Thursday, Sep. 11, 2008

Lower Yakima Valley church services to mark 9/11 anniversary

By Sara Schilling, Herald staff writer

Special church services to mark the seven-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 are planned today in the Lower Yakima Valley.

The Rev. Debora Jennings will lead the liturgies at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Prosser and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Sunnyside.

"Every year on this day, I feel it is very important to gather people together to pray for those who died and the people who protect our country," she said.

Jennings has been in the Mid-Columbia for two years. Before that, she served as a priest in an Episcopal church in Utah and taught communication courses at Southern Utah University.

She was in Utah when the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pa.

Jennings watched the news in horror that morning. When she went to the university later that day, she was surrounded by a crowd of about 75 students and staff.

They wanted to know, What should we do?

Jennings had an answer: "I said, 'We pray.' "

That night, more than 200 people of different faiths met at Jennings' church to ask God for help and healing.

She's organized a 9/11 service every year since. Some have drawn large crowds and others have been small. The point is to pause, reflect and remember, she said.

Today's services will last about 30 minutes each and include scripture reading, a message and prayer. The public is invited.

The Prosser service is at noon at St. Matthew's on the corner of Seventh Street and Sheridan Avenue. The Sunnyside service is at 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity on the corner of South Fourth Street and East Edison Avenue.

There's also a 7 p.m. service at Christ Church Episcopal in Zillah.