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Lyndon Harris


 Lyndon Harris

LYNDON HARRIS, a former Episcopal priest, began his journey to forgiveness at the foot of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on the fateful morning of September 11, 2001. The heights of ecstasy he experienced in serving the needs of first responders were later to be matched by the depths of his despair as his life unraveled due to PTSD, depression, and a whole lot of bitterness. But the mercy of God, the love of dear friends and the power of forgiveness gave him a new beginning. Harris is a forgiveness coach, workshop leader, global speaker, and community healer. His work after 9/11 has been covered widely, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal. Harris is the coauthor, with Frederic Luskin, of The Forgive for Good Recovery Workbook. His 9/11 memoir, Forgiveness at Ground Zero: A Journey of Service, Loss and Redemption after 9/11 is published by Bloomsbury Academic and available June 27, 2026.  


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EXPERIENCES
    Activity Time Information
    Show Date
    Fri 4 Sep 2026 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM
    Title ShortForgiveness at Ground Zero
    Venue Library
    Experience Description Twenty-five years ago, on the fateful morning of September 11, Lyndon Harris stood at the foot of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the second hijacked plane struck, erupting into an apocalyptic fireball before his eyes. Escaping the devastation, the next morning he returned to his church, Saint Paul’s Chapel—located directly across the street from the ruins of the Twin Towers— and began gathering volunteers to create what became one of the most remarkable relief centers serving first responders at Ground Zero. For over eight months, the chapel became a sanctuary for those laboring in the wreckage. Volunteers served more than 15,000 shifts, providing over half a million meals along with chiropractic care, massage therapy, podiatry, music, and simple human kindness to exhausted workers. Yet beneath this extraordinary outpouring of compassion, institutional tensions grew. Eventually Lyndon resigned, and his life unraveled under the weight of bitterness, PTSD, and depression—a season of despair that lasted more than a decade. Surprisingly, forgiveness—and the mercies of God—opened a path to his healing. Join Lyndon for the story behind his memoir, Forgiveness at Ground Zero, the firsthand account of his forgiveness journey and this pivotal period in US history, illustrated with photographs from his personal collection. This is a story not only of tragedy, but of courage, service, and the hard-won path to new beginnings through forgiveness.