Sunday turned out to be more of an emotional day than I expected. I woke in the morning to the sound of church bells (typical for that time of day), but I also heard the sound of an Iowa National Guard fighter jet roaring over Des Moines (not typical for a Sunday)…… So I scrambled out of bed to turn on the TV, wondering if another attack on the 10th anniversary of 9-11 had happened.
All I found on the TV was the ceremony from Ground Zero taking place and the reading of names. I had intended not to watch any TV on Sunday, but was drawn in for a time.
Then, in a somber mood, I walked over to church and was greeted by a visual surprise in our fellowship room. The walls where lined with the colorful dresses made by our women for the girls in Africa. This put a smile on my face…… Although I felt bad that my material bought for this project still remains in a sack unsown.
Our church service was powerful, moving and healing. The start was the reading of the “Devotion upon Emergent Occasions” written in 1623 by John Donne.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Meditation_XVII
You might know the famous lines:
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
At the closing of our service, we all sang “We Shall Overcome”…… the ending lines:
“We shall live in peace. We shall live in peace. We shall live in peace someday. Oh, deep in my heart I do believe. We shall overcome someday.”
You can’t beat this version done by Bruce Springsteen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plBmwPYIG9g
The middle part of the service was the scripture lessons (Genesis 50: 15-21 and Matthew 18: 21-35)….. and sermon contained reflections on 9-11, and centered around FORGIVENESS…….
Continued tomorrow-
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