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New
Index:
Tragedy in the US
The multiple tragedies in the USA on September 11 will reach into and touch
the lives of friends, families, and government leaders around the world. What,
we wonder, is a Christian response? What, we wonder, is the church's place in
all of this?
In times of shock our very first response is a prayerful one. We invite congregations
across Mennonite Church Canada to dip liberally into the prayer and meditation
resources that have been prepared for this difficult time—a time when thinking
clearly is difficult, and managing our emotional response can be a challenge.
Mennonite Central Committee Canada has also prepared resources and will distribute
them to churches. We encourage you to use these as well.
We also encourage congregations and individuals to respond to the lives that
may have been touched in your congregation and in your community. At times like
these there cannot be too much compassion, too many hands held, or too many hugs.
Things you can do include organizing a prayer vigil, reach out to those who are
moved to ponder matters of faith in times like these, and offer hope in our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Finally, we wonder what we can do collectively in the aftermath that will advance
a wholesome and spiritually healthy peace position with community and government
leaders from across the street to around the world. Mennonite Church Canada, in
conversation with others such as Mennonite Central Committee, will be working
toward a course of action over the next days and weeks.
We invite you to add your voice, and your prayers.
Prayer Requests
- Please pray for Mennonite Voluntary Service Workers in the coming months.
The World Trade Centre tragedy occurred while 47 new MVS workers were in orientation.
The peace stance that they have grown to believe has in many ways been academic.
Now, it is real and that as they head of to the far corners of North America this
stance will not be popular. Please pray for these volunteers as they take their
young, missional faith to the 31 communities MVS is involved in.
Resources
- Mennonite Central Committee
worship resources
- Some suggested prayers, songs, readings, and
scripture
- Prayed at a special CMU prayer chapel on September
11, 2001, led by John Unger
- Prayer for Grace, by Lynette Schroeder
Wiebe, prayed at a Mennonite Church Canada staff gathering on September 11, 2001
- A Prayer from J. Daryl Byler, Mennonite
Central Committee Washington Office director
- Explaining to children, by Eleanor Snyder
and Esther Epp Thiessen
- Call to Prayer and two prayers from MCC
- Response from Christian Peacememaker Teams and
Palestinians in Hebron
Things you can do
- Responses for Mennonite Christians:
- Pray. Give words and time to others so they may pray. When you see the repeated
TV images of terror, pray. Our security is only in God.
- Give yourself space to grieve.
- Care for children. Offer them hope, security, and a listening ear. Lead by
example.
- Offer support and protection to those who might be targets of reprisal because
of their ethnic background, religion, or racial characteristics.
- Educate for nonviolence.
- Fax President Bush and ask that justice be pursued through the world court
system, NOT through additional, retributive, cyclical, violence.
- Send letters to the editor of your local paper with the same message: revenge
doesn't solve problems.
- Support children and others who try to offer an alternative message to revenge
in their school and work settings.
- Use your congregation's creativity in responding. This will increase
healing.
- Educate yourself about the global situations that provide a backdrop for acts
of terrorism.
- Remember that military actions and terrorism both produce death, suffering,
and the desire for revenge.
- See the PJC, MDS,
CPT, and MCC
web sites for additional responses and resources.
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