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Area Churches Busy After Connecticut Shootings

On the Sunday after the shootings in Connecticut, people at area churches prayed for the victims, and the families grieving for lost loved ones. At the Parker H...

On the Sunday after the shootings in Connecticut, people at area churches prayed for the victims, and the families grieving for lost loved ones.

At the Parker Hill Community Church in Clarks Summit, Bonnie McCall sang with the church band, and prayed with the congregation, two days after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

"I`m so glad I can be praying for these people," she said. "I know God can make himself known to them."

Parker Hill Community Church Pastor Mark Stuenzi knew he`d have a full house Sunday, with people searching for hope, comfort, and answers.

"It`s hard to give answers, because there seem to be no clear, easy answers to a tragedy like this," said the pastor.

For some, this Sunday gave them a chance to pray for those they`ve seen in the images on TV of the horror that occurred in Newtown.

The remember images of fear at the school, and images of the educators and the children in happier times before their lives were cut short.

Dan and Dana Naylor of Nicholson wanted to share this experience with their children.

"It`s nice to have friends, and people that we consider family close by and within our church," said Dan.

So many felt like the Naylors felt as the church was packed, the way it often is after a national tragedy.

"It suddenly brings people face to face with their own mortality, and the limits of human power, and they do show up," said Pastor Stuenzi.

"It just makes you want to hold your children a little tighter and closer every night, when you think about what happened," said Dana Naylor.

"Just being together, and being of one accord, and you`re praying for the same thing," said Bonnie McCall between services.

For her, it was a day to connect with parents and grandparents of victims in Connecticut through prayer and song.

"It`s really, really powerful," said Bonnie McCall.

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