Amid harbor fog, Camden mourns

CAMDEN – The call of crows carried into the stillness of St. Thomas Episcopal Church as the congregation prayed Wednesday for those lost in the attacks of a year ago.

The church was overflowing as the community joined with the Rev. Michael G. Rowe at noon in an ecumenical service of remembrance for those killed, injured or bereaved by the actions of terrorists that unleashed pain across the land a year ago.

Members of the Camden Clergy Association – Chestnut Street Baptist Church, First Congregational Church, John Street United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Good Hope Roman Catholic Church and St. Thomas Episcopal – all took part in the service.

Those who gathered sang hymns and prayed together.

Pastors, ministers and rectors read from the Bible and offered prayers of remembrance specifically written for the victims, their families and those who rushed to their aid. Many in the congregation rose from their pews to give individual readings from Scripture.

A little boy wearing a firefighter’s red hat tugged on his mother’s arm while officers of the Camden Police Department stood at attention.

The day began with a memorial ceremony at the Camden Fire Department during which the horn was sounded at the times the planes crashed one year ago.

Outside the church, a banner that hung on the gate of St. Paul’s Chapel at ground zero in New York fluttered in the wind. Students at New York’s Cooper Union, led by Jessica Stammen of Camden, had answered the call of the chapel’s minister and placed the banners on the gate so those confronting the destruction and despair could write messages of hope and support on them. Two other banners were hanging inside St. Thomas’ and will be on display at the church throughout the weekend.

A soft fog rolled over the harbor and the shaded sun lighted the church’s stained-glass windows as the Rev. Wayne Wallace from Chestnut Street Baptist gave a sermon asking the congregation to understand that pain is part of the path of worshipping God.

“The memories of that horrible day may have faded somewhat. We have gotten along with our lives, though we said last year that life would never be the same,” Wallace said. “Many of the messes have been cleaned up. Many spiritual messes still remain.”

Wallace said people should not question how “can a good God allow evil, pain and suffering.” He said there was a spiritual purpose in pain that modern culture finds foreign. He said culture has convinced many that there is no value in pain.

“Some say we live in a fallen world,” he said. “Why do a sixth-grade student and teacher embarking on a National Geographic trip die when a man at the Pentagon is spared because he happened to be away from his desk?”

Wallace urged those in attendance to remember Job, who when faced with pain and grief, emerged from it with a stronger faith and a humbler heart.

“Apparently God doesn’t want us to know why bad things happen,” he said. “We need to live with the pain rather than insist on an answer.”