From my church's yahoo groups board, someone posted an interesting article from the NY Times on 9/11 and God, Searching for God During a Tragedy. I'm not sure if you have to be registed on the NY Times website to read this, so be aware of that.

The column starts "Where was God on September 11?" I've never read this column before, but from what I've been researching, Peter Steinfels comes out of the Pentecostal tradition, has a doctorate on religion, and has been writing this column called Beliefs for the New York Times since 1988.

To commemorate September 11, my church is having a 24 hour prayer vigil starting on September 10 at 7 pm, and then concluding with a 7pm service on September 11. I'm sure churches around the country are honouring this occasion in their own way. I think it will be a solemn day for everyone, probably akin to how Pearl Harbor Day is memorialized for people who lived through it.

I grew up in Hawaii, and Pearl Harbor and Memorial Day were big events in school. Each school sent flower leis to be placed on the graves of the dead soldiers. There were contests of every sort in my grade school yearly, on both occasions. Contests to see who could make the most leis, the most unusual lei, the most creatively designed lei, etc. Honoring the war dead was a big part of my childhood growing up. I wonder if it was the same for other children. Hawaii was the only state that was bombed in a world war. Perhaps only in the south with the war between the states, can you find the same amount fervor for remembering the war dead.

You coudn't grow up in Hawaii, at least on my island and during the time I lived there, without being acutely aware that you were in the past, and even now, a target for nations to attack, and attack first. My teachers in school made us vitally aware, that our state for all practical purposes, was a sitting duck in any world war. Still, I'm glad I grew up at a time, in a place, where the war dead were honoured, and memorialized year and year. I wonder if schools in Hawaii are still keeping up with the practice.