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Darkness
to Light:On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church hosted
an interfaith service. The following clergy statements of faith were included
with the printed program.
"In Him was life and the life was the light of all the people. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." John 1:4-5
"In Him was life"
life that creates
life that brings hope
life that brings wholeness
life that yearns for peace
"And the life was the light of all people"
of all nationalities
of all religions
of all languages
of all created in the image of God
"The light shines in the darkness"
permeating light
blinding light
hope-filled light
bathing light
"And the darkness did not overcome it."
the darkness is vanquished
the darkness is defeated
the light reveals hope and wholeness
the light guides us in the way of peace
The Rev. Sharon K. Core
Pastor
Arlington Presbyterian Church
Prayer for America
O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy Love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings. O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world. O God! This American nation is worthy of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy. Make it precious and near to Thee through Thy bounty and bestowal.
-'Abdul'l-Baha'
Leslie A. Casciato
Representative
Baha'is of Arlington County
Gracious God:
Our nation stands aghast at the tragedies we have suffered and witnessed. We,
who felt secure in the freedom and relative safety we have enjoyed in the US,
now know that that security is non-existent. The only security we can find is
in your hands. Our eternal life lies within your care. We pray for those who
lost their lives. We pray for their families and friends. We even dare to pray
for those who would perpetrate such attacks. We place them in your hands, and
pray for healing the wounds that have led to such hatred. We lift our prayers
for our leaders that they may keep cool and wise heads. While we seek justice,
help us not to demand retribution and revenge which will only perpetuate the
hatred and violence. Hear this and all our prayers. Use us to answer the prayers
of your people. In your name we pray. Amen.
Rev. M. Mochel H. Morris
Pastor
Christ Crossman United Methodist Church
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
It is still difficult to remember the events of September 11, 2001. Remembrance
requires spiritual reengagement with an event both profoundly personal and broadly
cultural. As we remember the attacks on the Towers and the Pentagon, and the
plane crash in Pennsylvania, we must join together as different faith communities
in search of the light that comes in the darkness.
In the words of the Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), "It is important that we come together in prayer and community, especially when our sighs are too deep for words… In your prayers, remember the victims of the attacks and their relatives; our nation and its leaders, especially President Bush and members of Congress; and the peoples of the world. Pray that swords will indeed become plowshares and that justice will roll down like an ever-flowing stream."
As we join to pray for ourselves, for our nation, and for the world, I pray
that we may come together for peace, and that in our common search, we may see
light together in ways that no one of us could see it individually.
Grace and peace,
The Rev. Laura Cunningham
Interim Pastor
Clarendon Presbyterian Church
Since September 11, 2001, there has been no shortage of editorializing upon the perpetration of senseless violence, aggression, and evil. Far less attention has been given to nonviolence and nonaggression that are also part of the American shadow. Certainly we stand today against forces we cannot adequately handle. However, for those who gather to worship and profess faith in a rescuing power both within and beyond human manipulation and domination, perhaps, this September 11, 2002, can be a renewed call to a conversion of consciousness; and if not a call, then at least a plea to unite once more in the human task to truly know ourselves, to face the destructive powers within and without, and come to know, to bind, and to relate once again, to that cosmogenic Spirit of Life (and Love), in whom we live and move and have our very being.
Rev. Carl Ripley
Pastor
Community United Methodist Church
Rev. Larry Tingle
Senior Pastor
Mount Olivet United Methodist Church
As we remember 9/11 we are called to reflect on its meaning. A thousand explanations are offered. It cannot be dismissed as the mystery of evil. Some say it is the distortion of religion, others say despair generated by conflicts and policies affecting the Middle East. The indiscriminate loss of the lives we mourn calls for a response that does not add further destructiveness or loss of life. War and more preparations for war are surely no adequate or ultimate response. Let us find alternatives to terror and violence and collateral damage. Let us begin with prayer and the renewal of religion. Let us translate faith into the strategies of peace-making, the methods of non-violence and the strengthening of international institutions for conciliation and human rights. If we want peace let us work for justice.
Rev. Gerry Creedon
Pastor
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church
Chair, VA Interfaith Center for Public Policy
It is often said that life is what happens to us when we are busy making other plans. September 11, 2001, dawned as a busy and beautiful day. By day's end, strangers had become family, ordinary people had accomplished extraordinary things, and God had brought us together despite tragedy, despite our other plans.
We now have a point of connection-or a potential point of connection-because of the events of that day. This day, let us commit ourselves to being connected and staying connected-to God, self, neighbor and the stranger seated next to us-and to the stranger who is half way around the world.
The Rev. Andrew T. P. Merrow
Rector
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
I rejoice that an interfaith gathering of caring souls will be together in Arlington to pray for peace on September 11, one year after the terrifying assaults in New York, Arlington, and Pennsylvania. Now, more than ever, people of compassion must cross faith boundaries and come together to work for the good. May this commemoration be a beginning.
I offer this prayer, adapted from my Unitarian Universalist colleague Rev. Vern Barnet of the World Faiths Center in Kansas City, Missouri:
Spirit of the Generations, Infinite Spirit of Compassion, we pray: help us on this anniversary of a day of terror to remember those of all faiths who have suffered-and those who seek the relief of suffering and injustice-and the repair of the world.
We are all your children, from many religions and with ties to many nations. We abhor the use of our faiths to justify violence and oppression-or the heritage of any land to launch hatred against others.
Help us to recall that we are neighbors, who care about our relations with each other. From different traditions, we grieve together a common loss and work towards better understanding of our kinship.
Help us recall that we are also citizens of a planetary community, intimately involved with all peoples, who affect us and whom we affect often in ways we have yet to realize.
We recognize many disconnected sorrows in this past year, and we place the events of this date into the larger human story, as we pray to discover in compassion the meaning of your spirit even as we join in renewal.
Enlarge our sympathies, deepen our understanding, strengthen our courage and hope, here in our own neighborhoods, and as a model for others everywhere.
We all pray in the name of peace, salaam, shalom, shantih, waheguru.
The Rev. Linda Olson Peebles
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Trustee, Unitarian Universalist Association
Revised/reviewed September 13,
2002
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic
Church
3304 North Washington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201, USA
Tel: 703.527.5500 | Fax: 703.527.5505 | Web: www.stcharleschurch.org