Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

When the planes rammed into the Twin Towers, the senior pastor had a previous commitment. The associate could hold a special prayer service, but the senior pastor wouldn’t be there.

As the day went on and the associate opened the doors, people poured in. To pray. To weep. To process. To be quiet, together.

By late afternoon, we learned a member of the church was missing. She was at the World Trade Center for business. She told a full elevator of her colleagues, New York and Cincinnati ones, that she’d catch the next one. I don’t know if her body was ever found.

The senior pastor did not know to rearrange his plans.

I share this story not as an indictment against the senior pastor, although for sure, this was a grave dereliction of his vocation as priest and pastor. But as a cautionary tale: when the world needs a place to pray, we better be ready.

Yesterday, on the anniversary of 9/11, many people shared their “flash-bulb” moment—where and what they were doing when they first heard about the attacks. I was struck by how many people talked about going to church, on their lunch hour, throughout the afternoon, straight from work. In a time when everything seemed to be falling apart, when our sense of safety and identity was shaken to its core, people turned to church, to faith, to God.

I pray, oh how I pray, that I never again experience a horror like 9/11. But there are smaller tragedies every day, terminal diagnosis or unveiled secrets, lost jobs, and miscarried babies.

Are we ready? Will our churches be open when people need them most? Or do we have prior commitments?