Violinist Ilya Gringolts performing "Raisins and Almonds"; also Renee Fleming singing "Amazing Grace." I’m pretty sure you will have these performances in your archive

On Sunday, October 28th, 2001 the City of New York held a memorial service for 9/11 families in the shadow of the still-smoldering World Trade Center. I was there as a chaplain with the Red Cross, along with many other volunteers and several thousand family members of the WTC victims.

For most of the service I sat with a grieving father. I put my arm around him. He told me about his son. We prayed together, but mostly just sat with each other, as the service was broadcast through loudspeakers, through the same air which hang heavy with the smell of the burning WTC pile.

I remember feeling how most of the words spoken by the dignitaries seemed to miss the mark, even when it was only a matter of being insufficient to the moment. The notes of Raisins and Almonds passed over and among us saying what words did not, promising that another day would come, that even this day could offer a taste of grace. And then Amazing Grace. The great testimony of deliverance was unadorned, full of emotion, the singer near breaking yet still singing. As were most of those listening, as was our city.

After we parted, the next time I saw my partner for that day, he was gathering Christmas presents for his family, who would celebrate that year even as they mourned their beloved. Again and again, in the recovery I saw people look past what did not help, and hold fast to whatever ministered to them, as these pieces of music did to me.

Paul Bellan-Boyer