A Place for 9/11 Connection and Healing

Remembrance, sadness, healing and hope. Those were the resounding themes of the many nationwide commemorations of this weekend’s 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And locally, those looking for a place to reflect quietly on the events and aftermath of that day found one at St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church, which offered visitors a prayer garden on its front lawn with hundreds of flags representing all the world’s countries as well as a display of prayer flags, on which visitors could write a personal message or wish.

St. Matthew’s pastor, the Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes, said the idea for the prayer garden came about during “listening sessions” with the congregation to discuss ways of recognizing the upcoming tenth anniversary that revealed “a lot of unhealed grief about 9/11 and other various things in people’s lives.”

Also revealed in those sessions, said Garnaas-Holmes, was a profound “sense of connection” people said they felt in the immediate aftermath of the attacks—leading to the idea to include flags from all nations.

“After the horror (of the attacks) was this feeling of connectedness, even on an international level,” he said, adding that such efforts at connecting involved inviting local Hindu, Muslim and Jewish faith leaders to attend the prayer garden. “We weren’t intending it to be only for Christians but for anyone who wants to enter into a place for healing and connecting in a broader sense.”

Prayers written onto white fabric “flags” and affixed to makeshift display fences ranged from simple messages of peace to poignant calls for love and forgiveness. The prayer attached by Harvard residents Michael and Nancy Henry related to Rev. Garnaas-Holmes’s points on the importance of connection, reading, in part, “We must seek and hold on to our connectedness with each other … without connections with others we lose our humanity.”

“We thought this was a wonderful way to commemorate everyone who has been hurt by 9/11,” said Nancy Henry of visiting the prayer garden.

Susan Lee, director of handbells at St. Matthew's, said she had planned to try to make sure the bell on the lawn was rung “about every six seconds” to ensure about the same number of rings as there were victims of 9/11—nearly 3,000. Though plans changed somewhat as visitor attendance varied throughout the day, “We should be able to ring the bells that many times throughout the day,” she said.

The church day concluded with a brief sunset interfaith candlelight prayer service. The prayer garden will remain in place at the Central Street church until Sept. 18 and is open to people of all denominations and beliefs.