 |
| Photo: Nashoba Publishing/Luke Steere Pastor Shayna Appel, outside the Townsend Congregational Church. |
Source/Credit: Nashoba Publishing
By Luke Steere | September 9, 2011
TOWNSEND -- "It was so overwhelming, and I said 'I am not sure if I'm up to what God has me here to do," Townsend Congregational Church Pastor Shayna Appel said.
She was at ground zero, and since her overwhelming experience there, 10 years have gone by. This month she is preparing a message to open people's eyes to how the world has changed since 2001. On Sunday, Sept. 11, Appel will be performing a sermon of reflection.
She began her remembrance by attending the first day of Ramadan in Fitchburg with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community chapter there. Ahmadiyya was established as the first Muslim-American organization in the United States in 1921 and its membership spans the globe. With them Appel ate what she referred to as a wonderful meal, attended a prayer service and was introduced to the Pakistani community, a group of progressive Muslims. In a church newsletter, Appel writes of her experiences with Ahmadiyya.
"I came to see clearly what I had once only sensed, ... terrorism was as foreign a concept to Islam as it is to Christianity," she wrote.
Ahmadiyya launched Muslim for Life, a nationwide blood drive. Appel received an email from Furqan Bashir Mehmud regarding the event while the community was disseminating information about the event.
First, she was happy to learn there was a Muslim community so close by, and second, she learned about their religion.
"They refute interpretations of the Quran, so to these Muslims, Jihad by sword
Advertisement
is wrong," she said.
In her letter Appel made a comparison: "Al-Qaida is to Islam essentially what the KKK is to Christianity." Like Christianity, Islam has many sects.
"This is where the rubber of our faith meets the road," Appell said. "I had been looking for a good way to get this dialogue out into Townsend."
Last Friday, Appel held a blood drive in partnership with Muslims for Life at her church. Acts like that are symbolic of the dialogue of hope she brought with her to New York in 2001. That September, Appel contacted a friend in New Haven to see how she could help. She and several other chaplains took a train from Boston and, sleeping on the pews at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, tended to workers at ground zero.
It was there, in the days following the event, where she witnessed a worker drop off a plastic blue tote bin. When Appel opened it she saw a photograph of a second- grade class taped to the inside of the lid. It was filled with candy.
"I don't recall where they were from, but it was representative of the world beyond this area," she said. "Humanity has a capacity for greatness."
After the event, Appel said, fear took hold. To her, conflicts in politics and sports are just "spice in the melting pot," but the divisions that galvanized post 9/11 were "volatile substances."
"Personally I am ashamed of what has been done to the Muslim community in the name of Jesus," she says. "On the other hand, many good things have been done," Appel says. "Planes were not the only thing that were hijacked, American sanity and the Islamic faith was too."
In order to remedy this problem, Appel is using a similar tactic she used 10 years ago: Consciously getting people back on track. Suicide, divorce and substance abuse rates are higher in people who deal with traumatic experiences, she says. When she was talking to ground zero workers, she says she first normalized their experiences.
"Sometimes it was just giving them a choice of Coke or Sprite, or a kind of candy, but the first steps are crucial," Appel says.
On its 10-year anniversary, Appel wants to take those first steps. She says she feels it is never too late for a change in peoples minds and actions and hopes her service will encourage people to go forth with a new sense of pride and power.
"Generally I want to tell people 'wrap yourself around hope as if you life depends on it,'" she says. "Oh and it does."
The church is at 3 Brookline St. Appel's service will be held on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 9:50 a.m. More information about Ahmadiyya Muslim Community can be found at Ahmadiyya.us. The Townsend Congregational Church can be found at Tccucc.org or by calling Appel at 978-597-0157.
Read more: http://www.nashobapublishing.com/townsend_news/ci_18859393#ixzz1XTjLvZQw
Read original post here: After 10 years of fear, a message of hope
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.