City Called Heaven

There is only one more posting from 15 years ago. After I began serving as a chaplain, I was too busy, didn't have the energy for the writing, and much of what occurred could not easily be shared for privacy reasons. "Holy Wednesday" refers to the day of my first shift with the Red Cross, and finally being able to get to that work to which I was called. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8763 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Thu Sep 20, 2001 3:51 am Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: Holy Wednesday It is amazing how people have turned up from all over to help. "I heard a voice saying 'go to NY'..." "I asked God for a sign. And then my daughter said, 'Mom, you're going to NY, aren't you?'" And they came. In some cases obstacles magically fell away. In others, it took good hard work and unaccountable luck. But over and over again people have found themselves in the place God would have them be. You m...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8757 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Wed Sep 19, 2001 1:06 am Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: One week after Tuesday 9/18 There isn't much to say today. The grief work begins in full swing. The Red Cross is running training for bereavement counselors 12 hours a day. God's peace be with you. ---------------------------------------- Fleshing this out September, 2016... On Tuesday 9/18 I was screened and trained to be a disaster chaplain. The "screening" and the training happened together and took not more than an hour in a group of 15 or so. I suppose you could have been screened out by answering a question dramatically wrongly, or seeming to be way out of kilter, but I don't think many got bounced at this stage. There were a few things which stood out. I remember feeling pretty good that I was not unprepared for this. We got asked about some of the things that we expected would be part o...

The pictures are not original to the email. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8750 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Tue Sep 18, 2001 1:53 am Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: Putting things back together Yesterday and today the fatigue has begun to hit. Class, Bible study, and bereavement counseling tomorrow (Tues). As you undoubtedly heard, the stock market opened today, and went down. Seems like we truly are getting back to "normal." This evening commercial airliners have been flying overhead on their approach to LaGuardia. I know this is as expected, and a week ago it was no big deal. I know they're flying to LaGuardia. But the noise often impinges suddenly, and I start.* If you've subscribed to the WTC-Prayer list, you will have seen this news, but I was glad to reach a friend last night. Rev. Win Peacock is the Director of the John Heuss House, a homeless drop-in shelter in the Financial District. Their phones have been out,...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8731 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Sat Sep 15, 2001 10:24 pm Subject: WTC-related prayer requests Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com I'm sorry if this is a duplicate or annoying note for you. But the response in just a short time tells me this is needed and I had better set it up right. I am a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and work in campus ministry at New York University. Even though many people have been working and struggling so hard to respond to the human tragedies of the September 11th attacks, it is so frustrating not to be able to do more. There is a great ache to do SOMETHING! I have heard this again and again. People ask "What can we send ? What can we DO?" You probably know many of the material needs. I have been in contact with several groups of people in and outside of NYC who are unable to travel to the relief sites, and so are engaged in prayer. In addition to all the...

Picture of a wedding from www.manhattanbride.com . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8729 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Sat Sep 15, 2001 8:58 pm Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: Saturday in New York I've just sent out the daily notice to the school about where and how help is needed. In the quad outside my window, there are chairs and tables and a canopy for a Jewish wedding which will take place at sundown. The guests have gathered, and the band is playing Amazing Grace. God bless New York. It has been a beautiful day, the sun bright and warm, the air crisp. A group of students just left to go downtown. There are reports that air quality there is not very good and that asbestos is a potential problem. But people are still working in the wreckage, still searching for loved ones, still homeless. We have a sense that ministry is a dangerous business. Quite a bureaucracy has grown up trying to organize help effectively. Many are complaining at ...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8728 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Sat Sep 15, 2001 8:04 pm Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: Friday in New York Apologies, I know this is not directly on topic for the list. There's been talk of the city "returning to normal." I'm not sure I know quite what "normal" is for New York. But we are definitely not returning to normal. Too much has gone down, literally and figuratively. But there is a definite sense of people seeking more and more to return to the usual, the ordinary. This is a partly a response to the terrorism. Partly a need for the comfort of the familiar, which we can cling to in the face of tremendous upset. And partly the simple need to get on with life. We still need to walk the dog and get groceries and do the laundry. One fellow student told how she was on the subway, and for the first time since Tuesday, it was crowded, and there was a little jostling and attitude....

The pictures are not of course, original to the email. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ELCA-L/message/8709 From: PBellanboy@aol.com Date: Fri Sep 14, 2001 2:51 am Reply To: ELCA-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: Looking for power Thanks to all of you who have been in touch over the past few days. It is a blessing and a comfort to know we are not alone. I hope all of you have been able to contact family and other loved ones. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Not the way we're normally inclined to think. Power is something we love to have. We want power -- sometimes power over another. But we also need the power that gets things done, the power we need to survive in the world. We want to be strong. In our hearts, we'd like to be invulnerable. But we're not. Dear God, we're not. "Power is made perfect in weakness." This is a hard one to understand. But when I look around this ci...