‘Healing And Hope’: Madison Churches Hold Public Service To Mourn Those Lost During COVID-19

With church bells ringing in the background, Rev. Jonathan Grieser read the names of more than a dozen people who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grieser is the rector at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, which along with Bethel Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church and St. John’s Lutheran Church held a public service Sunday evening on the Capitol steps to mourn those who died during the pandemic.

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For many who lost loved ones throughout the last year-and-a-half, funerals were out of the question. Wisconsin’s “safer-at-home” order issued in March 2020 considered funerals essential, but gatherings had to have fewer than 10 people in a room.

Sunday’s event created a space for people to mourn those losses together.

Congregants gathered to sing, pray and release butterflies while remembering those who have passed.

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“We’ve gathered today to mourn our losses, which have been deep and painful. We’ve gathered to help each other heal and to celebrate our resilience as a community,” she said. “My wish for each and every one of you — and for our whole community — is that we can find ways to pause and acknowledge and remember our grief. And then out of those moments comes healing and hope.”

For Rev. Mark Fowler, lead pastor at First United Methodist, Sunday’s event was personal.

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He lost his father, Bob Fowler, in December and because of the pandemic, he was unable to see him in the months before he died. He said he didn’t even get to say goodbye.

“I think the thing that was so difficult during COVID was not only the distance and the isolation, but there was no community,” Fowler said. “There was no kind of assurance of a greater life than the one you were living.”

With COVID-19 cases continuing to decline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there’s no longer a need to delay funeral services or visitations.

Now that he’s able to travel again, Fowler plans to return home to visit his family in the suburbs of Boston and celebrate his dad’s life. In the meantime, he said, the service gave him some closure.

“This basically says, life is reemerging, and that gives a great deal of hope,” he said.