Tuesday, September 6, 2021

Family,

This Saturday is a most significant anniversary, the 20th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001. Many of us remember watching in stunned horror as the devastation of the day unfolded. Many of us remember the feeling of being a united nation in the face of the evil directed against us. Many of remember hoping that from the rubble of devastation a new way of being in the world would emerge.

Each day this week I will share with you a prayer, a thought or a practice in keeping with this anniversary. May it be a teachable moment for us all.

Pastor Jim

A Prayer for the Anniversary of 9/11

O God, our hope and refuge,
in our distress we come quickly to you.
Shock and horror of that tragic day have subsided,
replaced now with an emptiness,
a longing for an innocence lost.

We come remembering those who lost their lives
in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

We are mindful of the sacrifice of public servants
who demonstrated the greatest love of all
by laying down their lives for friends.
We commit their souls to your eternal care
and celebrate their gifts to a fallen humanity.

We come remembering
and we come in hope,
not in ourselves, but in you.

As foundations we once thought secure have been shaken,
we are reminded of the illusion of security.

In commemorating this tragedy,
we give you thanks for your presence
in our time of need
and we seek to worship you in Spirit and in truth,
our guide and our guardian. Amen.

(The Rev. Jeremy Pridgeon is District Superintendent of the Pensacola District of the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference.)

Beginning tonight, and continuing of the first Tuesday and Wednesday of each month, Pastor Allison will be leading a Public Witness Bible Study. Please join via Zoom at 6:00 p.m.