CBS half-hour special: KC interfaith

'Stand together' 
Grieving KC finds comfort in solidarity 
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD 
 

On Wednesday, mourning began before dawn and lasted until long after dusk. 

Kansas Citians joined people throughout Kansas and Missouri, the nation and the world, to remember the more than 3,000 victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

* * * *

6:40 a.m. Splashes of orange tinged a quilt of clouds as 200 Kansas Citians gathered in Ilus Davis Park downtown. Huddled close in their bright red T-shirts, 45 fifth-graders from Pembroke Hill School stood behind the reflecting pool and sang patriotic songs. Then they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

A Kansas City Symphony quintet played "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful," and a dozen members of the Kansas City Interfaith Council poured waters from rivers around the world, symbols of the tears of Christians, Jews, Muslims, all faiths. 

Convener the Rev. Vern Barnet spoke: "As a community of many faiths, we gather to honor those who perished and those who work to comfort and save others." 
* * * * 

6:30 p.m. A throaty wail filled the nave of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral downtown. Two American Indians - a singer, Kara Hawkins, and a flutist, Stumbling Deer - opened an interfaith observance with a solemn song. 

The observance was sponsored by the Kansas City Interfaith Council. It brought speakers and musicians of various faiths to spread what the Rev. Barry R. Howe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, called "a sense of remembrance, renewal and commitment." 

Speeches were followed by a series of songs from a white-clad choir of Jewish and Muslim schoolchildren. 

Their final song combined Hebrew and Arabic lyrics. It began softly at first, then built to a rousing chorus, "Peace, to us and to all the world," with the audience clapping in time. 

"In the voices of these precious children," said the Rev. Roger Kube, in closing the observance, "I pray that you have heard a new song, a new hope, and a new word of peace." 
* * * * 
PHOTO
EVENING OF REMEMBRANCE- Wearing an American flag yarmulke, Ace Allen of Overland Park listened to a speaker at a Wednesday night service at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in downtown Kansas City. "I'm glad they did this," Allen said. 
 

Opening Words:

 Not one  tragedy, not four, but thousands of tragedies multiplying countlessly.

 We grieve — and we gather together.

 We mourn — and we make our way into common and sacred spaces.

 We remember — and we resolve to renew ourselves in their memory and with thanks for their days.

REMARKS

This is a time that tries our souls. This is a time that tries the soul of the nation. This is a time that tries the soul of the world.

 By grim coincidence, members of the metro Kansas City Interfaith Council assembled Tuesday morning to announce plans for the first interfaith conference in the history of our region, to be held Oct 27 and 28 at Pembroke Hill School. But the events of that morning, unfolding on the television screen in the same room  with us transformed our announcement into acts of prayer. The need for interfaith understanding is clearer than ever before. 

 Not far from here, Muslim women have been spat upon, and bomb threats have been issued to businesses. Even a ceremony of witness at Kansas City City Hall was disrupted by such mischief. Some are afraid to leave their homes. Early this afternoon, I received a call about gunshots fired into the home of a Muslim with whom I was visiting yesterday.

 A Jewish acquaintance, a past president of a Kansas City synagogue, called me about a mutual friend, a Muslim. On the phone, he broke down, weeping about how our Muslim brother -- we are all brothers and sisters -- might be faring. I advised him to call our Muslim friend, who then called me with deep appreciation for the Jewish person reaching out and affirming enduring friendship. 

    Leaders of every faith here have reached out to one another. The Interfaith Council has been overwhelmed with messages of  concern and support.  Here is one example: a large ad in yesterday’s Star entitled “To Friends in the Muslim Community of Kansas City” by a conservative Christian pastor. He writes in part, “As one American to another, I want to welcome you and all  those of different races and religions to this great land.”

