Monday, Monday

We had a little bump in the road this morning when some overnight water main work wasn’t completed in time. Without showers, just like true pilgrims, we just kept going.

For morning prayer, we headed to Central Park and found a nice big rock on a hill. People had written passages from the Bible on the rock in chalk. We worshipped together, surrounded by the green of the park and the bustling noises of the city on a Monday morning.

Our first stop of the day was back at St. Paul’s. We listened to “A Pilgrim’s Walking Tour of Ground Zero” on our iPods while walking the tour around St. Paul’s and the Ground Zero site. This audio tour, produced and moderated by Dr. Courtney Cowart, tells the stories and experiences of the people of St. Paul’s as well as others (including sanitation works, firefighters, police, and volunteers) during the rescue and recovery efforts. As we walked, it began to rain.











After the tour, we picked up lunch and went to the Trinity Church office building. In the library, we met with Martin, Tony, Courtney and Katherine. These four people played different roles at St. Paul’s after 9/11, including food operations, sanitation worker, volunteer coordinator. Through this tragedy, they all became friends. They shared their stories of the days and months after 9/11 and how their lives have changed because of that experience. They let us ask questions and were very open and honest. It was very emotional.







Following the discussion, we had a reflective art project. We had lots of different art supplies for us to express ourselves. Everyone got really quiet and worked for well over an hour. And then we shared our pieces. We were pretty surprised by what we created and how differently we expressed what we had heard and experienced.







Finally, we headed back to the YMCA for a much needed shower! Dinner was at Ivy’s Café, an Asian-themed restaurant that was a nice, easy walk from the hotel. We were all ready to go to sleep!