I have not forgotten. I wanted to write a memorial for those who died on September 11, 2001, and extend a word of comfort to their families and friends, but I find that I have no words, only thoughts and emotions which I cannot express. I offer these from The Book of Common Prayer:
I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord.
Whoever has faith in me shall have life,
even though he die.
And everyone who has life,
and has committed himself to me in faith,
shall not die for ever.
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my awaking, he will raise me up;
and in my body I shall see God.
I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him
who is my friend and not a stranger.
For none of us has life in himself,
and none becomes his own master when he dies.
For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,
and if we die, we die in the Lord.
So, then, whether we live or die,
we are the Lord's possession.
Happy from now on
are those who die in the Lord!
So it is, says the Spirit,
for they rest from their labors.
BCP - p. 491
This post is mostly recycled from last year because of time constraints and because it pretty much expresses my feelings this year. I remember and note the day with deep sadness, but I have few words.
Below is the interior of St. Paul's Chapel near the World Trade Center, which I still consider the miracle church. However did the chapel come out relatively unscathed from the destruction all around it? When Grandpère and I were in New York a year or so after September 11, 2001, we attended a brief noonday service at St. Paul's. I was quite moved just to be inside the building which seemed even more hallowed because of its service as a place of rest and refreshment for those who worked at the site of the destruction. On an earlier visit, while the workers were still using the chapel, my sister and I cried as we walked around the perimeter of the fence when the memorials still covered every surface.
I probably should not mention Bin Laden in this post, but I will. Where is he? After seven years, many more deaths, and billions of dollars spent on two wars without end, he is still free.
Images from Wiki here and here.
UPDATE: Here's a link to Caminante's video of her tour of St. Paul's in April 2008.
Wow - when they said 'chapel' I always thought they meant a small and simple place. That looks like a pretty classy joint.
ReplyDeleteTim, it is small, but it's a jewel of neo-classical architecture, and the detailing in the interior is rather elaborate.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the prayers.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm really glad to see you posting again.
It's the oldest church building in New York, and one of the oldest buildings still standing in the city, bubilt in the 1760s. George Washington was a regular at St. Paul's when he was President of the US, and when New York was briefly the national capital. Alexander Hamilton and Gen. James Montgomery are buried on the grounds.
ReplyDeleteI think "chapel" is a technical designation. St. Paul's was always a branch of Trinity Church, and I think it's their last "chapel" left. Trinity once ran several "chapels" around Lower Manhattan.
Ruth, thank you.
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, we saw THE PEW when we visited.
Ah yes, the Presidential Pew.
ReplyDeletehttp://caminantesi.blogspot.com/2008/04/saint-pauls-chapel.html
ReplyDeleteIf you go here, you can listen to what I recorded in April 2008.
Someday I will scan some of the photos I took in there in December 2001.
Oh, phooey. I can't do hyperlinks here so go to my blog, go to April 2008, and find the entry that is 'Saint Paul's.' Sorry.
ReplyDeleteOh Mimi, thank you.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and moving.
St. Paul's makes me tear up when I see a photo of it.
I was at St Pauls for Ash Wednesday in 2002. There were banners and signs taped up to the fence as a memorial to what had happened.
ReplyDeleteDuring the service they had stations for the imposition of ashes on the side for workers from the WTC debris to come in for a brief imposition. St Pauls had become a chapel for many of the crews working at the site.
It is my strongest memory from that service: seeing these workers, covered in soot and ash, coming in for the imposition of ashes.
Mimi, I'm glad someone else remembered :-)
ReplyDeleteI live a few miles from the Pentagon. I still remember what a what a love, clear day it was, almost heartbreaking in its beauty. I worked in the city then. I will always remember.
Always remembered here too Mimi, a day etched in our minds even on the other side of the world. I visited Ground Zero in April 07, very moving. I looked in the doors of Trinity Church, a service was in progress, but did not know about the chapel.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful church. Sad occasion. Lets pray that the church in its other sense is up to the job.
ReplyDelete