Civic leaders as well are asking how religious peoples can respond to strengthen our community in the face of the disaster we have seen and the threats we may still face.   Surely isolation is terror internalized, but affirming our kinship is a first step for  survival. This occasion, with Congressman Moore’s participation, is an answer to the grief and fear we have felt. In a few moments, you will have a chance to share signs of hope with someone sitting near to you. In even a trivial matter, such signs appear. For example, as I picked up the programs we are using, the charge for was severely discounted because Kinko’s saw what it was about. 

 The Islamic Center has received threats and ugly calls, but whereas they predominated after Oklahoma City, now most of the messages are words of encouragement. Mutual respect among the faiths is being woven into the social fabric of our community. The gifts of pluralism await us.

We have many enormous stresses to endure — personal, social, financial, political, diplomatic, military . . . . But perhaps our basic test is spiritual.

 We stand before the great mysteries  which each faith in its own way addresses: how such evil can permitted, how we can best honor the dead and suffering, how we can find and bring healing, and how we can live together in peace and justice. 

 Even as we rightly rage, no faith endorses its wild manifestation. The energy of anger and the holiness of grief are in time best offered up as sacrifices we must make to think clearly,  to enlarge compassion, and practice courage even in the darkness.

With fragility of our hopes, the uncertainty of our expectations, we are brought together in these solemn days.  The pain we ourselves feel, and feel so deeply for others, is a pain we choose not to escape, but rather willingly bear and share, to honor and remember those now gone from our sides, but always with us in our hearts.

Religion is not in certitude, but in confidence, confidence in healing, in restoring, in renewing, in the face of public and private grief and calamity and severance, as we celebrate that larger perspective which embraces our sorrow, but which also calls us, irrepressibly, to thanksgiving and wonder, to give praise for the gifts of the lives now passed away from us.

This is a time for our souls to begin healing. This is a time to work to repair the soul of the nation. This is a time to redeem the soul of the world. We here to day have important work to do. And the joy in the midst of our  sorrow is that in doing so, we will discover new depths of love.
 

Today is the anniversary of a day of horror that somehow brings us together as members of this community, as Americans, and as citizens of the world.

As a community of many faiths, we gather to honor those who perished — and those who work to comfort and save others.

In the face of the disasters, we yet proclaim hope.

Water has many meanings in the world’s religions. To answer the fireball of a year ago, we make water an emblem of hope.

Kansas City is the city of fountains. Into this pool, members of the Interfaith Council will pour waters from fountains from Independence and Lenexa, KCK and Lee’s Summit, all over the metro area, along with waters from the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, the Themes, the Yangtse, and the Kaw and the Missouri, to say that ultimately our lives flow  together from one Source and toward one Source.

These waters become the tears of Muslims, Jews, Christians, those of all faiths. Then we will gather the mixture, and take the mixture to Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral  for the evening observance. There, in faith, these waters will be transformed into the waters which purify — and douse the fires of hatred, wash away our self-righteousness, and well up as healing fountains in the  heart. As these waters join, so let us unite in proclaiming hope.
 

Next Wednesday is the anniversary of a day of horror that somehow brings us together as members of this community, as Americans, and as citizens of the world.

The Kansas City Interfaith Council has planned observances to honor those who perished — and those who work to comfort and save others.

In the face of the disasters, we yet proclaim hope.

Water has many meanings in the world’s religions. To answer the fireball of a year ago, we make water an emblem of hope.

Kansas City is the city of fountains. Next Wednesday morning, into this pool members of the Interfaith Council will pour  waters from fountains from Independence and  Lenexa, KCK and Lee’s Summit, along with waters from the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, the Themes, the Yangtse, and the Kaw and the Missouri, to say that ultimately our lives flow  together from one Source and toward one Source.

These waters become the tears of Muslims, Jews, Christians, those of all faiths. Then we will  gather the mixture, and take the mixture to Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral  for the evening observance. There, in faith, these waters will be transformed into the waters which purify — and  douse the fires of hatred, wash away our self-righteousness, and well up as healing fountains in the  heart.

Everyone is invited to participate, morning and evening. Through the courtesy of  the Community of Christ, free video of the morning ceremony will be available by 2 pm that afternoon for those wishing to gather water use in other observances around the area later in the day. 
 

