The coronavirus does not allow us the public rituals we wish we could perform marking the passing of the 100,000 U.S. dead of COVID or of the 350,000 around the world.Mourning death is an intensely private act that calls for public ritual. Each of us wants to know that others share our love for the person we have lost and that they stand with us in our pain.
Yesterday the National Council of Churches presented a video memorial service for lives lost. It was very Jesus-centered, more than a little evangelical Black Protestant, multi-lingual, and artful in a good way with violin music and a vocal soloist. Every biblical text you've ever heard at a funeral was included. For an event so clearly organized by a committee, it was powerful. I found myself weeping for a friend who died of cancer several years ago because I knew she would have liked it. If you have a tolerance for this sort of thing, this video is easily as much worth watching as, or alongside, today's tributes to the country's fallen soldiers.
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