"SPECIAL REPORT
NEWS
1) Brethren response to Tuesday's tragedies continues
2) Moderator Paul Grout points to a youth/young adult response

1) Response and reaction continued around the Church of the Brethren Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks along the East Coast.

The General Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries office activated Child Care in Aviation Incident Response (CAIR) teams, calling them to the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., for orientation. Team members were coming in by car from a variety of locations as far away as Nebraska.

ER/SM manager Stan Noffsinger said he expected some teams to be taken by van to New York Thursday or Friday. They will go to yet-to-be-named locations in the city, which saw its World Trade Center twin towers flattened Tuesday when hijacked planes flew into them. Two churches in Atlantic Northeast District, which includes New York, were helping to find drivers.

In addition, a $25,000 grant from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund was approved to assist with the CAIR teams, Disaster Child Care, and emergency response volunteers, as needed. It will also support Church World Service Emergency Response efforts.

Encouragement also poured in from around the world, as other churches and relief organizations sent notes of sympathy and consolation as well as statements of solidarity.

Among them was a letter from the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), delivered through the US National Council of Churches. MECC general secretary the Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour said, "In gathering after gathering in America, Christians will lift up their hearts in prayer. We assure you that we too are gathering, and our prayers join yours. We ask for healing beyond understanding, we pray for courage beyond our outrage and fear."

Another note of support came from the Church of North India, in which general secretary Dr. V.S. Lall said, "This is to let you know that we in the Church of North India are upholding the people of America and particularly the Church of the Brethren in our prayers at this time of trial and agony."

In the US, meanwhile, Brethren close to the events recounted their experiences. Western Pennsylvania District's Camp Harmony, in Hooversville, Pa., is located just a few miles from where the hijacked jet crashed in Somerset County Tuesday. Maintenance workers at the camp saw the plane going down.

A student group from Johnstown, Pa., was at the camp holding a program on conflict resolution and mediation at the time. Camp Harmony executive director Neal Harvey said the focus of the event quickly turned to helping students cope with the violence once news of Tuesday’s events had been received, as the school asked for students to remain at the camp.

"The challenge for us as a society is to respond in a manner that reflects our values," Harvey said. "I hope we do not rush out in vengeance . . . but rather seeks ways to resolve the conflict."

Numerous Church of the Brethren congregations are located in Somerset County and the surrounding area, some within a few miles of the crash site. Mark Bendes, pastor of the Somerset (Pa.) congregation, said he talked to members who lived within a mile of the crash site and felt their house shake. Phone service was out in the area for several hours, but Bendes eventually found that the church members were unharmed as the plane crashed in a vacant strip mine, killing all aboard.

Churches in Somerset, including the Church of the Brethren, organized a community prayer vigil Tuesday evening, and Bendes said plans were under way for another one Wednesday.

At the Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren, located less than two miles from the Pentagon, pastor Alice Martin-Adkins said the church remained open to serve lunch in the soup kitchen, as well as to serve as an emergency shelter. Four people stayed at the church for part of the day. The sanctuary will be open from noon to 1 p.m. every day this week as a place for prayer and meditation.

In addition to those previously known to be traveling Tuesday morning, Brethren Benefit Trust staff member Nevin Dulabaum reported that he arrived in Baltimore on a flight from Chicago shortly before the ground stop on air travel was ordered. Others were to have joined him for a meeting later in the day. Carol Bowman of the General Board's Area 5 (West) Congregational Life Team was stranded in Alaska following meetings there. InterAgency Forum meetings scheduled in New Windsor, Md., later this week were cancelled.

Carol Christiansen--a daughter-in-law of Ron and Darlene Christiansen, SERRV volunteers in New Windsor, Md.--said she arrived for work at the World Trade Center running late Tuesday and was in the subway concourse below the center when the first plane hit. As building materials fell, she left the area and escaped unharmed. She worked on the building's 88th floor.

Atlantic Northeast District executive Craig Smith said he believed there would be "some special emphasis," still to be determined, at next weekend's Brethren Disaster Relief Auction in Lebanon, Pa. Smith said he had been in touch with members at both the Brooklyn First and First Haitian congregations in the New York area, assuring them of prayers as well as any support needed to assist with relief efforts there.

The Brooklyn First church was taking a lead in organizing desperately needed blood supplies for the area, especially type O positive, and said Brethren could give to the New York chapter of the American Red Cross and indicate the Brooklyn First Church of the Brethren as the requesting agency.

Finally, Brethren voices--while condemning the attacks--continued to urge a spirit of reconciliation amid calls for war. Christian Peacemaker Teams suggested congregations take a "prayer walk" in lieu of regular worship Sunday, reflecting on what it means to be a Christian, remembering victims of war and violence, and renewing a commitment to walk in Jesus' way of nonviolence.

"This new-found sense of vulnerability can also remind us that we are not and cannot be made secure by all the weapons we may want to place on land or sea or in space," wrote David Radcliff of the General Board's Brethren Witness office. "How can we replace the hatred in so many hearts with some more promising emotion?"

On Earth Peace co-executive Bob Gross also sent out a statement, writing, "We do not know what God may call us to do. It is clear that in the days to come the Christian message of peace and reconciliation will be deeply needed by our communities and our nation."

2) Church of the Brethren moderator Paul Grout was in Allentown, Pa., when Tuesday's attacks occurred, en route to a meeting, and has since returned to his home in Putney, Vt. In response to the tragedies, Grout called attention to a statement made by Church of the Brethren young adult Doug Balmer, a Bridgewater College student and member of the Chiques Church of the Brethren in Manheim, Pa.:

"As I witnessed the horrible events along with you today, I was filled with rage and shock. President Bush's remarks started to make me think. This horrible tragedy is a chance for us, as Christians and Brethren, to reach out. This not only applies to the victims, their families, but also the culprits.

"Yes, we can be angry and have extremely hard feelings toward the perpetrators, but we can not hate them. We, the mighty United States, the ultimate power of the world have a chance to "Be like Christ." Jesus knew that he would be killed. He knew that many of his followers would be martyred. He could have called down 12 legions of angels, but yet he did not. He showed mercy to all those living on the earth. We need to implore our government not to seek revenge. We need our voice to be heard immediately before our country commits another atrocity. I guess I'm asking for someone to organize us as Brethren youth to 'speak' to our government. I pray God will tell you how to respond."

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