Today is the anniversary of a day of horror that somehow brings us together as members of this community, as Americans, and as citizens of the world.

As a community of many faiths, we gather to honor those who perished — and those who work to comfort and save others.

In the face of the disasters, we yet proclaim hope.

Water has many meanings in the world’s religions. To answer the fireball of a year ago, we make water an emblem of hope.

Kansas City is the city of fountains. Into this pool, members of the Interfaith Council will pour waters from fountains from Independence and Lenexa, KCK and Lee’s Summit, all over the metro area, along with waters from the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, the Themes, the Yangtse, and the Kaw and the Missouri, to say that ultimately our lives flow  together from one Source and toward one Source.

These waters become the tears of Muslims, Jews, Christians, those of all faiths. Then we will gather the mixture, and take the mixture to Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral  for the evening observance. There, in faith, these waters will be transformed into the waters which purify — and douse the fires of hatred, wash away our self-righteousness, and well up as healing fountains in the  heart. As these waters join, so let us unite in proclaiming hope.
 

Today is the anniversary of a day of horror that somehow brings us together as members of this community, as Americans, and as citizens of the world. As a community of many faiths, we gather to honor those who perished — and those who work to comfort and save others. —– This is so important that we of many faiths are here together. In the face of the disasters, we yet proclaim hope.

Water has many meanings in the world’s religions. To answer the fireball of a year ago, we make water an emblem of hope.

Kansas City is the city of fountains. This morning members of the Interfaith Council poured waters from fountains from Independence and Lenexa, KCK and Lee’s Summit, all over the metro area, along with waters from the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, the Themes, the Yangtse, and the Kaw and the Missouri, into the pool at Ilus Davis Park, to say that ultimately our lives flow together from one Source and toward one Source. [[As these waters are now joined, so let us unite in proclaiming hope. We unite in ceremonies of faith.]]

These waters became our tears. Now mingled, we can transform  these tears into the waters which purify — and douse the fires of hatred, wash away our self-righteousness, and well up as healing fountains in the  heart.  [These are] the reasons of the heart which gather us today. 

The explosive heat of terrorism ome year ago revealed the ordinary hero. Even as we discovered our vulnerability, Ground Zero showed how caring and generous we can be.  We saw peoples of  almost every nation and every faith enveloped by the day’s fireballs. With greater compassion and understanding we now can approach the suffering of others. The killing fields of Cambodia, the massacres of Tibet, the horrors of the Nazis, the decimation of the American Indian, the abominations of slavery, injustices continuing before our very eyes.

We saw no God avert the disasters, but beyond the [human] betrayal by a few, we saw human duty entwined with love over and over again. We gather because we have glimpsed a world of faithfulness to one another, and we will not let that inking become ash.

The vision is too previous to forget so from every faith we congregate today with reverence and resolution to remember and renew. We know we have more work to do. Blessed by the many traditions brought to this land, we know the best tribute to the fallen is to live and love in their memory and build the kind of American we saw when we were tested most severely.

We gather because we need to touch each other’s wounds, 
and to touch one another’s wounds is to touch the infinite, and thus to heal.

[The waters of tears purify the world of wounds and become the hopeful healing fountains of the heart.] /The healing waters proclaim to us a world wounded, yet a world of hope./

Off camera:   Mingled water from the Ilus Davis Park pool is poured into the vessels brought by each Interfaith Council member. The vessels earlier contained water from respective faith communities, emptied into the pool.

Please take turns reading each of the following questions. Then each person may select one question to speak about to the others.

A. Christians are baptized with water. In the Kansas City 9/11 observances, both at GHTC and throughout the city, water also became a symbol of interfaith affection. At the memorial in New York are two enormous water fountains in the footprints of the Twin Towers. This raises a larger question: As folks of all faiths suffered from 9/11, how best can baptized Christians extend their love to those of other faiths?

B. Ten years later, what are your most important memories of your personal experience with the day of 9/11 and its aftermath and how do you place your experience in a spiritual context?

