By Kelsey Hopper
BU News Service

The Great Tower Bell of Old South Church tolled five times on Sunday for each person who died in the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath: Martin Richard, 8, restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu , MIT police officer Sean Collier and bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Located on Boylston Street in Copley Square, near the finish line of the marathon, Old South Church welcomed parishioners to its Festival Worship Sunday morning for the first time since the attack on April 15.

Worshipers wearing “Boston Strong” t-shirts and marathon race jackets were sprinkled throughout the church as Associate Minister John M. Edgerton led the congregation in a Call to Worship. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” said Edgerton reading from Psalm 90.

Seminary Intern Maggie Lowe delivered the sermon titled “The Sacred Lament” saying, “This is the lament of the finish line.” She urged worshipers to “Take God’s all encompassing love into the world to stop the violence.”

Following the Festival Worship service congregants were led outside by the choir and clergy to the Boston Marathon finish line for a moment of silence as the bell tolled.

“I feel very involved, there were hundreds of athletes that we blessed at our church the Sunday before the race,” said Nancy S. Taylor, Senior Minister at Old South Church. “We come here to reclaim the finish line.”