FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 12, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth Hargrove, 202-537-6248

MAJOR EVENT CELEBRATES WEST VIRGINIA AT WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

WASHINGTON—On the weekend commemorating the 2001 terrorist attacks, hundreds of West Virginians including Gov. Bob Wise gathered on September 12 for a special worship service at the landmark Washington National Cathedral to honor the state and its people.

Many arrived a day early, on September 11, to visit the nation’s monuments in tribute to those killed in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania three years ago to the day.

Members of the Appalachian Children’s Chorus of Charleston performed impromptu at the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where tourists were brought to tears when the youngsters sang the mournful hymn, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”

“To be able to sing patriotic songs, it really had an impact on people especially on that day,” chorus member Stacy Carte, 17, said. “And for a lot of our kids it was hard, too. Adults remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. A lot of us children remember where we were when the planes hit the towers.”

Gov. Wise said Washington National Cathedral provided “a perfect setting” for West Virginians to pay their respects. “It gives us a chance to reflect on what happened, the tragedy, and where we go from here.”

Many of the 1,305 worshipers at the Cathedral’s 11 am service marking West Virginia State Day traveled from the state or were Mountain State natives now living in the Washington area.

One hundred eleven youngsters with colorful banners from two dozen West Virginia churches marched in the grand procession that opened the worship. State legislator Brady Paxton of Poca followed, carrying the West Virginia flag. The flag will remain on the chancel steps for the week as a further salute to the state.

Wise delivered a proclamation celebrating ties between West Virginia and Washington National Cathedral, which aims through its ministries to embody the links between the public and spiritual lives of citizens.

“This is a homecoming,” Wise said. “And homecoming has special meaning in a rural state like ours. It’s when families come together, not just for a parade or something like that, but it’s a gathering, a gathering of our families.”

The Appalachian Children’s Chorus sang the service prelude. The congregation hushed as the 65 young people performed a 25-minute hymnal program under the direction of artistic director Selina Cosby Midkiff. Tanner Sigman, 10, of Winfield, was featured as a soloist.

The Buckhannon Student Dulcimer Ensemble—playing the string instruments native to the Appalachian region—serenaded churchgoers on the Cathedral lawn as they exited the service.

The Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bowman Thurston, an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Visiting Professor of Christian Spirituality at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee, and a native West Virginian, delivered the sermon as guest preacher.

She addressed the congregation from the historic Canterbury Pulpit, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his last Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, and from where the homily at Ronald Reagan’s state funeral was given on June 11.

Thurston reminded worshipers that Jesus Christ associated with the castaways of society, like tax collectors, fishermen, and shepherds—“riff-raff”—much to the consternation and grumblings of the religious establishment.

Thurston challenged worshipers, likewise, to broaden their welcomes to people unlike themselves. “Who would you invite to eat at your table? Who wouldn’t you invite?” she said. “What if I just invited folks to dinner and not worry about whether they belonged there or whether they acted nice when they got there?”

“Everybody we think of as our enemies...everyone I think of as my enemy.... is probably on the Divine guest list. What if I sought them instead of fought them, fed them instead of bled them, tried to love, or at least understand them, instead of responding with violence and hatred?”

Thurston concluded, “Guess who ought to be coming to dinner?” is another way of asking “Who should be the object of my love? What is the circumference of the circle of my concern and compassion? How widely can my arms embrace?”

For the past six years, Washington National Cathedral has set aside one major state day each month in seeking to fulfill its national mission of outreach to all faiths.

The National Cathedral Association, the friends’ organization that supports the cathedral’s mission and ministries, organized West Virginia State Day in conjunction with the West Virginia Council of Churches and other volunteers. They invited religious and elected leaders and congregants from many different churches and denominations to take part.

“We were thrilled to have so many friends of all ages with us from West Virginia,” said Vanessa Andrews, director of the National Cathedral Association. “Our volunteers and friends from across the state worked so hard to make this day special. It was a wonderful sight to see the fruits of their labor.”

The Rt. Rev. Michie Klusmeyer, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, was service celebrant, and West Virginians played key roles throughout the service.

Gov. Wise and William M. Drennen, Jr. of Shepherdstown, past commissioner of West Virginia Culture and History, read scripture.

Janice Benjamin of Charleston, Anna Klusmeyer of Charleston, Roianne Hackett of Buckhannon, and the governor’s daughter Alexandra Wise of Charleston, carried gifts to the altar during the offertory.

Afterwards, the National Cathedral Association sponsored a reception recognizing West Virginia participants. The governor read a proclamation that celebrated the Cathedral as an important reminder of the ideals of religious freedom and moral goodness of the people of our nation.

Cathedral officials also thanked the NCA’s volunteers and association members in West Virginia, part of an active network of more than 14,000 friends in every state and around the world who support the nation’s House of Prayer for All People.

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