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Worshipers search for strength, solace
©Los Angeles Times, NEW YORK -- They gathered in a chapel down the street from the ruins of the World Trade Center, where ash still flavors the air and armored vehicles patrol the streets. With the stained glass windows of their 300-year-old church shattered and its doors sealed off, members of the historic Parish of Trinity Church Wall Street met in a nearby Roman Catholic chapel. "Once we stood in the shadow of the World Trade Center," the Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard told his Episcopal congregation. "Now we stand in the shadow of the cross." Millions of Americans went to church on Sunday, seeking solace after days of unimaginable horror. They gathered in Manhattan congregations and in chapels hundreds and thousands of miles away. At some religious services in places as far-flung as California and Maine, the services included screen images of exploding skyscrapers and heroic rescue workers. In heartland churches and big-city cathedrals, people prayed and listened to sermons about forgiveness, justice and war. Pews filled with people who hadn't been to church in months or years -- and with those seeking solace for the death of a relative or friend. "I don't come every week, but today I felt like I had to," said Erica Palmer, 35, who attended services in Tacoma, Wash. "Easter is the last time I came to church. It was a reaffirmation that God is with us and grieves with us, even now." St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City, a block from the site of the 1995 federal building bombing, held special services, just as it did days after the tragedy there. At Atlanta's Church of the Apostles, Michael Youssef, the founding vicar, asked those who knew someone missing to speak the name. Names reverberated down from the balcony and across the sanctuary. "We are a good and generous nation that has opened its doors for many," said Youssef, a native of Egypt who became a U.S. citizen in 1984. "And I thank God that now in our time of difficulty, we are the recipients of the prayers of many." In Southern California, Easter-sized crowds overflowed from the 1,400-seat sanctuary at three morning services at Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch, an evangelical Christian church in the San Fernando Valley. Attendance was about a third higher than for a typical Sunday, said a church staffer. The crowd at Saturday night's service was double its usual size. "Today is the first time I'd seen the flag (in the sanctuary), and I wanted to see that," said Marilyn Meenen, 70, of Chatsworth. "Just being in church helped." At New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, many people wept after the traditional Catholic ritual in which parishioners turn to the strangers next to them to offer a handshake or an embrace. From the Bronx to Brooklyn, New Yorkers confronted reminders of the tragedy on sidewalk corners decorated by clusters of votive candles. At Church of St. Paul the Apostle, parishioners mourned the death of Deborah Welsh, a member of the choir who was a flight attendant on hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Choir members pinned pictures of Welsh to their clothing. The hymn after communion was America the Beautiful. The Rev. Charles Kullmann told parishioners that "to be children of God" they must be forgiving. "God's love and our hatred cannot coexist in our hearts," he said. "Jesus came to save all sinners, even terrorists." Those sentiments were difficult for many to embrace here, where talk of vengeance is common. At more than one sermon, priests and ministers felt compelled to address the question many have asked themselves since Tuesday. How can a merciful God allow so many of his children to die in such a terrible way? "Many may be angry with God this morning," the Rev. Johnson said at the services at Trinity Church. "That anger is all right. God can handle it. God expects it. That God would permit evil is a mystery. But evil is real. If you doubt it exists, just walk up the street."
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
