The massive bronze bells of St. Peter’s in Morristown tolled throughout the morning on Saturday, marking terrible moments from two decades before:
Flight 11 strikes the North Tower of the World Trade Center…Flight 175 slams into the South Tower…Flight 77 hits the Pentagon… the South Tower collapses… Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, PA… the North Tower falls.
On the Great Lawn of the church, Rector Anne Thatcher offered prayers for all “whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred,” and prayers for peace.
“Where there is sadness, let us sow joy,” congregants responded, after a moment of silence.
And then Lisa Lonie, carillonneur for Princeton University, performed works from Bach to Sondheim.
There were pavanes, hymns, Irish airs and adapted choral pieces, ending with secular songs with sacred symbolism: Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; The Beatles’ Let It Be; Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters; and Stand By Me, a hit for Ben E. King.
Most powerful, though, was In Memoriam for 9-11:
The piece was composed four days after the 2001 terror attacks by the late John Courter, carillonneur and music professor at Berea College in Berea, KY. He had read an email newsletter from University of Michigan alumni, seeking appropriate ways to memorialize Michigan graduates who perished on 9/11.
Courter dedicated the composition to all who died that day.
Security personnel kept a watchful eye on Saturday’s service — an indication of how our world has changed since 2001.
Responding to shootings and attacks at houses of worships across the country, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark has instructed parishes to take extra safety measures.