Churches respond to nation’s grief

BANGOR – The sound of church bells blanketed the city Tuesday as darkness fell on a day seared in the memories of the people who gathered to worship at All Souls Congregational Church.

Mothers clutched their daughters’ hands while fathers laid their long arms across their sons’ small shoulders. Quietly, worshippers wept and prayed as they sought solace from their God.

More than 200 people of all ages gathered to pray at an ecumenical “Service of Prayer on the Day of Terror.” Ministers from All Souls, Bangor Baptist and St. John’s Episcopal churches presided over the solemn event.

“For many of you, this kind of national tragedy and the sorrow and shock that comes with it is unprecedented in your lives,” said the Rev. Dr. James L. Haddix, pastor of All Souls. “Others will remember the assassination of a president and some will recall the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We can’t begin to take in the enormity of what has happened. All we can do as people of faith is turn to the Scriptures hoping they will speak to us and through us.”

Earlier Tuesday, students, faculty and staff gathered at Bangor Theological Seminary for a service, and houses of worship around the state scheduled special services and prayer vigils Tuesday and later in the week. Some churches, normally locked except for Sunday services, planned to stay open all night to allow people to pray as they felt the need.

Congregation Beth El, Bangor’s Reform synagogue, gathered students at religious education classes for an afternoon prayer service. All Saints, the city’s only Catholic school, planned to begin classes this morning with a recitation of the rosary.

Although classes continued, students and staff at Life Christian Academy in Trenton gathered for a special prayer service immediately after the attacks. Students in grades five through 12 were called from their classrooms to pray for the victims, led by teachers and administrators. Younger children were not informed of the incidents, a school spokeswoman said.

On Tuesday, a warm, clear day in Bangor, the Rev. Bob Carlson married two students from Japan who are studying at Husson College. Bride Musashi Katnoka and groom Fusako Tsuneyoshi, dressed in formal wedding attire, were married in a simple ceremony at noon on the wooden bridge in Cascade Park.

Just after noon, Carlson conducted a funeral at a Bangor funeral home. He also planned to conduct a special service Tuesday evening and to meet with a student whose father’s office was located in the World Trade Center.

In between the wedding and the funeral, Carlson’s beeper paged him throughout the day as many in the community turned to a member of the clergy to ask, “What can we do? We feel so helpless.”

“My answer,” said Carlson, “is that we are not helpless from a spiritual point of view. We can be a community of people who care for those who are now face to face with tragedy. We cannot allow terrorism to rule the day.”

Pastoral counselor Carol Sherman of Bangor said that over the next few days people could expect to experience the whole spectrum of emotions, and would react to the tragedy in many different ways. She urged people not to judge themselves for what they are feeling or to bottle up those feelings.

“Whether you are feeling grief, fear, anger or numbness, don’t bottle it up,” Sherman advised. “Talk it out. Cry it out. Pray it out. There is a need for some physical release to stress.”

She urged people who feel helpless to follow the example set by the good Samaritan and do something – give blood or send a donation to the American Red Cross. Sherman also urged parents to talk to their children about what happened Tuesday and not be too upset if teens especially appear blase to the tragedy. The counselor urged parents “to be gentle with them” and, if appropriate, pray with them.

“A lot of people may find themselves angry at God,” she said. “It is natural and understandable to be angry at God. Yet, we must remember that God weeps too. God is weeping at this evil right along with us.”