World Events and the PRCA

Words cannot adequately describe the events of September 11 in New York City and Washington D.C., and I certainly am not going to try to do that here. I will be content to leave that to the experts. After all, the events of that day have little to do with church news, except that because of those attacks the three congregations in the Hudsonville, MI area, Georgetown, Hudsonville, and Trinity, met together that night at Georgetown for an hour of prayer, the reading of God’s Word, and the singing of appropriate Psalter numbers.

My sincere thanks goes out to both Rev. R. VanOverloop and Rev. B. Gritters who led the service, as well as to anyone else who was responsible for that meeting. As Rev. Gritters said to those in attendance that night, the hour he spent preparing for that service was the best hour of that day. The same could be said of those there that evening. It was the best hour of our day too. Both pastors spent time looking at three areas of concern for the Christian. How do we show concern for God’s people who may have suffered directly from the tragedy? How do Christians put those events into the broad picture of our Lord’s return? And how do we deal with the feelings of fear we see in ourselves as well as in our children? Inserted between these thoughts, each pastor read from appropriate Scripture passages, followed by the audience lifting their voices to God in song. What a blessing that hour was for God’s people. Indeed, it was the church responding to the needs of its members.