A day of prayer and reflection

May 1st - A day to walk with God. I woke up this morning with the hope of working on the May newsletter squeezed between a couple of big activities. As it turned out, when I got to the office I decided that there was no way that I could get the newsletter together in time to send it out on Friday. I had two special services to prepare for that would take time. Even though Sandy was pretty well set with her part, there was just too much to do for me to finish it up the newsletter and give the services the time they deserved.

So I went to work preparing for the National Day of Prayer service at noon and the Holocaust Remembrance Service at 7:30 p.m. I went on line and found some inspirational pieces that put the prayer service in perspective. A few years back I got involved in the program. Pastor Gary Fairchild of Norwich Alliance and I organized a breakfast and invited members of the city council and other clergy to participate. It was great. One year we heard a survivor of the 9/11 attack and the next we had one of the commanders from the Navy Base as our speakers.

When Gary left we let it go. This year I received a call from the state co-ordinator asking me to set something up. She was in a panic and I agreed. I put out a call to the local clergy and Pastor Randy from the Assembly of God answered. We met at noon on the steps of City Hall. There was only a handful of people but it was a powerful service. Everyone took turns praying for our government officials, for our children, teachers, police, fire and medical workers, the social service agencies and especially the former residents of the Peach Tree Apartments. We prayed for the men and women in the military and asked God to help us find peace in the world. I was so glad I answered the call and we all agreed that next year we would make it bigger and better.

Tonight I went to Temple Beth-el in New London to share a Statement of Concern on behalf of the Christian community during the annual Holocaust Remembrance service. Rabbi Charles Arian of Beth Jacob synagogue in Norwich invited me to do the honors and I was nervous. I didn't know exactly what to say. I went on line to see if I could find something and found that there really isn't anything to use as an example. Rabbi told me just to speak from the heart. That's what I did and I think it went well.

The speaker was Henry Laudone from Norwich Free Academy. He spoke about his experiences as an educator in learning about the Holocaust. He shared how he visited with survivors and listened to their stories and how this changed him and later, his students. A few minutes later several survivors came up to light candles representing the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. This was a powerful reminder of the nightmare that touched the planet under Hitler's reign of terror.

The end result of this service is to insure that there is never another Holocaust. I can tell you this: had to plenty to think about as I got home tonight. I wish more of our people could have been at these services today. Next time I will certainly promote them better so that we can take advantage of them.

Cal