September 11 Remembrance Services in Winsted

September 11, 2002—for most Americans, at best, an uneasy anniversary. How will you mark the date?

For a good many citizens of the United States it will be a day of waving the red, white and blue, and conversations dealing with lost lives, terrorism and combative revenge. New York City will probably be draped in banners memorializing the bravery of the police and fire departments. But will those markings be really any different from what we've been touting for the past year? Is this a good way to mark our first anniversary of this now most infamous date in American history?

The Greater Winsted Ministerial Association is offering to the community a 9/11 Remembrance Service of prayers and healing. Two services will be offered, enabling more opportunity for persons to attend. The daytime service will be at Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, on the corner of Main St. and Oak St. in Winsted; the service starts at noon. The evening service will be at the United Methodist Church of Winsted, on the corner of Main St. and High St., starting at 7:30 p.m.

The noon service is designed to permit folks to attend and still have time for lunch. The evening service will be a peace-filled close to an otherwise stressful day. Both services will contain offerings of prayer and the singing of hymns. There will be brief readings from the Hebrew, Islamic and Christian scriptures, and familiar hymns of praise to God. One hymn, sung to the familiar tune of "O God Our Help in Ages Past," has been written especially for the anniversary of the 9/11 attack.

The Greater Winsted Ministerial Association is an organization of the pastors from the churches in Winsted and the surrounding areas of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford, Norfolk, Pleasant Valley, West Hartland and Winchester Center. The Salvation Army and the Temple Beth Israel in Winsted also have membership in the GWMA. Members of the GWMA gather together to promote activities that they are better equipped to do as a larger group. This organization, made up of both ordained and lay persons, sponsors the Interfaith Food Bank in Winsted and the Community Food Bank in Pleasant Valley. It provides ecumenical services to the general community during the Thanksgiving holiday and on Good Friday. The CROP Walks, now in the their 17th year of operation, are also sponsored by the Greater Winsted Ministerial Association.