C. Looking back over these ten years, (a) where have you been most disappointed and (b) where have you most seen signs of compassion, peace, and hope? 

D. What religious issues do you see as central for understanding 9/11, both personally and as the nation has struggled to understand it? And how can faith move us forward?

E. What questions do you have, and what (tentative) theological responses, to the proximate and ultimate cause(s) of 9/11?

F. Please state the question you wish were on this page and answer it.

G. VERY CHALLENGING QUESTIONS.— How can those who perished that day—and their surviving loved ones—best be remembered and honored? 
     How do we place them in the company of others who have suffered from injustice, such as the decimation of the American Indian, the horrors of the Holocaust, the enslavement of Africans, the tortures of the Inquisition, the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, the “collateral damage” of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, the deaths and injuries of American soldiers, and continuing injustices and oppressions here and around the world? 
     How do we gain perspective on such deaths in the context of preventable deaths from hunger, disease, pollution, and even the motor vehicle deaths, ten times as many each year as 9/11, which would arguably be reduced by more public transit? 
     And what perspectives enable us to distinguish the meanings of 9/11 from natural disasters such as fire, flood, earthquake, wind?
     How does our faith embrace those who suffer and how do we understand our own complicity and our own suffering? How does the crucified and resurrected Christ redeem and heal and bless? 
 

Excerpt from the Liturgy Used September 11, 2011 at
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
Kansas City, MO
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The liturgy begins at the back crossing of the nave. The congregation is invited to stand and to face the west doors of the nave. The deacon holds a flagon containing the mingled waters of the Interfaith liturgy.

Celebrant: Our help is in the name of the Lord;
   People:  The maker of heaven and earth.
Celebrant: Blessed be the name of the Lord
   People:  From this time forth forevermore.

Dear friends, ten years ago today our lives were changed by violent acts of terrorism. In the days that followed, we experienced shock, grief, anger, bewilderment, compassion, and resolve. Our faith led us to pray for those most affected by this tragedy. 
     One year later, people of many faiths came together in this Cathedral to mark the first anniversary of this terrible event. They chose the symbol of water as a sign that unites all people. The sacred stories of many Peoples tell of water being first among the created elements. Our bodies are cradled in water in our mother’s wombs. We weep tears both in sorrow and in joy. Water cleanses, refreshes, and gives life to all living things. And Scripture tells of how God’s salvation was revealed in the ark that floated upon the flood, in the journey out of bondage in Egypt through the Red Sea, and in our dying to old life and being born again in the waters of baptism. 
     Today this flagon contains water preserved from that first anniversary observance. It represents water drawn not only from our various cities and fountains, but also from the Nile, the Amazon, the Thames, the Missouri, and the Kaw Rivers. In mingling these waters with the water of baptism, we remember our common humanity. As people created by God, we are born of the same stuff, we depend upon one another, and our lives continually flow together.
     As we enter into sacred space, may we carry with us a spirit of unity, compassion, and resolve.

The procession begins; the flagon is processed to the baptismal font where the deacon pours it into the font already filled with water. The liturgy continues with the collect for the day.

Entrance Hymn 594 "God of gtace and God of glory"
The Collect for the Day
First Reading: Exodus 14:19-31
Psalm 114
Second Reading: Romans 14:1-12
Sequence Hymn 647 "Forgive our sins as we forgive"
The Holy Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
The Sermon  The Reverend Canon Sue Sommer
Renewal of Baptismal Vows,BCP page 292

The Prayers of the People

Deacon: God of our holy and righteous forebears, you have created us in your image and given the world into our care. In your bountiful goodness, hear us now as we bring before you our intercessions and thanksgivings on behalf of the Church and the world as we pray, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. 

