From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 29 2002 - 10:26:15 EDT
August 29, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calvin College will mark the one-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001
attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. in a variety of ways.
At 4 p.m. on September 11, 2002 the school will join with Calvin Theological
Seminary and the Christian Reformed Church in North America to host a special
chapel service (to be called "A Service of Remembrance and Hope in Solidarity
with a Suffering World.") The service will address three areas: 1) remembrance
of evil and brokenness; 2) solidarity with a suffering world; and 3) the hope of
God over darkness.
Herm Keizer, a former military chaplain who now works for the CRC, will deliver
a meditation based on Psalm 46, including reflections about what it was like to
be at the Pentagon on September 11. Keizer was working in Washington at the
time. On September 11 he walked from the State Department to the Pentagon after
the attack. There he joined a group of volunteers who were helping out in any
way possible, including working with the firefighters. The next day Keizer went
to the Army Operation Center in the Pentagon to work as a Chaplain and visit the
site where the building was hit. Those memories and more will be part of his
stirring meditation.
The service will include a mass choir made up of participants from Calvin,
Calvin Theological Seminary, the CRC and the community. They will rehearse that
day at 3 p.m. Also, 15 minutes prior to the service there will be organ music,
choral music, hymns and silence as a time of reflection and remembrance prior to
the hour-long service.
Also participating in the service will be: Peter Borgdorff, executive director
of ministries of the CRC; Paul Kortenhoven, former missionary to Sierra Leone;
Seminary student Ellen Van Tongeren; Calvin chaplain Dale Cooper, Seminary
president Neal Plantinga; Calvin Worship Institute director John Witvliet; and
Calvin administrator Darlene Meyering.
Part of the service will include a remembrance of all of the countries impacted
by the attacks of September 11. A list of those countries will be read during
the service and as it is read anyone with a connection to those countries will
be asked to stand. At the end of that reading all those remaining sitting will
stand in a show of solidarity with those standing. And together all will read
words of solidarity, strength and comfort.
Calvin also plans to have its Fine Arts Center auditorium open from 8 a.m. to
3:45 p.m. and its Chapel open all day on September 11 with a large-screen video
in the FAC showing TV coverage of the one-year anniversary and the Chapel being
reserved for personal prayer and reflection. The Seminary also will do the same
with its auditorium and Chapel.
Also, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship has, on its website, resources
for remembrances of September 11, including sample services, songs, scripture
passages and more. See
http://www.calvin.edu/worship/resources/sept11/index.htm
-end-
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