For eight years I have been attending the Tucson Multi-Faith Alliance’s commemoration services of 9/11/01. One of the positive outcomes of that day has been this annual service held at various churches/temples/synagogues on every 9/11 since.

Today’s service was held at high noon at the Temple Emanu-El at 225 N.Country Club Road. This service today brought speakers/performers from the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i, and Sikh communities of Tucson. In the past there have been other representatives of Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Sufi, and Hindu religious communities as well.

Particularly moving today were the heartfelt stories of two Jewish former New Yorkers, Craig and Lori Sumberg, who lived in upper Manhattan on 9/11/01 and were there working/studying that day. They assisted with feeding rescue workers after that tragic event. Lori stated at the end of her remarks that we need to “fill the darkness with love, light, and hope” for the future.

Two “Sisters” one a lay minister from the Family Federation for World Peace and the other an Interfaith minister sang the Peace Walk Song one of them had written, expressing the image of “a flower blossoming daily in the hearts” of those who give and forgive. I thought that was particularly fitting for Tucson, especially as the song by Jayne Turconi starts with “I walk across the desert with a flower in my hand.”

Bringing all these representatives of different religions together in one service has been a positive outcome of 9/11, creating a new sense of community and working together in Tucson.

The Tucson Multi-Faith Alliance’s mission statement is “building mutual understanding and community across the boundary lines of religion, race, creed, orientation and ability.”
For more information contact Sat Bir Kaur Khalsa at 690-5715 or Loretta Tracy at 881-0183.

Their next multi-faith service is the annual Thanksgiving one, which my husband and I have attended for several years.

From the Peace Walk Song: “Peace, Shalom, Salaam Alaikum, Namaste…”

KGUN 9 has a link to this memorial service at www.kgun9.com, News, “Tucsonans of Faith Remember 9/11″.