Prayers of Joy, Thanks : War aftermath: Congregants at churches throughout the San Fernando Valley give expression to their relief and their faith.

In Chatsworth, a Baptist congregation gave a hero’s welcome to an Air Force captain returning from war duty overseas. At a Pacoima church, the pastor compared Iraq’s defeat with the drowning of the Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.

The pastor of a Sun Valley church warned of the coming of Armageddon. And in San Fernando, a Catholic congregation with more than 100 members in the Persian Gulf sang its thanks to the strains of mariachi music.

Six weeks ago, on the first Sunday following the outbreak of war, members of these four churches were filled with anxiety and fear as they prayed for the safe return of their sons and daughters, husbands and wives.

On Sunday, they gathered again, this time to offer thanks. The tension of the last month had lifted, replaced by relief and joy.

It was the same at church services throughout the San Fernando Valley. Sunday night, at Woodland Hills Community Church, more than 500 Muslims, Christians and Jews gathered for an interfaith prayer service for peace.

The congregation at Shepherd of the Hills Baptist Church in Chatsworth gave Air Force Reserve Capt. Chuck Golden a standing ovation after the congregation recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

“We’ve been saying it all during the war,” said the Rev. Jess Moody, church pastor. “We’re red, white and blue all the way.”

Several hundred worshipers joined the choir, appropriately named “Amen,” in “The Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by a rousing rendition of “God Bless the U.S.A.”

“I was completely unprepared for the overwhelming support for the war here,” Golden told fellow church members from the pulpit. “These guys who are coming back, they have no idea. They’ll be just bowled over at the amount of support.”

Golden, 30, attached to the 115th Tactical Air Lift Squadron at Point Mugu, was one of 200 members of the Air Force Reserves who volunteered for a 32-day mission to fly ordnance from England to bases in Turkey and southern Spain.

After church, many congregants gathered around Golden, the men shaking his hand, the women embracing him. Especially pleasing to Golden was a congratulatory handshake from fellow church member Robert Colaco, 33. Colaco was born in Baghdad.

“I admire the sacrifice that Chuck and our troops made,” Colaco said. “I think that our troops need to know that even naturalized American citizens of Iraqi descent support them.”

For Bishop Benjamin J. Crouch, pastor of Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ in Pacoima, the allied victory over Iraq brought to mind a biblical image--the waters of the Red Sea closing in on the Egyptian army pursuing the Israelites.

“Praise the Lord for all His blessings on us,” he said. “For on the 26th day of last month, guns began to cease. Peace began to spread over like a blanket. . . .”

“Many lives were lost and, yet, war has ceased. Thank God, Pharaoh and his army drowned in the sea. Thank God, for we know our Lord is on our side. We give Him the praise, we give Him the glory,” he intoned, the congregation responding with applause.

“Amen!” some worshipers shouted.

“Hallelujah!” shouted others.

Six weeks ago, the mood was far different.

A worried Cathy Purdom fervently prayed for the safety of her sister, Sybil Chapman, an Army warrant officer serving in the Gulf.

“She couldn’t be here, so I did it for her. It’s a feeling of oneness in the spirit,” she had said then. “I have hope; I feel that she’s going to come back. And I think it’s going to be over soon.”

Six weeks later, she was still worried, but her hope--and faith--had grown.

“I haven’t heard from my sister, but I feel she’s still alive,” she said. “The Lord’s giving me this feeling.”

Twice a day for the last three Sundays, the Rev. James MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, had attempted to explain the war within a biblical framework to 3,000 worshipers. But on Sunday, he addressed the war only briefly.

“We have many things to thank the Lord for today, not the least of which is the cessation of the war in the Gulf,” MacArthur said. “Today, we give thanks that it was brief. We are thankful there were not so many casualties.”

But, he warned: “Be not under any illusions that the war in the Middle East is over. This was a preview of . . . the ultimate Armageddon.”

At the 8 a.m. Mass at Santa Rosa Catholic Church in San Fernando, the sound of trumpets, guitars and violins of the parish youth mariachi band filled the packed church as the congregation sang, “ Buenos dias, paloma blanca “--”Good morning, white dove.”

The dove refers to the Holy Spirit, but on Sunday, when grateful relatives of soldiers sang the words, it seemed to be the dove of peace.

“We hope that your sons and daughters will be with us soon, very soon,” Father David Ullrich told the congregation in Spanish. “And we offer this Mass, especially, as a thanksgiving, and we pray that the peace will continue.”

For weeks, the photographs of the servicemen and women from Santa Rosa, as well as those of relatives of parish members, have been displayed on a black poster board affixed to a six-foot cross near the altar. At first, there were fewer than 100 pictures, neat rows of men and women in their service uniforms.

Now, the photos number more than 180.

Last week, when President Bush declared an allied victory, the poster board was removed from the cross and placed under the statue of St. Rose of Lima, patron saint of the parish.

A statue of Jesus cloaked in a purple stole--a traditional symbol of the Lenten season--has replaced the cross and photographs, a sign that life at Santa Rosa is returning to normal.