Faith and Health Summit 2022 Mindful Together
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

  • Voices
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Issue Statements
    • Governing Board
    • Careers
  • Programs
    • NC Interfaith Power & Light
      • NCIPL Overview
      • Faith in Action NCIPL
      • NCIPL Articles
      • NCIPL Resources
      • Upcoming Events for NCIPL
      • Contact NCIPL
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • PHW Staff
      • Mini-Grants
      • PHW Collaborative Pledge
      • Faith and Health Summit 2022 Mindful Together
      • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
      • Mental Health Advocacy
      • BIPOC Mental Health Grant
      • Growing Communities of Inclusion: A Faithful Response to HIV
      • Healthy Aging
      • Citizen Science
      • PHW Articles
      • FAQs
  • Priorities
    • Racial Justice
    • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Public Education
    • Farmworkers
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Christian Unity
    • Peace
  • Events
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Publications & Reports
    • Raleigh Report
    • Lectionary
    • Sermons
  • Donate
  • Council Store
  • Show Search

Search NC Council of Churches

Hide Search

Candlelight Vigil Marks Losses to Gun Violence

Aleta Payne, Former Deputy Executive Director · December 11, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Dozens of people gathered at Durham’s Judea Reform Congregation  on the evening of December 10 to mark lives lost or forever changed by gun violence. Speakers shared personal stories and held up ways elected leaders could and should make everyone safer through sensible measures.

In her remarks to those who attended the candlelight vigil, Council Executive Director Jennifer Copeland said:

Each of us here tonight can probably point to an event that galvanized our gaze on the gun culture in this country. For me it was the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007, in Blacksburg, VA.  Before coming to this role at the NC Council of Churches, I was for 16 years a collegiate minister at Duke University.  2007 was right in the middle of my tenure.  I was embedded on a college campus with its sense of youthful energy, open-ended futures, and apparent security.  I absorbed the trauma of that event as personally as anyone could absorb it who was not personally involved.  For those personally involved in acts of gun terror, the horror is unimaginable to me.  And still after so many more headlines, what I remember about my emotions that day eight and a half years ago are still raw.

On that day, 32 people were killed, in the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history and one of the deadliest by a single gunman worldwide. Paris was bad—really bad—but it wasn’t a single shooter.  Sandy Hook, the event we commemorate tonight had 26 victims, 27 if you count the shooter’s mother who was the first person he shot; and I would certainly count her among that massacre.  The total numbers are not the point; the individual loss of life is the point, a loss of life that might be prevented with a few modifications.

We gather tonight to confront a very large number, 90,000 and counting since Sandy Hook three years ago next Monday. Over 3,000 of that number are our neighbors here in NC.  We mourn for them anew tonight, just as we mourned in the opening minutes when news of their death reached us.

But I suspect, like me, you all have a single event, perhaps a personal experience that demands your presence on this chilly December evening.

  • You may personally be a survivor of gun violence.
  • You may be the surviving relative or friend of a victim of gun violence.
  • You may be, like me, able to intimately identify with a single site of gun violence.
  • You may be a compassionate and empathetic person who absorbs any act of violence personally.
  • You may be a human being who cherishes the gift of life and laments its senseless loss anywhere.

We’re all motivated to be here tonight for our own individual reasons. But because we are together, we unite as one body for one reason.  We want things to be different.  We believe things can be different.  Tonight however, we unite on behalf of those for whom it will not be different, those who were the victims of a violence that might have been avoided.  May each of us take that truth into our own lives and direct our energy toward making a difference from this night forward.  Go in peace.

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Good Government, Gun Violence

About Aleta Payne, Former Deputy Executive Director

Aleta Payne first joined the Council staff in the spring of 2001 as the Communications Associate. She continues to oversee that work along with development, represents the Council in several partnership efforts, and serves in other administrative roles, as well. Aleta is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in government and foreign affairs and spent much of her early career as a journalist. She has three young adult sons who continue to come home to Cary for dinner, or at least groceries, and two young adult terrier-mix dogs who keep the nest from feeling too empty.

