EASTHAMPTON — With a horrifying mass shooting and cataclysmic hurricanes filling headlines in recent weeks, around 20 members of the Easthampton Congregational Church gathered Wednesday to pray for all of those affected.
“We come together to remind ourselves that we need to join together,” the Rev. Sherry Tucker told those gathered in front of the church just off Main Street. “And, in the words of the late Tom Petty, ‘We won’t back down.’”
The prayer vigil was meant to honor and pray for those affected by Sunday’s mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as three powerful hurricanes that have devastated large swaths of the country.
“I think people get shaken by so many events in a row,” Tucker told the Gazette. “We don’t want to get numb to it… We want to stay really present to what’s going on and be able to help in whatever way we can.”
Praying, church members said, is both a way to help, as well as a way to overcome so much tragedy.
“I do believe that whenever we gather, that we bring each other strength and hope,” said congregation member Raymah Hutchinson. “Community praying together is powerful.”
After Tucker’s prayer for those killed, wounded and affected by the shooter in Las Vegas, Ellen Cogen, the church’s choir director, led church members in song as they lit candles in remembrance.
“There is more love somewhere,” she sang, her voice projecting out to Main Street, where drivers slowed down and craned their necks to see what the gathering was all about. “And don’t let them take your love from you.”
The prayers then moved to those hurt in any way by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
“May they have the courage to face the long road of rebuilding ahead,” Tucker said, then led those gathered in the Lord’s Prayer.
The wind whipped through the church’s yard as the vigil came to a close, congregants holding hands over their flames to keep them from going out.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.