Night of Remembrance: A Covid-19 Interactive Memorial
Structured Liturgy
Good evening and welcome to A Night of Remembrance and Interactive Covid-19 Memorial. You will notice at your tables a single chair with a cloth draped over it and a simple floral place setting to remind us of the tables around the world that are missing loved ones. Just this week we surpassed a global death toll of 5 million, and so we will begin this evening in a moment of silence for these families.
We now know that
sometime in November of 2019, in what seems like a lifetime ago, SARS-CoV2
entered our lives, soon to be known as the Coronavirus , Covid-19, Covid, or
just ‘Rona. What might have begun as a far away disease off the radar for many
people, would soon be declared a Public Health Emergency of International
Concern by the World Health Organization and it reached that status of pandemic
on March 11, 2020. Many of you learned
this news while away on a spring break mission trip, on beach, a plane, or
sitting at home wondering if you would be returning to school at all, but
unless you were on the West Coast, or your family was overseas chances were
your life was still relatively unaffected.
It’s hard even now
then, to imagine to rapidness with which our circumstances changed. How could a
disease in another country become a disease ravaging the western seaboard from
a cruise ship to the entire state of California on lockdown. Then we turn to
the east and New York City tears our heart out like it hasn’t in almost 20
years. We’ve cried for New York City first responders before, but not like
this. Before we know it the seasons have changed, Easter dinners, and Passover
and Iftar feasts have been consumed alone. It’s May, and at least 100,000
people in the United State alone have died.
We learn a lot
about ourselves turn that time. We learn about Zoom bombers and how to tell the
difference between asynchronous and synchronous classes. We get creative. We
remember to reduce, reuse and recycle. For once we are grateful for phone calls
over texts. We long to be together. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the
racial reckoning of the summer of 2020 and what we learned from that too. What
we’re still learning. 2020 broke us wide open and exposed our deepest fears and
our truest humanity. It reminded us what mattered and we all have had to
wrestle with that if we were honest with ourselves.
This past school
year was all about more firsts and survival. We wore masks and Covid tested. We
isolated and quarantined. Some of us stayed home, some of us took online
classes, others hybrid, others were full time in the classroom. We had some
versions of our college experience, but we could not ignore another wave of
Covid in our midst and the importance of mitigating outbreaks. We all had to do
our best.
This school year
has brought with it its own set of contradictions. We finally have a vaccine
and the ability to gather more safely than ever before, but we also have a new
variant and we’ve seen our deadly days yet this pandemic in Waco just this
fall. We all just want to get back to normal but what does that really even
mean? We have an opportunity to make our own version of normal by accepting the
things that have changing and living nto new possibilities. We can still have a
word where we see nurses and grocery store clerks are heroes for the everyday
ways, they make our lives better and the very humanity they carry just as much
as doctors and lawyers. We can thank our teachers for keeping our kids safe and
helping them learn, we can consider it a privilege to be in a classroom with
our peers and we take time to get to know our community and get involved no
matter where our career paths take us. As Mother Teresa said, “we belong to
each other.” And we understand to now more than ever, if we’re willing to live
it.
Today is significant in the Christian calendar for many reasons. We have several important days here in a row. Yesterday was All Saints Day, celebrated by Catholics and some Protestants in Western Church tradition on the 1st. The Eastern Church celebrates a little closer to Easter. Today is All Souls Day also celebrated by Western Catholics and some Protestants. And it’s also the second night of Dia del los Muertos. You may have noticed one of our student orgs has an ofrenda out in front of the SUB in observance right now.
Christian author, Karen Gonzales, who you may have met at the very last Neighbor Night before the pandemic, wrote on her blog today explaining Dia de los Muertos to Christians who might be concerned. She said, “Communing with our ancestors is not about seeing ghosts or talking to floating smoke. It's about the way that our ancestors are still with us--their strength, resilience, survival, and love are worth remembering. They renew us who are still living.” Tonight, we want to do some remembering, remembering the strength and resilience of those that have are no longer with us, but also our own. We have been through more than we allow ourselves to think about, and it’s ok to take a moment a remember that too. We want you to be able to share your story and the story of those you have lost. We may cry together, We may laugh together, we may sit in silence together, but tonight after a pandemic marked by separation, it is so good just to do any of those things together. You are not alone. You were never truly alone. Take advantage of our togetherness here, find a friend, text a friend, make a friend, and remember you are alive. And we are thankful for it.
For All Of Us
Notice Rest
For the movers and shakers too busy to pause. They will see to it a new way forward. They carry us on their backs, but their necks stoop forward
For we are all too heavy
Make Rest
For those waiting for news, and those still hearing the same phone call again and again
For those whose dreams drift to hospital bedsides, to words left unspoken,
Breath! Breath in all the precious air your lungs will hold and exhale as loudly as you wish, for there is no judgment in living.
You are alive. You are alive.
You are alive. You are alive.
Sharyl West Loeung
Thanks be to God.
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