Lector: We pray for the people of God: for all who claim Abraham as our ancestor, and for all who strive to live according to the teachings of their faith. We pray for those who have lost their faith; for those who are contemptuous of the faith of others; for those who use their faith as an excuse to hate, and for those who, in the name of Christ, persecute and revile others. Strengthen your Church, we pray, that your ministers -- laypeople, bishops, priests, deacons -- may daily live in the fullness of your love and so reveal your love to a hurting world. Help us to find common cause in our common humanity and together work to build a just society. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

Lector: We pray for the world, for the leaders of the nations and for all in authority, that a spirit of respect, generosity, and forbearance may take root and grow among us. We pray for the president of the United States, for the members of Congress and the Supreme Court, for the governors of our states and the mayors of our cities. Give grace and courage to all who navigate the often treacherous waters of diplomacy, that peace with integrity may flourish in this fragile world of ours. Help us to be agents of your peace. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

Lector: We pray for all who are in harms way throughout the world: for those whose homes have been destroyed by warfare, famine, or disease. We pray for those who grieve, who have lived each day of the last 10 years with the pain of having lost a loved one. And we pray for those whose lives have been forever altered by terrorist and counter-terrorist attacks at any time throughout the world. Surround those who suffer with your arms of mercy, that they may know the healing power of your love. Help us to be agents of your love, the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

Lector: We pray for all the people of the United States on this terrible anniversary. We pray for all who seek to honor the past while looking forward in hope to the future. Empower us, when we are mired in cynicism, to reach out a hand in friendship to a neighbor. Guide us, when the path of least resistance beckons us, to choose long-term good over short-term expediency. Open our ears to the fullness of voices and cultures in this great land of ours, and in the lands beyond our borders. Help us to see the face of Christ in the faces of those who differ most from us. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

Lector: We offer thanksgiving for our many blessings. We give thanks for the heroic sacrifice of so many on September 11, 2001 and for the example their witness continues to give of selfless love of neighbor. We give thanks for interfaith community in the Greater Kansas City area and for the spirit of openness and respectful dialog which they bring to our faith communities. We give thanks for gift of life itself, for the good earth which you have given to us, and for its bounty with which your children are nourished. We give thanks for all who celebrate birthdays or anniversaries today, remembering especially….
Help us always to be grateful for all that you have given to us. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

Lector: We pray for all who have died, they may have rest in that place where there is no pain or grief, but life eternal. We pray for …………. We pray for all who lost their lives in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. We pray for the thousands more who died as a result of injuries sustained on that day. We pray for the over 7,500 servicemen and women who have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, And we pray for the . . . . men, women, and children of Iraq and Afghanistan who have died as a result of these wars since 2001. Help us never to take the gift of life for granted. Lord, in your mercy,

People: Hear our prayer.

The celebrant adds this concluding collect

Celebrant: God the compassionate One, whose loving care extends to the uttermost reaches of the world; we remember this day your children of many nations and many faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred. Console those who continue to suffer and grieve, and give them comfort and hope as they look to the future. Out of what we have endured, give us the grace to examine our hearts, to repent of our desire to demonize those whose cultures and faiths differ from ours. Empower us, we pray, to be agents of justice, reconciliation, and peace. Show our leaders the way to use our nation’s power to serve the good of all, for the healing of the nations. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord who, in reconciling love, was lifted up from the earth that he might draw all the world to himself. Amen.

Confession/Absolution   BCP page 360
 

The clergy  move to  the baptismal font  to dedicate  the mingled waters.

Celebrant: From the tears of those who mourn, may the flames of hatred be doused. From the life-giving waters of creation, may God’s love which brought our world into being be revealed. From the waters of salvation, may we seek to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. From the waters of baptism may we look to Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection which frees us from bondage to sin, brings us to newness of life, and empowers us to be most fully the people God created us to be. Amen.

The people are asperged with the dedicated waters, during which the "Hymn for 9/11" is sung.

The Peace is Exchanged   BCP page 360

The Liturgy continues with The Holy Communion

PHOTO: The Reverend Jerry Grabher, Deacon, pours mingled waters from the flagon into the baptismal font as the Reverend Canon Susan Sommer, Priest-in-Charge, celebrates the liturgy assisted by the Reverend Canon Joe Behan.