Photos by Doug Gibson & Peter Leighton
On Friday, September 14, MSIA held a prayer service in the upstairs ballroom of the 2101 Wilshire building in Santa Monica, CA, and worldwide on the internet. This prayer service was in response to President George W. Bush’s call for people of all faiths to gather in a day of prayer and remembrance.
The ballroom was packed before the start time of 12:00 Noon, with faces that were somber, loving, horrified, and tear-stained. Many of us were there not because we had friends or relatives who were dead or missing at the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, but because our hearts could not bear the pain alone. It is when Light-bearers gather together that we know our greatest strength, for our wholeness is palpably greater than the sum of our disparate selves. Where two or more are gathered in God’s name, there is God also.
Opening remarks were offered by Paul Kaye, President of MSIA, who explained that we would be hearing prayers offered each half hour, followed by periods of silent prayer, and that people were free to come and go as they pleased.
Next, John Morton, the Spiritual Director of MSIA, called in the Light, soothing more with his strength than with his words. He spoke of an ordinary, wonderful event at his daughter’s school, in which kindergartener’s were welcomed by their 5th grade “buddies”, each one made to feel accepted and cared for in a new and strange environment. Could all of us “grown-ups” ever feel that safe again?
We sat in silent meditation, and at 12:30 p.m., John Roger, Founder of MSIA, offered his comments. There was some relief in laughter when I heard J-R say that those who had died in New York and Washington, D.C. were now in the arms of God. But, those of us still here have to deal with the consequences of those events. I heard J-R then offer a recommendation, perhaps even a call, to all of us, to stand firm in our loving, and to share that loving with others in this time, whatever the circumstance or situation. We have an opportunity to practice the inner and outer peace, to actively involve ourselves in that process. Now is the time.
Laura Donnelley Morton offered a heartfelt prayer. People sat in prayer and came and went, at times filling the ballroom to overflowing so that participants sat in adjoining rooms to pray as well. The prayer service was also being broadcast worldwide on the Internet, with more listeners than have ever attended an MSIA online event, and listeners coming from countries all over the world, even listening in Israel and South Africa.
Leigh Taylor Young offered an inspiring vision. It went like that, each half hour a prayer, followed by meditative time, until the closing prayers of the service at 2:00 pm. John Morton closed with his prayer towards the new world that we are creating. I went back to my office feeling blessed, with the sense that I could be one Light, one heart, one prayerful person who could make a difference. Or it could be you. Or you. Do you have a minute?
To listen to an archive of the prayer service on the internet, go to
http://www.msia.org/live/archives.php
John-Roger’s inspiring prayer from MSIA’s prayer service is now available for viewing or listening online. In this heartfelt prayer, John-Roger shares his response to current events. Click here to view this video entitled A Moment of Peace from a Day of Prayer and Remembrance, September 14, 2001
