LEWISTON – As President George W. Bush placed his hand on the Bible and swore his oath Thursday, a dozen people gathered at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Lewiston and prayed.
Led by the priest-in-charge, the Rev. Larney Otis, they gathered in a circle. They prayed for unity, forgiveness and health.
“We pray for continued blessings on all peacemakers, on leaders who value peace and on everyone who promotes nonviolent solutions to conflicts,” they said together.
It was a reference to more than the newly inaugurated war president.
“The church tries to shine a light,” Otis said. It’s bigger than the policies of a single politician. The duty of the church is to pray for all people, she said.
Yet, in being timed to coincide with the inaugural ceremony, this was a new kind of service.
The 150-year-old church overlooking Kennedy Park began the trend last fall, meeting the Sunday before the presidential election.
In both cases, the services were explicitly nonpartisan, praying for strength and direction, Otis said.
Given the Thursday service’s noontime start, few people were able to attend.
“Most of our members are at work,” Otis said as she readied the sanctuary. She lit candles and prepared for Communion. Moments after the service began, she gathered everyone at the front of the church, where they stood in a semicircle and sang. One woman strummed a guitar. Another drummed.
“I’ve got peace like a river in my soul,” they sang. “I ain’t gonna study war no more.”
Longtime member Bonnie Gammon said she used the service as a way of ridding herself of bad feelings.
“I sing to help me,” she said. “And I pray for other people.”
At the service’s end, all gathered in a circle again and held hands. It’s something that Otis rarely does.
As they sang “We Shall Overcome,” she smiled, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
“I felt the spirit of God,” she said. “I feel it in my body, like a charge of electricity.”
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