Many Join One Prayer for Victims of Tsunami | January 03, 2005

By Marcela Rojas
January 3, 2005

BRIARCLIFF MANOR —In a sign of unity, a small group of people from different religions gathered at the Scarborough Presbyterian Church yesterday to remember the tragic events of last week's tsunami in South Asia and to collectively pray for the victims and their families.

About 20 people formed a circle of prayer in the church's chancel, offering up their heartfelt condolences and concerns for the people affected by the disaster.

"I came here out of a personal need, a community need," said Charlie Holt of Cortlandt, a member of Holy Name of Mary in Croton-on-Hudson. "We forget to realize that we are connected to people and that when others hurt, we hurt, too. People need to know that America is not just a fountain of wealth. We have more to offer."

The interfaith memorial and relief effort was brought to the Presbyterian church's attention by Chappaqua Friends Meeting, a Quaker group. Scarborough's pastor, the Rev. Chris Iosso, said he welcomed the idea.

"This needs to be kept on the front burner," said Iosso, who later added, "The magnitude of this is a great spiritual challenge. Every human life is precious. We have witnessed an enormous loss."

Chappaqua Friends clerk Avis Sri-Jayantha, whose husband is Sri Lankan, said that after a week of hearing about the disaster and the nearly 140,000 who perished, she wanted to bring people from different religions together to speak about the tragedy.

"Our community needs something because we are all grieving," Sri-Jayantha said. "We should do something in a collective fashion, no matter what our religion. Many of these people have not had proper burials, services or memorials. At least we, far, far away, can remember their lives, their suffering and pray together. Share our common humanity."

Charlie Scheiner of Hartsdale said he spent three years in East Timor working for a local organization monitoring aid and other efforts, and he returned in October. He helped to put a name to at least one of the victims, Tjut Nur, a human rights activist and prisoner in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, who died when the three-story prison she was in crumbled from the earthquake.

"As we try to come to terms with what happened, we must remember that these people were individuals with names," he said.

In addition to prayer, the group also talked of possible relief efforts.

Mercedes Roman, a Maryknoll lay missionary, said that St. Ann's Church in Ossining, where she is a parishioner, has started a collection box. She said she hopes that both Scarborough Presbyterian Church and St. Ann's can have a joint fund-raising dinner to assist the victims.

The group will further explore the idea of adopting one or two villages in Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia.

"I hope that this circle will get bigger and bigger," Roman said. "And that this tsunami will serve to organize interfaith religions to pray together, to act
together."

Taken from The Journal News

E-mail Marcela Rojas

To find more articles related to the recent tsunami disaster in a religious context visit http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?ei=ISO-8859-1&c=&p=prayer+tsunami

Posted by admin at January 3, 2005 11:30 AM