On Sunday, hundreds of people attended a service at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas to pray for the victims of the flooding in Texas.
Over 600 people attended the church in North Dallas. Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church was the home parish of Lila Bonner, 9, one of the many children who lost their lives at the all-girls Christian camp, Camp Mystic.
“This service is meant to be that safe, calm space where we come together to be reminded of God’s presence,” said the Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata, per The New York Times.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me,” the congregation read in unison.
Over 250 names that parishioners and community members submitted were recited at the end of the service, including many of the girls who died or remain missing.
Dick Eastland, Camp Mystic’s director, was also included in the list. Mr. Eastland reportedly lost his life trying to save campers during the flooding.
The service concluded with the congregation singing “Abide With Me,” a hymn that pleads for God’s presence during times of sorrow and anguish.
Following the service, teary-eyed attendees hugged one another and wrote prayers and messages for the Bonner family. Some attendees took small fuzzy pompoms from a jar, a gesture honoring a Camp Mystic tradition.
In attendance was Holly Lacour, 30, who began attending the camp when she was just nine years old. Ever since, she has only missed a few summers at the camp, eventually growing into a medical resident and, most recently, working at the camp’s infirmary.
“He cared about every single girl like we were his daughters,” said Ms. Lacour about Mr. Eastland.
“I spent more Father’s Days with him than with my own dad,” she said.
Lila had recently attended the church’s Vacation Bible School day camp. She and her family were relatively new members of the church, according to Father Girata.
“There’s a saying people like to attribute to Christian theology, which is ‘God will never give you more than you can handle,’” he said.
“It’s terrible theology. Actually, the entire point of Christ is that we cannot handle the pain of this world. Jesus carries the pain that is too much for us to bear.”