The National Council of Churches USA invites you to join us for a very special virtual memorial service on Sunday, May 24 at 5 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 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 Elpidophoros, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Ecumenical Officer and Diocesan Legate, Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop, 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
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. The names of loved ones who have died from COVID-19 will also be listed during the service. 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 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. We look forward to our time of remembering, mourning, and celebrating the lives of loved ones.