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A Liturgy For the 21st Anniversary Of 09/11/2001
Semptember 11, 2022
Words For Worship
O God, open our lips;
And our mouths shall declare your praise.
Make haste, O God, to deliver us;
make haste to help us, O God.
Holy One, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal:
have mercy on us.
Collect For Worship
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open,
all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love you
and worthily magnify your holy Name. For you are our Creator,
our Redeemer, and our Sustainer, now and forevermore. Amen.
Collect of the Day
O Almighty God, who brings good out of evil and turns even the wrath of your
children towards your promised peace: Hear our prayers this day as we remember
those of many nations and differing faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce
flames of anger and hatred. Hasten the time when the menace of war shall be
removed. Cleanse both us and those perceived to be our enemies of all hatred and
distrust. Pour out the spirit of peace on all the rulers of our world that we may be
brought through strife to the lasting peace of your Kin-Dom; through the One we call
the Prince of Peace, who is sovereign with you and your Sacred Spirit, now and forever.
Amen.
Reading—Romans 8:31-39
What then are we to say about
these things? If God is for us,
who is against us? He who did
not withhold his own Son, but
gave him up for all of us, will he
not with him also give us
everything else?
Who will bring
any charge against God’s elect? It
is God who justifies. Who is to
condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who
died, yes, who was raised, who is
at the right hand of God, who
indeed intercedes for us.
Who
will separate us from the love of
Christ? Will hardship, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As
it is written, “For your sake we
are being killed all day long; we
are accounted as sheep to be
slaughtered.” No, in all these
things we are more than
conquerors through him who
loved us. For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from
the love of God
our Redeemer.
Gospel—Matthew 5:1-10
When Jesus saw the crowds, he
went up the mountain; and after
he sat down, his disciples came to
him.
Then he began to speak,
and taught them, saying:
“Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed
are those who mourn, for they
will be comforted.
Blessed are
the meek, for they will inherit the
earth.
Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be
filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God.
Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God.
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is
the Kin-Dom of heaven.”
The Prayers of the People
With all our heart and all our mind, we pray to you, O God.
Make us instruments of your peace.
For the peace of the world, that a spirit of respect and forbearance
may grow among nations and peoples, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is hatred, let us sow love.
For our enemies and those who wish us harm, especially those led to acts of terror;
that in the aftermath of the destruction of September 11th, 2001
we may grow ever more deeply in your spirit of justice and peace, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is injury, let us sow pardon.
For all who believe in you, and all whose faith is known to you alone,
that they may be delivered from the darkness of fanaticism that arises from poverty and
oppression, and from the pride that arises from wealth and comfort,
and brought into your light, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is discord, let us sow union.
For those who have lost their faith in you, for those who continue to mourn those who died on
that terrible day, that your Church may give comfort and hope in this time of remembrance, we
pray to you, O God:
Were there is doubt, let us sow faith.
For all those whose spirit has been broken and whose lives have been disrupted
by the violence of that day and its aftermath, we offer our prayers along with the persecuted, the
lonely, and the sick, and those who have bid our prayers today, that they may be relieved and
protected. For these and for those whose need we do not know, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is despair, let us sow hope.
For the mission and ministry of the Church,
that we may hear the Gospel and proclaim it in word and action to build up your Kin-Dom here
on earth, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is darkness, let us sow light.
For all who died in the terror of September 2001 and for those others whom we remember today,
for those who believed in your resurrection
and those who did not know your promise of eternal life, in trust that they have been found by
you and are at rest in your holy habitation, we pray to you, O God:
Where there is sadness, let us sow joy.
We pray for the concerns of all your people;
and we pray for the forgiveness of our sins. and the healing of all brokenness.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to
understand; to be loved as to love.
Take heart, we have been reconciled to God.
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying
that we reborn to eternal life. Amen.
Prayer Of Remembrance
O God, our hope and refuge,
in our distress we come quickly to you.
Shock and horror of that tragic day have subsided,
replaced now with an emptiness,
a longing for an innocence lost.
We come remembering those who lost their lives
in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
We are mindful of the sacrifice of public servants
who demonstrated the greatest love of all
by laying down their lives for friends.
We commit their souls to your eternal care
and celebrate their gifts to a fallen humanity.
We come remembering
and we come in hope,
not in ourselves, but in you.
As foundations we once thought secure have been shaken,
we are reminded of the illusion of security.
In commemorating this tragedy,
we give you thanks for your presence
in our time of need
and we seek to worship you in Spirit and in truth,
our guide and our guardian. Amen.
A Litany For Forgiveness
O God, when is it too soon to seek forgiveness for those who have harmed us?
How long before we ask forgiveness for those who have harmed us in heinous acts or horrific violence?
When, O God, is it the right time to pray to you that those whose acts have changed the world forever?
They asked, "how many times should be extend forgiveness." And, Jesus replied, "Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
For the 3,000 innocent victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: for the passengers on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North World Trade Center Tower, on United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the South World Trade CenterTower, on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, and on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a field, and for all those who died in the cataclysmic destruction wrought by the attacks.
Let your perpetual light shine upon them and bring them into your eternal rest so that we may feast with them at your eternal banquet table.
For the 19 hijackers who commandeered the four airplanes and turned them into instruments of hate and destruction, for Mohamed Atta, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, Abdulaziz al-Omari, Satam al-Suqami, Marwan al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, Ahmed-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Hani Hanjour, Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, Salem al-Hazmi, Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed al-Ghamdi.
Forgive them, as you have forgiven us, seventy times seven and bring them into your eternal rest so that we may feast with them at your eternal banquet table.
For the firefighters, police officers, chaplains and military personnel who have fought and died protecting others:
Let your perpetual light shine upon them and bring them into your eternal rest so that we may feast with them at your eternal banquet table.
For the members of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, who seek to harm others and repress the human spirit. We pray for the repose of the soul of Osama bin Laden.
Forgive them, as you have forgiven us, seventy times seven and bring them into your eternal rest so that we may feast with them at your eternal banquet table.
Jesus said, "Peace be with you."
May all peace be known in this world today and forevermore. Amen.
Blessing In Dismissal
Go forth free from the hatred and brokenness that this day returns unto us.
When challenged to be other than loving and of goodwill, may peace reign, may peace be shared, may peace bring the reconciliation of love.
Blessed is God and blessed is God's Kin-Dom of concord and harmony. Amen.
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