Area religious leaders call for prayer

Area religious leaders call for prayer

Sept. 12, 2001

By Janelle Holden
journal staff writer

Prayer for the victims of Tuesday’s tragedy was of primary importance to Cortez’s religious leaders on Tuesday.

Special services were held on Tuesday evening at local churches, and services are scheduled on Wednesday at New Life Chapel, Lighthouse Baptist Church, and the Dolores Southern Baptist Church at 7 p.m.

"My feeling is that this is a great tragedy for our nation. This will be a time for all of our people to come together to pray, both for the families of the victims and lives that have been lost. We can only hope God will bring quick healing to our nation," said David Graham, pastor of the Dolores Southern Baptist Church.

"Our first response ought to be prayer. I guess we’re all kind of stunned. We’re just going to see what needs to be done over the next few days," said Father Kevin Novack at St. Margaret-Mary Catholic Church in Cortez.

Other pastors focused on society’s need for faith during tragedy.

"It’s a really rattling thing," said Steve Schwarz, pastor of Cortez Seventh-Day Adventist Church. "You live in this country and feel like you’re completely secure. We’ve never had anything like this happen before. From a pastor’s perspective, it’s a time that we realize that we do need God, that it’s nice to know that someone’s overseeing us in times of crisis."

Pastor Steve Chappel of the New Life Chapel in Cortez said, "The thing that just impressed me the most about the whole thing is that life is not guaranteed, and people who do not have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you never know.

"The odds in Cortez of a charter aircraft slamming into your building are slim to none, but that doesn’t mean that you may not get in your car tonight and somebody blow a stop sign and it would be all over," Chappel said.

If the perpetrator’s motives for Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are revealed to be religious, other conflicts could ensue. Some pastors, such as Mike Bridgeman, the assistant pastor of Lighthouse Baptist, urged the religious community not to overreact.

"I would say that we live our lives based upon how Jesus lived his life, and I don’t think you’ll find anywhere where he taught, to do anything of this nature," said Bridgeman.

Lynn Evans, the United Methodist pastor in Cortez, agreed. "I think we have to be careful that we don’t judge all Palestinians, all religions, all anything, by what a few idiots do. There’s some crazy Christians, too. It’s pretty horrendous, but Hitler wasn’t that long ago, and he thought he was a Christian. And he’s not the only one, just one that killed a lot more people even than these people did."

Charles Story of the Cortez Christian Church said the crisis would be the focus of services.