I GUESS we shall all remember for the rest of our lives what we were doing when "the first war of the 21st Century" broke out. I was in Oxford with 80 other clergymen from the diocese of London. The Bishop of London had asked us to meet in St Catherine's College for a conference. I had been looking forward to it: a welcome three days' break from my routine in the City.

Last Tuesday afternoon, I walked out of St Catherine's into the town centre and spent an hour browsing in the famous Blackwell's bookshop. Then I meandered for a while, gazing upwards at the dreaming spires, called in a pub for a pint and walked back to my room where I sat by the window and spent the rest of the afternoon with my head in a book.

The evening service was in St Cross Church. I arrived just as the priest was announcing the terrible news from the US. It was the first I had heard of it. The Bishop gave a short address then the oldest priest among us - Chad Varah, 89, founder of the Samaritans - surprised us all with a spontaneous recitation of those words from The Burial of the Dead: "In the midst of life we are in death..." I spent the rest of the evening in the common room with my colleagues in front of the TV screen, watching the horrors unfold on CNN.

Part of my job as Rector of St Michael's in the City of London is to be Chaplain to the Stock Exchange. So first thing last Wednesday morning I went back to London. It was becoming apparent that there were many British casualties, colleagues of my parishioners in the City, in and around The World Trade Centre. And many of the Americans who died would have been known - through phone and fax and e-mail - to London traders. I announced I would hold a Requiem Mass in church next day.

It's fair to say that, in common with national trends, most City traders are not regular churchgoers. Nevertheless, half an hour before the service was due to start, they drifted towards church like leaves blown along in the breeze. At 12.30pm the place was filled with 250, come to pray, to grieve and to pay their respects. I did it straight. No mushy welcome. No sentimental, touchy-feely mawkishness. Just the austere but powerfully-comforting words from the book: "Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let light perpetual shine upon them... I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand upon the earth at the latter day... and in my flesh shall I see God... I am the Resurrection and the life, saith the Lord". The whole service was received in the deepest silence I have ever felt. It was similar the next day when I opened the church for the three minutes silence. Another palpable quietness. Many people. Great dignity.

When the bombing starts and the special forces enter those states which sponsor terrorism, London will be a prime target for retaliation. In what form we can only guess. Readers of this column know that I do not usually find myself singing from the same hymnsheet as Tony Blair. But in the Commons debate he said: "We know that they would go further and use chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons. It is time this terrorist arms trade was exposed, disrupted and stamped out." On this issue Sir, you have my fullest support.

Published: Tuesday, September 18, 2001