Episcopal Press and News
Episcopalians Observe 50th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings
Episcopal News Service. August 31, 1995 [95-1218]
(ENS) With observances in dioceses around the country, the Episcopal Church paused to mark the 50th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The ironic coincidence of the Feast of the Transfiguration with the August 6 anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing prompted numerous reflections on the contrasts between the two events.
"The Transfiguration, in symbols and images too rich for words, is about the heart of Christian faith: that the ultimate power of the universe is present as love in human life," wrote Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia in a meditation distributed to diocesan clergy. "The power of the bombing at Hiroshima, multiplied beyond imagination in the weapons that have threatened the world for 50 years, is a power of force and fear; it is a prophetic judgment that when we rely exclusively on our own achievements, their end is destruction, their promises are ashes."
In San Jose, California, the Very Rev. Philip Getchell, rector of Trinity Cathedral, opened a commemorative service by acknowledging both the awesome power of the atom bomb to vaporize human beings and the equally terrifying power of God to transform Christ into a light of hope. "And there was a blinding flash and faces disappeared," Getchell read, recalling the impact of the bomb's intense heat.
Then, turning to the Gospel reading, he continued, "And His face was transfigured and glistened like the sun."
An observance in Los Angeles was typical in lifting up a vision of peace that transcends differences by stressing the inclusion of diversity. Members of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, founded as a Japanese-speaking congregation in 1907, were active in an interfaith memorial service held by the Nikkei Interfaith Fellowship, which includes both mainline Protestant as well as Buddhist congregations. Following a traditional Taiko drum call to worship and Koto music, Konko, Buddhist, Christian and Tenriko clergy led prayers and meditations for peace. June Kuramoto of the jazzfusion band "Hiroshima" and the Koto String Society accompanied children of various congregations in her composition "A Thousand Cranes," inspired by the story of Sadako, a girl who believed she would survive her Hiroshima wounds if she could fold 1,000 Origami cranes.
Actor Martin Sheen, peace activist Daniel Berrigan, Hiroshima bombing survivors, and representatives of Pax Christi, a Roman Catholic organization for peace, and the Peace Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington participated in prayers for peace outside Washington National Cathedral. A tree on the cathedral's west front was designated the Children's Tree for Peace by Little Friends for Peace, an organization committed to teaching non-violence skills to children.
A Hiroshima Eve interfaith service in Arizona on the theme "For the Healing of Nations" drew 170 people to St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Tucson to focus on remembering and reconciliation. The service included poems from Hiroshima, prayers, scripture readings and other expressions from American Indian, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim participants. Yaqui Indian Deer singers offered blessing songs and performed a deer dance outside the church. The program ended with the lighting of candles for all war dead and was followed by an overnight prayer vigil. At 8:15 a.m. the next day, the tolling of church bells to remember those who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki interrupted the Sunday morning Eucharist.
"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way" was the theme of an evening service at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The service, which started with the ringing of the cathedral bells, included hymns, readings from scripture, a litany for world peace and a retelling of the story of Sadako.
At Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis, an interfaith service included readings from the Bible, the Koran and Buddhist scripture. Prayer, music and story also were part of the worship, which included a procession around the monument in the center of the traffic circle outside the church.
Hindu, Bahai, Christian, Jewish and Native American faiths were represented at an interfaith service at St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo sponsored by the Western New York Peace Center and Women's Action for New Directions. After the service, children of refugees living in the area handed out origami cranes for congregants to hang in Cathedral Park. "Humans must not coexist with nuclear arms," said Judy Metzger, chair of the service planning committee. "We've learned how easy it is to destroy. Now we must learn to create and re-create until there is peace."