On Saturday, religious leaders gathered for a prayer service at the Lehighton borough park amphitheater to promote healing within the community and the nation.

The event included 10 different clergy members from throughout the region, from Brodheadsville to Mahanoy City. The pastors spoke and led prayers which were each focused on a different topic in need of healing.

Some of these major points of prayer included law enforcement, medical workers and solutions for the coronavirus pandemic, the members of the executive branch of government and communities impacted by violence and injustice.

Aside from prayer, the event included musical worship as well.

Donna Andrews gave a solo performance of “On Eagle’s Wings” and attendees Pamela Ream and Carla Hubert performed a duet of “For Those Tears I Died.”

The audience joined in with hymns printed in their bulletins throughout the service as well, including songs like “Amazing Grace,”

“Waymaker” and “Heal Our Land.”

Hosts of the event encouraged those in attendance to wear masks and adhere to social distancing guidelines. Hand sanitizer stations were also provided.

Those unable to attend were also able to access the service virtually by viewing the livestream through the Bethany EC Church Facebook page.

Organizer April Walker said she was inspired to host the prayer service event after attending the Franklin Graham Prayer March in Washington, D.C., last month.

When asked about the importance of holding the service, Walker said, “There’s so much hopelessness in the world and I just wanted people to know that we always have hope. We have hope in God and he hears our prayers and he wants to help us and we can reach out to him at any time, any place and he will hear our prayers.

“I just really felt led that we need to come together as a community and as the body of Christ to seek his face and ask him to help us.”

Walker also explained the importance of including a variety of clergy to speak and lead prayer.

“So often because we have different denominations we don’t always come together, and I just thought it was really important that we see that we serve one God and that we need to come together as the body of Christ. There might be some differences in the way that we do things or traditions, but if we read the Bible and if we worship God and Jesus Christ then we are one body and we need to come together for that.”

The Rev. Tim Ream of Bethany EC Church in Lehighton, said the message he hopes to spread throughout the community is that there is hope in Jesus Christ despite the hardships we may face.

“This has been a year of so many new changes, things that are fearful. People are unsure and we’re getting messages that change from day to day, sometimes hour by hour, but we want the community to know that we can all stand together on the solid footing of the word of Jesus Christ, his holy word that doesn’t change. We have an opportunity to serve him and come together as a community and pray that God will bring an end to the things that we’re going through and ultimately draw us closer to him.”

The Rev. Mike Coulson of People’s EC Church in Weissport concluded by noting the importance of taking action to overcome challenges during this difficult time.

“God is calling us not only to pray but to act as well. God desires to hear from us and to come to him with prayer and to raise these concerns but also to listen and obey how he’s calling us to be part of the solution as well.”

Following the service, attendees were invited to pray with clergy members.