Church services were held in a somber and emotional atmosphere Sunday as Mainers sought divine help in understanding why their country was forced to endure its worst terrorist attack.

Worshippers were comforted but also congratulated for their response to the attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Music at some services had more of a patriotic than religious theme.

“This week our prayers and our blood have been poured out for many,” the Rev. Michael Gendreau told a larger-than-usual congregation attending Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Augusta.

At the Church of the Nazarene, also in the capital city, the Rev. Norman Shaw led a congregation filling the church in a prayer asking God to help them “sort out these events and tragic consequences of them.”

“All around the world, lives have been touched,” Shaw said during the service, in which each worshipper was given a small American flag.

Later in the service, color images of the burning World Trade Center, smoldering Pentagon and terrified people running through dust- and soot-filled New York streets were projected on a wall while a flutist played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” to the soft beat of a snare drum.

Between the images, which elicited tears from some members of the congregation, a Bible verse appeared.

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” said the verse, from Psalms 11:3.

In Pittsfield, the guest preacher at the Unitarian Universalist Church turned to a story of quiet courage from World War II as an example of how Americans should react to reports of harassment against Muslim and Arab Americans.

Kate Braestrup of Thomaston, a senior at Bangor Theological Seminary, urged churchgoers to turn to King Christian X of Denmark for inspiration.

According to legend, when the Nazis defeated Denmark and ordered all Jews to wear yellow stars, the king ordered that all Danes wear yellow stars too. Each morning King Christian rode on horseback through the streets of Copenhagen, wearing a yellow Star of David.

Braestrup said that after learning the symbol of Islam is the crescent, she planned to wear the crescent symbol the way King Christian and the Danes wore yellow stars. She urged congregants to do the same.

“I think we are going to make a sign to go on the fence in front of the house that says, ‘This house is actually a mosque and everyone here is an Arab American,'” she said.

Not every pastor was as sympathetic to Islam, however.

“When the terrorists killed in the name of Allah,” said Ken Graves, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Bangor, “they were not being inconsistent with the teachings of Mohammed.

“The real issue today,” he continued, “is the opportunity that’s been presented again to show people the God of the Bible versus the false God Allah, who is no God at all. We are at war, but it is not a war between nations. It is a war between good and evil, between truth and deception.”

In downtown Portland, the mood was somber at State Street Church, where parishioners have gathered for nearly 150 years at one of the city’s oldest houses of worship.

During the children’s sermon, the normally ebullient Rev. Stephen Carnahan did not bring along a Dr. Seuss-style top hat he often uses as part of his routine.

“I like to fool around, tell jokes or act stupid,” he told the children. “But I don’t feel like doing that today. Because I’m sad.”

Carnahan encouraged the children to express their feelings, and they said they were angry and sad. He responded that God is angry and sad when people hurt each other.

The Rev. James Fletcher, whose sermon for the adults was “Who IS my enemy?” said he did not know what to say but he would attempt to put the week’s events in perspective. He talked about the importance of people being allowed time to mourn their losses.

Fletcher noted that many people’s first response is to want to seek revenge. “At least let us mourn first,” Fletcher said.

At St. Mary’s in Augusta, parishioners sang “Amazing Grace” and “God Bless America.” Gendreau, the pastor, said stories in recent days about those who have lost friends and family and are searching for them brought to mind Gospel stories of those who lost something and searched for it.

“God is present in our suffering and suffers with us,” Gendreau said, adding that people hundreds of miles from the scene of the attacks can still help.

“We may not be able to move tons of debris from here in Augusta,” but can pray for families of those who lost relatives in the attacks and in the plane crash in western Pennsylvania, Gendreau said.

Graves said that one of the good things to come out of the tragedy is “the large number of people who are packing our churches.”

Bangor Theological Seminary will hold a “teach-in” or public forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, in Wellman Commons. A panel discussion, moderated by seminary President the Rev. Dr. William Imes, will examine the events of the last week and President Bush’s proposed military response to Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Panelists will include: Moorhead Kennedy, former hostage in Iran and author of “The Moral Authority of Government”; Rabbi David Cantor of Congregation Beth Israel, Bangor; Mahmoud El-Begearmi, an Arab American who works for University of Maine Cooperative Extension; and Douglas Allen, professor of philosophy and peace studies at the University of Maine.

Other participants will include: Margaret Karnes, professor of international relations, University of Dayton; Francine Star of Spruce Run, Bangor; and Jim Harney and Georgia Kosciousko of Posibilidad, a Bangor-based organization that deals with issues of globalization.

For information, call 942-6781.