On the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, at the same time Bishop Mark Beckwith was standing with a rabbi and an imam outside Newark Penn Station, greeting morning commuters with songs and prayers for peace (covered by The Star-Ledger, New Jersey Jewish News and Episcopal News Service), clergy and lay people from several congregations were also "taking the altar into the world" by sharing prayers for peace at their local train stations and bus stops.
Commuters heading from Chatham to New York were sent off with the prayers and presence of St. Paul's Church. The Rector, the Rev. Mary Davis, was joined by parishioners Ann and John Bennett, Sam Wang, Allison Pishko, Jennifer Coury, and Dawn and Bruce Ferguson to hand out bookmarks printed with a prayer and the words "peace, hope and love" in multiple languages.
The Rev. Mary Davis, second from left, and St. Paul's members at the Chatham train station.
In Upper Montclair, members of St. James' Church offered prayer sheets for September 11th to their NYC-bound neighbors at the DeCamp bus shelter on Bellevue Avenue and the Upper Montclair train station. Robert Brown, Nat Cheney, Jim Griffin, June King and Melissa Kneuer took part in this ministry of offering "prayers to go." The Rev. John Perris, Rector, and the Rev. Audrey Hasselbrook, Assistant, were present to talk or pray with anyone of any faith who desired conversation or prayer.
The Rev. Audrey Hasselbrook and Melissa Kneuer of St. James', Upper Montclair offering "prayers to go."
ROBERT BROWN PHOTO
The Rev. Thomas Murphy, Priest Associate at Grace Church in Madison, reports, "This year on September 11, three Grace Church parishioners and I were present at the Madison train station to hand out cards containing the Prayer Attributed to St. Francis. It was our first time offering this kind of quiet ministry to the community and none of us knew what to expect.
"It ended up being a very powerful and moving experience, with most of the commuters accepting our cards with what seemed like a mix of surprise and gratitude. Some stopped and took the time to read the prayer before continuing into the station while others quickly slipped the card into a bag or pocket and hurried on their way.
"We had printed 200 cards, thinking that we would likely have some left over. Instead we gave them all out in 90 minutes. Our hope is that we served as a sign of God's loving presence on this somber day."
Events at churches remember those lost
On the eve of the anniversary, youth group members at St. Peter’s Church said, "Peace, I remember you," as they lit candles in paper-bag “luminaries” in front of the Morristown church to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Rev. Melissa Hall and St. Peter's, Morristown youth with "luminaries" in front of the church.
Of the young participants, only Katherine, 15, had any memory of that day. Her mother, Fran Lapinski, was working in New York and supposed to be in one of the trade towers, “but there was a computer failure.”
“I remember my mom [the Rev. Melissa Hall, assistant rector and youth group leader at St. Peter’s] crying tears of joy when she saw Fran come home,” she said.
The St. Peter's youth event was covered in an article with photos on the Morristown Green website.
The Rev. Melissa Hall and her daughter Katherine light a candle outside St. Peter's.
A noonday Memorial Service at Trinity & St. Philip's Cathedral in Newark, led by the Rev. Robert J. Solon, included reading the names of the 44 Essex County residents lost on 9/11.
The Newark Boys Choir singing at the Cathedral.
Before the sermon the Newark. Boys Choir, under the direction of Music Director Donald Morris, sang a setting of Psalm 23 that one worshiper, Michael Francaviglia, described as “entrancing.”
“It was like angel voices," he said.
