The Newtown Interfaith Council (NIC) welcomed members of the community and beyond to a 12/14 Service of Remembrance on Saturday, December 14. Held at Trinity Episcopal Church, the event serves as a public gathering for people to honor and remember those lost 12 years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School through music, prayer, reflections, readings, and candlelight.

The church also livestreamed the service for people to attend virtually.

Trinity Minister of Music Jennifer Sisco played piano as people quietly gathered into the church and took their seats. At both sides towards the front of the room were two tables covered with green tablecloths, each one filled with dozens of candles in votive candle holders. While most candles were clear, 26 dark green candles were formed in the shape of a heart at the center of both tables, intended to honor the 26 lives lost on that same day 12 years ago.

Trinity Church Director and Reverend Andrea Castner Wyatt warmly welcomed everyone to the service, whether they were attending in person or online. Castner Wyatt, on behalf of those at Trinity Church and the members of the NIC, offered everyone peace of heart, mind, body, and spirit.

Especially on that day, she said they hold in their hearts the family members and friends of those who died. She added, “We pray for our whole community, for all victims of gun violence, and for our nation. [Today,] we invite you to make yourselves at home in our home.”

Newtown Congregational Church Pastor and Reverend Matt Crebbin spoke next, welcoming everyone to this moment of remembrance. He said that the service not only gives everyone time to acknowledge their grief, but that it also is a space where they continue on their journey through grief together.

After asking the audience how they, as a community, find their way after they have been broken by trauma and loss, Crebbin said that the Interfaith Council would be the first to tell them that they are not sure. He continued by saying that the challenge for communities across the globe is that no one has all the answers. However, what they have and will continue to do is to “try and find their way together.”

While they share a common loss, Crebbin noted that everyone is on their own different journey with grief. One of the things they can do is to help each other on their journeys through love and support.

“And that’s what we’ll attempt to do today; to remember, to honor ... those who have been lost to us,” Crebbin said. “So let us come together now. Let us nourish community among us. Let us remind ourselves that we are stronger when we find a way to be in community together.”

Following Crebbin, NIC members Leo McIlrath and Steven Bamberg shared poetry, reflective prayers, and passages of sacred texts. McIlrath offered a reflective prayer that called for people to sow love amidst hatred, bring hope against despair, and to “let us be light” where there is darkness.

Before reading a passage about how sorrow can enlarge the domain of life, Bamberg shared a few words on how no matter how much trauma we suffer or how much evil there is in the world, people can come and stand stronger together.

“Out of love may come sorrow, but out of sorrow can come light for others who dwell in darkness. And out of the light we bring to others will come light for ourselves,” Bamberg read.

Kaela Zemo walked to the front of the room and performed a touching rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” with accompaniment from Jennifer Sisco on piano.

Afterwards came a period of silent reflection. Trinity Church staff opened the front doors of the church, and those attending heard the church’s bell ring 26 times, once for each person lost 12 years ago.

The readings of poetry and sacred texts continued with Dr John Woodall of the Baha’i faith and Love Has a Home Here Founder Bill Donaldson, who are also both active members of the Interfaith Council.

Woodall said that they have been drawn together in life by something that none of them would have asked for, and that these bonds have nonetheless connected everyone together over these past 12 years. He said that the great challenge of life is to “suffer successfully” and not have pain overwhelm and bring out the worst qualities in us, whether it be rage and resentment or hopelessness and despair.

He called on everyone to “ground ourselves in that place of love, kindness, and compassion.”

“We need community for that. We need each other to help us in those moments that we feel that utter powerlessness,” Woodall said. “So let’s ground ourselves there, in the loving kindness and compassion that arises from that place ... so that we don’t continue through anger and despair or pit ourselves against each other, but to come together in our grief with appreciation for the loving kindness and gift that life is.”

Donaldson said that one of the things he likes as an interfaith minister is that he gets to learn a little bit about a lot of religions. One of the things he says is at the heart of every faith tradition is community, and that the strength of community is in the connection they share.

He continued by saying that the Interfaith Council’s current mission is to nourish community, and to give back and strengthen that connection. By coming together, he said, everyone in turn creates a space where their differences do not divide them, but instead “enrich the tapestry of our shared humanity.”

As Donaldson encouraged everyone to light a candle later during the service, he invited everyone to reflect on “that divine spark we all share, not just within each other, but all things.”

“That light is within each of us, waiting to shine,” Donaldson continued. “If we can choose to be light for ourselves and for each other, we’ll create ripples of compassion that extend far beyond this moment; nourishing not just our community, but the world.”

Closing out the readings and reflections was Grandmother Nancy Andry, who shared that she is of indigenous heritage and will bring a “somewhat different perspective” to the service.

She said that “in our indigenous culture, here in North America, we have no words for goodbye.” Instead, she said that souls move from this realm to another realm, and that, in turn, people savor every moment they have with each other while they can.

Andry asked everyone to reach out to the person next to them and to give them a hug; to share in the companionship and community of that moment through human touch. She invited everyone to join her in singing a travel song, saying that music is a great medicine and can “open and heal our hearts.”

“We cannot understand what happened in 2012 ... but [those we lost] will always be here. They will be in our hearts,” Andry said. “We will meet again one day. There is no goodbye.”

After NIC member Stephen Volpe led everyone in a prayer for the community, attendees then had the option to come forward and light candles of remembrance. Attendees could also light a hand-held candle to carry back with them to their seat for the Closing Blessing.

Jennifer Sisco played piano as many attendees moved up to the front, quietly grabbing a hand-held candle or lighting one of the candles set on the two tables.

Crebbin took to the stage again for closing remarks. As he held up a light candle of his own, Crebbin said that its flame “casts a shadow of a doubt upon the power of darkness.”

He then shared how Christians may have stories about Jesus’s birth, but nobody knows the actual date. When they decided as a church and community when they might celebrate his birth, Crebbin said that Christians realized that the light shining in the midst of darkness was a powerful image.

While he could not let attendees leave with a lit candle, he encouraged everyone to look at the their candle as it burns and to feel its warmth.

“Realize the beauty that is there in front of you. Behold it, and see the power of light that will not be defeated by darkness,” Crebbin said. “And now I ask you to blow the light of your candle out, for my friends, you must be — and you are — the light.”

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.