NEW YORK, Sept. 24 — As live television coverage made clear the scale of the disaster to a horror-stricken world, United Bible Societies workers in England held a meeting to pray for those affected, including the American Bible Society.
After initial disbelief at the news, the Rev Doug Campbell, Executive Director of the Scottish Bible Society, who is American, said that his next thoughts were for his wife's family in Washington, DC, and friends in New York City, one of whom works in the financial district.
After a long period of frustration caused by telephone lines to the United States not being available, he learned that his relations were safe.
A photo of a missing
man and a flag are
held up during the
"Prayer for America"
memorial. (Photo by
Tom Pennington)
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"When I finally got through to my friend in New York City and heard her voice, I broke down," he said. "She and her husband were fine and had made it back to their apartment safely. They had opened up their home to friends who arrived covered in ash and blood and who could not get to their own homes."
In an e-mail to American Bible Society C.E.O., Dr Habecker, the Rev Fergus Macdonald, General Secretary of the United Bible Societies, expressed shock and sympathy at the "barbaric act and the deadly hatred behind it".
He said that while watching the live television news of the disaster, Psalm 46, with its pictures of a devastating earthquake and a besieged city, had come to mind. He expressed the hope that the ABS board and staff might find an inner strength similar to that of the psalmist.
"We will pray that you may be granted the capacity to forgive those, whoever they may be, who have perpetrated this appalling outrage against humanity," he added.
Dr Igor Savich, General Secretary of the Bible Society in Kazakhstan, was out of the office on a visit to the city of Uralsk, in the northwest of the country, when friends told him the news.
In a letter to Dr Habecker he said, "It was absolutely terrible to know that thousands of innocent people had perished by this barbaric act... I can assure you, my dear brother, that we are with you in our prayers and grief for the victims of this horrible tragedy... Our Lord is great. He knows everything including what is behind these events."
- Journalists, United Bible Societies
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