A Time to Mourn: An Ecumenical Memorial Service for Lives Lost to COVID19

A Time to Mourn:  An Ecumenical Memorial Service for Lives Lost to COVID19 Online Sunday, May 24 at 6 p.m The National Council of Churches USA invites you to join us for a very special virtual memorial service on Sunday, May 24 at 6 p.m. to honor and remember those who have died from COVID-19. The service, “A Time to Mourn: An Ecumenical Memorial Service for the Lives Lost to COVID-19,” will broadcast on YouTube and Facebook Live. Register to receive the latest updates. Several Christian denominational leaders will be a part of this service, where we will scroll the names we’ve collected of those who have died from COVID-19, including, among others: Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, NCC Chair & President and General Minister, United Church of Christ Bishop Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Armenian Orthodox Church Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Rev. Eddy Aleman, General Secretary, Reformed Church in America Rev. Dr. Teresa Hord Owens, President and General Minister, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Chair, Conference of National Black Churches Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, NCC Vice-Chair and Presiding Prelate, Fifth District, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Minerva Carcaño, California-Nevada Conference, United Methodist Church Father Nicholas Kazarian, Greek Orthodox Church Bishop W. Darin Moore, NCC Immediate Past Chair & Bishop, Mid-Atlantic District, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) The service will include prayers, scripture readings in multiple languages, a moment of silence, inspirational music and a sermonic reflection. To include the name of a loved one who lost their life to this horrific disease, please click here. The novel coronavirus/COVID-19 has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Shelter-in-place orders and restrictions on gathering have made it difficult for us to weep and mourn together. Yet, our nation is in mourning. We are mourning. Now is the time for us to collectively mourn and grieve together, even as we acknowledge that the death toll continues to rise. In this moment, as we consider the words of Ecclesiastes (3:1, 4), “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance…” we set aside this time during the Memorial Day weekend to gather virtually and to weep and mourn together. We hope you will be a part of this special Ecumenical Memorial Service and please invite your family members and friends to join us as well. You may register here. We look forward to our time of remembering, mourning, and celebrating the lives of loved ones. Register for this memorial service via Eventbrite

NCC NOW is a periodic, timely email with brief updates and news from the National Council of Churches. Serving as a leading voice of witness to the living Christ in the public square since 1950,  the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) brings together 38 member communions  and more than 40 million Christians in a common expression of God's love and promise of unity.  http://nationalcouncilofchurches.us