feeling." 

     Griswold had visited St. Paul's Chapel the day before, "writing a note in 
the sacristy," before running into the Rev. Lyndon Harris. He also had a good 
look at Trinity Church, and said that "the churches are still standing, still 
intact, waiting to welcome people again." He saw the small congregation gathered 
Sunday as "an incredible sign of hope."

--Nathan Brockman is managing editor of Trinity's website.