Congregation gives rest to the heavy laden. (PCC news).

It was a Tuesday evening, and members of the Atlantic Mission Society (AMS) of St. David's Church, St. John's, were gathered for a regularly scheduled meeting. But this was not an ordinary Tuesday night and it would not be an ordinary meeting. It was the night of September 11. The AMS members, like the members of the session, board of managers and the congregation who joined them, had spent much of the day glued to their televisions as the tragic events of the terrorist attack on the United States unfolded. The scenes they had watched took place far from St. John's, but some of the consequent activity would be close at hand.

Among the aircraft turned away from U.S. air space that day were 27 that landed at Tarbay, on the edge of St. John's. St. David's was one of several churches in the area that responded, offering accommodation for 50 to 70 people. Calls were made to members of the congregation and, before long, there was a great pile of bedding in the church hail and a kitchen filled with cookies, soft drinks and other food.

Eventually, the meeting ended, but clerk of session and AMS member Lillian Crawford and board of managers co-chair Stephen Bruneau, co-ordinators of the response effort, remained behind. At 12:30 a.m., a call came from one of the emergency centres informing them 30 people, including young children, were on the way. The weary (they had spent 17 hours on the plane waiting for each person to pass through Customs and Immigration) and luggage-less passengers were welcomed with open arms -- and with toothbrushes and toothpaste. By the time two other calls had come through (at 2:30 and 4 a.m.), St. David's had 69 travellers bedded down in the hall and sanctuary. A television was operating in the library and snacks were available in the kitchen.

In the morning, more help arrived, equipped with willing hands, baked goods and cars with which to take the stranded visitors to local sites and stores. Among the many groups in the city that offered help was the congregation of St. Andrew's Church, St. John's. When it became apparent no one would be able to resume travelling for at least another day, a pot-luck supper and evening concert were organized. Among the entertainers was one of the stranded passengers, Previn Moore, an American pianist and vocalist living in Germany.

There were many interesting stories among the passengers. Rev. David Renwick, minister of Second Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, had been ordained in The Presbyterian Church in Canada. He paid a visit to St. Andrew's Church for a surprise reunion with its minister, Rev. David Sutherland, and with Rev. Ian Wishart of St. David's Church, both of whom had participated in his ordination. Dr. Alvin Crawford, a noted orthopaedic surgeon from Cincinnati, Ohio, took the opportunity to visit the local Health Sciences Centre. Margaret Ewers, the only passenger from one flight to be staying at St. David's, had her fears allayed when the pilot came to the church to assure her she would not be left behind.

And there was at least one thing all the travellers had in common -- heartfelt gratitude for the hospitality they received. As Alvin Crawford, the stranded surgeon, put it, "Once you have been in a situation like this and have had this kind of care, you can never look at things in the same way." (Based on a report by Ian Wishart)