Bob, I am so glad that you benefitted so much from your service. It sounds wonderful. If you-all tape your services, I hope you're planning to get one. Ours was good, also, though with fewer people attending than I had expected. Our choir changed anthems, too--we did "Prayer for Peace". We sang different hymns, as well. One was a new set of words to a familiar tune, written especially for the aftermath. My friend was unable to get through leading the responsive reading without crying. We sang "It is Well With My Soul", one of the most beautiful and meaningful hymns--all four verses. It was so comforting, just being together. Another friend who had just come back from a trip late on Saturday night made the effort to get up early, just to be with our close-knit Sunday School class.
Someone had put up the red, white and blue bunting in the sanctuary, that usually only goes there for the Fourth of July Sunday. I think that Pres. Bush started, and we pretty well followed, the intermingling of church and state, but I also think few cared--not even my husband, who is quite vigorously against that. At the end, the congregation joined hands all around the church, and we sang God Bless America. Dozens of people came to the altar rail to pray. Lots of tears, enough to make me wonder how big a container it would take, to hold all the tears that have been shed over this.