|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Calls flooded the valley's various houses of worship only minutes after the attacks began.
By CODY LOWE
"Deep tragedy is the reality. Deep comfort is the need." "If our hope is in security on this continent, we have been disabused of that hope," Light told about 200 worshippers who gathered at St. John's Episcopal Church at 5:30 Tuesday afternoon. After a day of being bombarded by news reports and photos of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, people across Western Virginia and the nation sought the comforts of religious faith. "Our faith is built on a foundation that is stronger than the shattering news we've heard this day," Light said. "Underneath us are the everlasting arms of God." People who felt otherwise powerless to help those hurt by the terrorism rushed to join together in prayer. Calls started coming in to St. Andrew's Catholic Church within minutes of the news of the attacks. "People of faith tend to want the solace that comes from God to be shared with them," said Steve Mabry, who works at the church and took some of those calls at the parish office. "They feel the comfort of community in times like these." Houses of worship of every denomination and faith held special prayer services Tuesday. Even more may be scheduled tonight, when services are routinely held in many denominations, and when the Roanoke Valley Ministers' Conference plans an 8 p.m. ecumenical candlelight prayer service in Victory Stadium. The conference includes Christian, Jewish and Muslim members. Sometimes just a sound could help people feel the community cited by Mabry. A mournful knell rang over downtown Roanoke as a single bell tolled a couple of times each minute at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church. The church's music minister, Richard Cummins, couldn't program the bell's computer system to ring automatically, so he and a group of volunteers took turns ringing the bell manually all afternoon and into the evening. It was a small, reverent act on a day when words and answers were elusive. "Right now, there is no message," Greene Memorial Pastor Michael Lyle said with quiet exasperation just a few hours after the disasters. "Except that this is still God's world. He will see us through." The Rev. Floyd Davis, minister at Roanoke's High Street Baptist, spent the morning taking calls from concerned church members who had family in the Washington, D.C., area, where an airplane crashed into the Pentagon. "Whenever something tragic happens, you hear a quiet 'Why?'" he said. "Now, it's a louder 'Why?' We let them know we're in prayer for them and that God is in control. God will make things right." More than 500 members of the Hollins University community gathered in the campus' du Pont Chapel at noon Tuesday to reflect on the day's tragedy. "I've been racking my brain to think of what to say, and all I can think is mercy," said the Rev. Jan Fuller-Carruthers, the university chaplain. Classes were canceled at Hollins on Tuesday, but Fuller-Carruthers advised students and staff members to carry on with their normal routines as much as possible. "Terrorism wins if we lose a sense of purpose," she said. Still, Fuller-Carruthers admitted that carrying on would not be easy. "I don't have a clue as to how we will do this," she said. Kristin Dilley, a junior from Williamsburg, saw the service as welcome relief to the day's news coverage. "It gave us a chance to cry," she said. The candles were lit, the tears were evident, but their faith abounded at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Blacksburg. About 500 parishioners turned their eyes to the Rev. Jim Arsenault as they searched for comfort in a hastily called evening Mass. They fell to their knees and prayed together. Then they held hands and prayed "The Lord's Prayer." They sang. With four candles glowing around him, Arsenault called for peace amid the chaos. "Whoever is behind this great tragedy, once it is discovered and if it will be discovered," Arsenault said, "may there be peace for all." After the service, church members gathered in circles outside to vent frustration and search for hope. "I think we all need to have a deep understanding of what's going on," said church member Jean Van Krey as she wiped tears away, "and how we can solve the problem without violence." In Roanoke, Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church's pastor, the Rev. Joe Lehman, said terrorism was no longer a tragic act that just occurred a world away. "Now I feel a linking in a way I've haven't been linked before" with nations that endure almost daily acts of terrorism, he said. He said it is especially important not to let anger govern our actions. "If anger's there, we need to express it and put it into context before God," he said. "To voice it is normal. Scream and let it out and move on." Corelli Rasheed, imam of the Islamic mosque in Roanoke, said he and the mosque will be available to those who want counsel or a place to pray. Rasheed said he hopes people will reserve judgment on speculation that terrorists with Islamic ties may have been to blame. That was the early assumption in the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, for instance, and it turned out to be completely unfounded. He pointed out that Muslims undoubtedly were among those killed in the attacks. "We're concerned for the families of all the innocent people hurt in this situation." Roanoke's Islamic congregation has always had good relationships with the rest of the community, he said. "We're hoping that these events will not change that in any way." An unchanging message is what clergy everywhere tried to pass on to those seeking encouragement and hope on a day of horror. "The message today is the same that it ever was," Lehman said. "We need to be together and call on our God to be our way, our hope ... our light in the darkness." Staff writers Ralph Berrier, Beth Jones and Jenn Burleson contributed to this report.
|
|
| Click here for today's headlines. Click here for the past seven day's headlines.
Let any elected or appointed official know what you think and how you feel by CLICKING HERE. |
|