SCRANTON, Pa. — It was a moment of mourning, reflection, and hope for healing.
Faith leaders from Scranton came together online to mourn all those who have died from COVID-19.
This is a marker that we must not allow to pass unnoted," said Reverend Rebecca Barnes, of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and president of the Scranton Area Ministerium.
Mayor Paige Cognetti declared June 1st a Day of Mourning and Lament in the City of Scranton, marking the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans and 170 residents of Lackawanna County.
With so many families having to lay their loved ones to rest during the pandemic without a proper funeral, the prayer service was meant to honor those lives lost.
"I cannot imagine having a loved one to say goodbye at this time," said Mayor Cognetti.
"These are not anonymous, nameless persons," said Rev. Barnes.
"O God in heaven, hear our hearts cry out for the loss of those who will never be mere numbers to us," said Yerodin Lucas, Director of Equity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator at Marywood University, during a prayer.
There was prayer, singing, and a symbolic ringing of the bells.
But no one could forget about the anger, heartbreak, and chaos that has blanketed the nation in recent days.
"The unrest that we're seeing across the country is not unrelated to COVID-19. Within the 105,000 deaths, we know there's a disproportionate number of people who have died because they have come from poverty and they have underlying health conditions that make them susceptible to the virus because they've been in situations where they haven't had access to the health care they've needed throughout their lives."
Mayor Cognetti went on to say that one of the solutions to this division is communities coming together in groups, just like how the group of faith leaders did today.
She also shared a message of hope: June 1 marks a new week, a new month, and hopefully a new beginning.
"Today as we begin this new month, I am hopeful that we are marking the beginning of the end of, certainly not the end of COVID-19, we have to live with COVID-19, but the beginning of a time where we learn to live with it, where we live in a new normal, where we can begin to reopen our economy, reopen our businesses, our organizations, for the faith leaders out there: reopen the doors to your congregations and begin our social lives again."