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Rise and Shine
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, St. Paul’s Chapel, which sits directly across the street from the World Trade Center site, suffered no physical damage. On September 12, Lyndon Harris, then a priest on the clergy staff at Trinity and St. Paul’s, arrived at St. Paul’s Chapel expecting major damage. He was amazed to find that the church was without even a pane of glass broken, even though the exterior of St. Paul’s and its churchyard were covered in debris.
As recovery work started at the World Trade Center site, hundreds of rescue workers came to Lower Manhattan to search for survivors and begin sorting through the ruins. Slowly at first, rescue workers, police, and firefighters stopped by the chapel to rest and wash up. Because long, exhausting shifts prevented many workers from going home, the chapel opened its doors so that they could rest .
During all hours of the day and night, rescue and recovery workers staggered through the gates of the chapel. Hungry and weary, weighed down with gear, wearing boots half-melted from the fiery ash, they fell into St. Paul’s open embrace. After working grueling 12–18 hour shifts at Ground Zero, rescue and recovery workers knew that St. Paul’s was a place they could rest for a few hours before returning to the pit.
Volunteers helped put the workers’ bodies and souls back together so they could continue their grueling tasks at Ground Zero. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, podiatrists, chiropractors, massage therapists, musicians, artists, chefs, counselors, clergy, and countless others signed up for 12-hour shifts. Chiropractors and massage therapists soothed the workers’ aching backs.
Streaming in from across the country, volunteers were given tasks, and chaplains were organized on a round-the-clock schedule. What had started as a place for workers to simply recover from their labor at Ground Zero became a place filled with love, hope, and support: a place where reconciliation began to be a possibility.
In the first three months after September 11, more than 3,000 workers passed through the chapel’s gates. Police officers, Port Authority workers, firefighters, National Guardsmen, construction and sanitation crews, engineers and technicians found their way to St. Paul’s. The recovery workers were changed by what they volunteered to do at Ground Zero, but they also were changed by the ministry offered to them by St. Paul’s and its volunteers.
At the time I was a Lieutenant with the NYPD and was the Interagency Coordinator of Mental Health Services at the Family Assistance Center at Pier 94. Each day me and my Officers and Sergeants spent countless hours at Ground Zero with grieving families. These trusted servants rose from the ashes of 9/11 and will forever SHINE with their selfless service and sacred compassion.
To all the volunteers, rescue workers, and 9/11 families...may God shine Divine Healing Light upon you.....transforming your pain into strength, and guide you on a path to RISE HIGHER, LOVE DEEPER, AND SERVE EVEN GREATER!!
Join Sister Kris
for an inspiring message about
how we too can
RISE & SHINE!
Sunday, September 11th
@ 630PM
840 East Oakland Park Blvd Suite 102
May God richly bless you on your journey through life!
Blessings,
Rev. G
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