Reader Interactions

More Like This

Paid Leave Can Help Make Us Well
Politicians’ fear: Too many votes
‘For the People’ – or for whom?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Facebook

Partners in Health and Wholeness

Featured

Candlelight Vigil Marks Losses to Gun Violence

Latest Tweets

Join us for our @healthandfaith Faith and Health Summit! Our theme for this year’s summit is Mindful Together. We want to acknowledge the need for mindful moments that hold our minds, bodies, & spirits. Join us and a well-rounded list of expert speakers: ncchurches.ourpowerb… pic.twitter.com/WSnA…

About 14 hours ago

RT @NCCADP We have so much planned to mark the anniversary of NC's last execution. Read all about it on our blog and make a plan to join us as we say: Never again! #deathpenalty bit.ly/3C0lZkf

About 3 days ago

With the growing threat of the climate crisis, NC is looking toward new ways to get to zero carbon emissions. Last week, @NCIPL staff members Susannah Tuttle & Ren Martin attended a public hearing in Charlotte. wfae.org/energy-envi…

About 4 days ago

RT @MomsRising Moms of color don't have adequate break time or private space to pump. Urge lawmakers to support breastfeeding & working mothers! moms.ly/3Qi3gnN _ Las mamás de color no tienen un tiempo de descanso adecuado o un espacio privado para bombear. #NBM22 #IPumpedHere #PUMPAct pic.twitter.com/V3Yw…

About 5 days ago

Welcome our newest staff member, Ren Martin, NCIPL & Eco-Justice Connection Program Coordinator! Ren aims to uplift and empower people to create a more sustainable future for us all. We are excited Ren has joined our team! pic.twitter.com/3VLZ…

About 2 weeks ago

Follow @ncchurches

Latest Tweets

RT @ncchurches Join us for our @healthandfaith Faith and Health Summit! Our theme for this year’s summit is Mindful Together. We want to acknowledge the need for mindful moments that hold our minds, bodies, & spirits. Join us and a well-rounded list of expert speakers: ncchurches.ourpowerb… pic.twitter.com/WSnA…

About 11 hours ago

Do you know what grant is right for your faith community? Check out the graphic below to learn about the differences between grants. Click here to learn more informationhttps://www.ncchurches.org/programs/phw/phw-mini-grants/ pic.twitter.com/umXb…

Last week

RT @FaithCompassWFU If we look at the HIV epidemic as an opportunity to bring healing, justice, and equity to those who have been marginalized and impacted by the health industry and society at large, we can generate more good in our communities. #breakthestigma #faithcompassWFU pic.twitter.com/FPIB…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @ncchurches This month we are excited to announce our @healthandfaith Interim Co-Directors: Jessica Stokes & Nicole Johnson. Jessica & Nicole have dedicated their hard work to supporting faith communities across NC. They will continue to do this work while overseeing the PHW program. pic.twitter.com/SU8Q…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @ncchurches This July, during BIPOC Mental Health Month, we invite faith communities of color to think about programs, initiatives, and ideas that will lift up BIPOC Mental Health and use the grant money @healthandfaith will offer to make that idea come to light! ncchurches.org/bipoc… pic.twitter.com/DMwT…

About 2 weeks ago

Follow @healthandfaith

Latest Tweets

RT @interfaithpower 🧵1/The Senate voted to pass the single biggest climate & clean energy investment in our nation’s history! Read statements on the passage from the IPL network: interfaithpowerandli… #Faiths4Climate #GetClimateDone

About 12 hours ago

RT @interfaithpower Join us tomorrow for a discussion about encouraging our #faith communities to #vote by offering sermons, divrei Torah, and khutbahs on the importance of #voting. Register at ow.ly/W6so50K5kqI #FaithClimateJusticeVoter #Vote2022 #VoteReady #Faiths4Climate #interfaith pic.twitter.com/6Ecw…

About 12 hours ago

Press Conference happening now #CLT #NCCarbonPlan #FossilFreeNC pic.twitter.com/Rizq…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @ClimateNexus Faith-based organizations, including @CreationJustice and @NCIPL, are hosting an evening of discussions and workshops on building climate resilience on August 18 from 5 pm to 8 pm ET. Register here: bit.ly/resiliencesum… pic.twitter.com/fuz8…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @averydavislamb Preachers and pastors! This weekend when you pray for and preach on the heat waves, wildfires, and other disasters, try mentioning that these are intensified by climate change. Here's what I've been praying...

About 3 weeks ago

Follow @ncipl

Latest Tweets

Copyright © 2022 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine