At Pasadena Vigil Thursday, Prayers for Texas and America

The tableau was stark and heartbreaking. Set in neat rows on the front lawn  of First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, facing Colorado Boulevard, were 21 school chairs, each with a name and a photo of a smiling face attached. They were the faces and names of each of the children and teachers killed Tuesday in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas.

“This was heartbreaking to put together,” said Reverend Dr. Amy Aitken. “But we wanted to give them a place, a sacred place, so we put their names and faces here.”

During the vigil,  Reverend Aitken added, “We were all at a staff meeting yesterday, and after the news from Uvalde, amidst everything else going on, we were all so exhausted. But there is something, when children are cut down at school, that is so utterly incomprehensible, that we wanted to create a safe space for our community, a place where people can come together and at least have a moment.”

Aitken said that the church had received “lots of people stopping by,” and “lots of tears.”

More than two dozen church members, residents, and friends gathered in a circle in front of the church, candles in hand, offering tears and prayers and soothing words for each other. 

Along with the photos and chairs for the victims of the Uvalde shooting, church staff also read aloud the names of those shot and killed in recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and in Laguna Hills. 

Nearby, paper dove cutouts with personal messages hung from small trees, and strangers shook hands and embraced each other in their shared sorrow.

Asked what she hoped would be the result of the vigils and other similar events across the country following a rash of mass shootings in the country over at least the past month, Reverend Jennifer Chapman said, “Sometime it’s hard to be hopeful, but I think that when we come together in times like this, we remind each other that we are not powerless, and we are not alone, and that we can come together and unite, knowing that so many people in our country feel the same way about wanting to have more gun control, about wanting there to be stricter laws to make sure that people are safe.”

“So,” she continued, “I think we just have to find ways to come together across political lines, and across religious boundaries, we just all need to come together for the sake of peace and unity and safety for our kids, and for our society.”