People flock to churches to pray for terror victims

To help residents deal with the tragedy, local religious groups have been holding prayer services and vigils.

By: Nick D’Amore
   South Brunswick residents gathered Tuesday evening to pray for victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
   The attacks forced the evacuation of Lower Manhattan and all bridges and tunnels between New York and New Jersey were closed. The death toll won’t be known for days.
   To help residents deal with the tragedy, local religious groups have been holding prayer services and vigils.
   The First Presbyterian Church at Dayton held a service that included patriotic songs, Scripture readings and prayers for the congregation’s specific concerns and fears, regarding loved ones who were in and around the city at the time of the attack.
   The mood was somber and reflective among the small group of people that had gathered together, singing songs in quiet, yet strong voices.
   "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," "My Country ‘Tis of Thee" and "God Bless America" brought to mind both national pride and the spiritual resilience that is needed in times of crisis such as this.
   Members of the church showed up to pray, console each other and to grasp what had just happened Tuesday morning.
   "I’ve been glued to the TV all day," said Carolyn Bryant of East Windsor, who was at home when a neighbor called to tell her to turn on CNN.
   "It’s unbelievable. I’m sure it will turn out that we all know people," she said.
   Ms. Bryant came with Ruth Cerequas of Plainsboro, who works nights and slept through the incident. When she woke up, it was all over the news.
   "My daughter lives in Manhattan, but is in Africa right now. My son was on a plane, but he got to Atlanta OK. It may be selfish, but those were my first thoughts," she said.
   Judy Cashmore, a third-grade teacher at Brunswick Acres, said she received the news at school.
   "We had a TV on where kids couldn’t see. At lunch, they announced that there had been a plane crash," she said.
   The Rev. Kathy Nelson, pastor of the church, read from Scripture, urging those in attendance to "hear these words anew."
   She led the audience of about 25 in a prayer to " remove the world forever from the dread of the menace of war and to restrain the passions of your people to reduce further bloodshed."
   "This is a time for us to act on our faith," she said.
   The Rev. Nelson read a passage about the creation from the Book of John of the New Testament, which relayed messages of hope in desperate and bleak times.
   "The light shined in the darkness, darkness did not overcome," she read. "The light of Christ shines in the darkness, in this dark time in our nation’s history."
   The Rev. Nelson also stressed the importance of tolerance and not giving into anger.
   "Our natural instinct is to want to lash out and take vengeance. We do not know who did this, but our neighbors should not be targeted," she said.
   "We need to bring to justice whoever perpetrated these crimes, not simply to react," she said.
   Members of audience then voiced their concern for people they knew had made it out of the city, were still trapped there or had luckily not been in the building as was planned.
   People mentioned friends of friends who knew someone aboard the flight that went down in Pennsylvania.
   Another mentioned they knew someone in the section of the Pentagon that was hit.
   Brittany Perkins, 15, an elder of the church, echoed the sentiments of many.
   "It doesn’t seem real to me. Why now? I thought things like this we’re in the past," she said.