In person
Outside your house of worship, while wearing a mask and maintaining social distance.
When we see our shared humanity, we strengthen our commitment to each other and to our democracy.
Mourning Into Unity is a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the unvoiced grief so many of us feel.
The pandemic has laid bare cruel fissures in our society. So much loss is being endured: loss of life, loss of jobs, loss of health insurance, loss of safe schools.
When we grieve as one, we reject efforts to use the ravages of this disease and its cruel and disproportionate impacts on the most vulnerable to divide us.
What are Mourning Into Unity vigils?
Churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country will be hosting two candlelight vigils outside their houses of worship (HOW) on two successive Mondays: October 12th and 19th.
What are our goals?
To come together as a nation to mourn our devastating losses and declare our unity as Americans and people of faith. When we see our shared humanity, we strengthen our commitment to each other and our democracy.
"It’s easier to be mad or scared than it is to be sad. But being scared or mad will not lead to healing -- only mourning can do that." - Rev. Brenda Kneece, South Carolina
Led by faith leaders and healthcare professionals
Faith community members can choose whether to participate from home or from their parked cars, where they can see and hear the event via Zoom. After each vigil participants can continue online in hosted chat rooms to grieve personal and shared losses experiences. All in-person events will have social distancing and mask usage.
Proclaiming our shared grief and reclaiming our unity
During the second vigil, the Washington, DC host community will process to the White House with a length of purple fabric representing the total number of US Covid deaths as of mid-October.
Participating safely during a pandemic
You choose how to participate in a way that is best for you and your loved ones.
Online
From your home via Zoom at the Reimagine website. There is even a way to digitally light a candle during that portion of the vigil! Then stay online and join others for a hosted discussion.
From parked cars on-site
Drive to your house of worship or nearby street where you can watch and hear the vigil via Zoom. Looking left and right, you will see other participants in their cars. Cars can be decorated with symbols of mourning, such as "fairy lights" on the interior dashboard. When the vigil lights their tapers, cars can turn on their headlights. Sites can choose whether to end the vigil with a car procession around the house of worship.
View the schedule and and register today.
Coming SoonLaunching a vigil in your community
View the toolkit
We’ve made it easy to come on board. Click here for a toolkit on everything you need to know about starting a Mourning Into Unity vigil in your own community.
Attend an orientation
Join us for an orientation where we will teach you how to organize your own vigil on Tuesday, September 29th at 9 AM PT.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:50)
Participating Hosts
Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco, CA
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Tampa, FL
Union Congregational United Church of Christ, West Palm Beach, FL
Wesley United Methodist Church, Kenosha, WI
First United Methodist Church, Kenosha, WI
Community United Methodist Church, Huntington Beach, CA
Islamic House of Wisdom, Dearborn Heights, MI
Greater New Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Detroit, MI
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA
Church of the Epiphany, Washington, DC
Reformation Lutheran Church, Columbia, SC
Marshall Memorial Methodist Church, Anderson, SC
Ebenezer United Methodist Church, Anderson, SC
New Mexico Conference of Churches, Albuquerque, NM
Carthage College, Kenosha, WI
First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Seattle, WA
Bedford Presbyterian Church, Bedford, NH
Please support Mourning Into Unity with a donation
ContributeMeet the Organizers
Amy Sommers
Amy Sommers is a civic activist who seeks to promote inclusive democracy through involvement with groups such as P4Progress, Common Power, and other voter protection and participation initiatives. Previously, she was a lawyer engaged in international law practice, with a particular focus on China. Whether one is negotiating an international joint venture or mobilizing voters in marginalized communities, an ability to assess competing considerations and synthesize them in a cohesive manner to achieve a desired goal turns out to be a useful skill.
Mary Claude Foster
Mary Claude Foster is an emerging activist who spent 30 years circumnavigating the globe as a network television news journalist covering “both sides” of every story. She's interviewed world leaders, covered international conflicts, US presidential politics, race, and immigration. Now retired, she is enjoying finding her own voice on issues she cares about and working for inclusive democracy through groups like P4Progress and Common Power. She has a particular interest in the intersection of politics and religion.
Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization aimed at transforming our experience of dying, grieving...and living. We believe that in facing death, we begin to live more fully. Since COVID, we have been hosting virtual candlelight vigils that bring people together from across the country to honor all those we've lost. It is important at this exact moment of history for there to be a concentrated effort to create more spaces for mourning and unity.
Thank you
Logo design by Alex Britton
Amy Sommers headshot by Jeff Berryman