God gave us angelic skies and beautiful sunsets to light our path on the way to remembrance.

Grace and peace to all people who are on our journey:


When we awoke this morning we knew that this wasn't your average hump day and the Geico Camel commercial ceased to be funny. For today is September 11, 9/11, 911 as we sometimes call it. I don't know about you but, this year it was more poignant than it has been in the past. For me and some of us who are still going through the grieving process it seemed more difficult.

 Where were you on this date 12 years ago? I can tell you where I was. I was caring for my mother who was bedridden due to the affects of her cancer treatment. I remember turning on the radio. I could still get NBC on the last channel before everything went to digital from analog. When I heard the news report. I got up and turned on the TV in her room and in the playroom. (family room). I couldn't get over the beautiful blue skies of New York City. We had blue skies here too. As the day progressed the reports became even worse. At one point, I needed to go find sanctuary, and the only place that I could do this was down at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the heart of downtown Santa Maria. The Rev. Mary Goshert and I decided to have a prayer vigil that evening  and made a sign and opened the doors. Many of our parishioners joined us in prayer. We even lit candles and offered prayers. The next day, the Rev. Mary needed to be in Los Angeles for a meeting and it was decided that we would have Morning Prayer and I would lead it. Trying to put together a liturgy and what lessons and format I should use was no mean feat by any means. This was a time when I needed to pull out all the stops and vest and have candles lighted and do things by the book because you never know who might be there. I had done Morning Prayer before, but not with a congregation of 35. I almost get that every day with the amount of readers of this blog. What to say and how to say it was not an easy task either, but God gave me the necessary tools to do so.

Tonight's  prayer walk of remembrance was one I will always remember because each of you were with me in some way or other. I carried your prayers and all your emotions in my heart. When I started to pray for the lives lost on 9/ 11 I started to pray for all the other incidents of  violence from Columbine to Benghazi to even way back to the Olympics in Munich. Tonight, God gave us angelic skies and beautiful sunsets to light our path on the way to remembrance. Tonight's music was from Taize and also Andrew Lloyd-Webber's "Requiem" and "Hope for the Hopeless" Because tonight is such a special and emotional evening, I will be putting together the playlist in a separate blog tomorrow. I felt your love and prayers as I walked, I felt peace, although on this day I always feel a bit unsettled and angry. Yes, you can have those emotions! They are all part of the perpetual grief cycle. Let us keep each other close in love, prayer, and our hearts and minds. I love you all! May peace and love fill your hearts this evening and always!

Love and peace of mind!

Sara