Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prayed Friday to pay "homage in a weak way to those whose lives were lost in a mean and infamous attack."
At the request of President George W. Bush, Hinckley and other church leaders addressed American Latter-day Saints via a noontime broadcast from Salt Lake City. Dressed almost exclusively in red, white and blue, about 250 Carson City Latter-day Saints attended the National Pray and Remembrance Day service at the church's stake center on Saliman Drive. Some came with flag pins, a small girl waved a flag-printed bandanna and most were emotional during the hour-long broadcast.
In his comments, Hinckley said people came to the prayer service with a broken heart and a subdued spirit. He reminded listeners to be grateful for the men and women who put their safety before their own when responding to the New York and Washington, D.C. terrorist attacks which brought our treasured land to sorrow, Hinckley said.
His remarks peppered with references to Jesus Christ, Hinckley said the families of those taken in the attack could find comfort in that "the immortality of the human soul is certain."
"By the power of thy Holy Spirit, let those who mourn know death is not the end," Hinckley said.
He said we remain "one nation under God and asked that His "sure hand of providence guide our nation."
"Preserve it, strengthen it, that it may be forever a home of the brave and a land of the free," Hinckley said.
Also, Hinckley prayed Americans would be "ever diligent to detect (terrorism) and fearless to oppose it."
Broadcast from from the Salt Lake Conference Center, two huge American flags hung over a black-clad Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose members sang several songs including "Where Can I Turn for Peace" and "Nearer My God to Thee" and "America the Beautiful."
