(CNN) A year later, the grief still feels raw.
Nine churchgoers, all African-American, were shot by a young, white man who entered their Charleston, South Carolina, church, joined their Bible study for an hour and then opened fire. The shooter blamed his victims because of their skin color.
After the tragedy, the church could have closed its doors or cut back on public events. Instead, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black church in the South, flung its doors wide open and welcomed people.
"Let all that you do be done in love," the church quotes Scripture in its message about the one year anniversary. It has embraced the Charleston community with that message.
The church will hold several services and events Friday in memory of the nine victims: Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Sharonda Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Myra Thompson and Rev Daniel Simmons Sr.
Events started Friday with an ecumenical service at the TD Arena in downtown Charleston. The Rev. Dr. Juenarrl Keith of St. James AME Church in McClellanville, S.C., led the invocation and asked God to have mercy on the soul of accused shooter Dylann Roof.
The killings of 49 people in Orlando were referenced several times, with Melissa Rogers, special assistant to President Obama, delivering a message from the White House: "We look to Mother Emanuel for inspiration in the wake of Orlando."
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg and other officials called for improved background checks on people who purchase assault rifles.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley praised the resilience of the three people wounded by Roof and the families of the slain. "For them, it feels like it does to me," she said. "I feel like this just happened yesterday."
Read more about them here.
Along with worship services, a community supper and a unity event will be held for Charleston. Many of the events are open to the public.
"I know the result of people coming and showing their love," said Betty Deas Clark, the pastor of Emanuel AME Church.
Church pastor reaches out to Orlando
Earlier this week, Clark was in Orlando, Florida, to support the community and victims of yet another mass shooting. She attended counseling sessions with several people traumatized by Sunday morning's massacre at the Pulse nightclub.
Clark was named the new pastor months after Rev. Pinckney was killed in the shooting. Although Clark didn't join the church until after the shooting, she knew some of the victims personally.
Worst mass shootings in the United States
Parents wait for news after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, February 14.
At least 17 people were killed at the school, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. The suspect, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz, is in custody, the sheriff said. The sheriff said he was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons.
Investigators at the scene of a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, November 5, 2017.
A man opened fire inside the small community church, killing at least 25 people and an unborn child. The gunman, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, was found dead in his vehicle. He was shot in the leg and torso by an armed citizen, and he had a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, authorities said.
A couple huddles after shots rang out at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, October 1, 2017. At least 58 people were killed and almost 500 were injured when
a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Police said the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds. He was found dead in his hotel room, and authorities believe he killed himself and that he acted alone. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Police direct family members away from the scene of a shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. Omar Mateen, 29,
opened fire inside the club, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 50. Police fatally shot Mateen during an operation to free hostages that officials say he was holding at the club.
In December 2015,
two shooters killed 14 people and injured 21 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where employees with the county health department were attending a holiday event. The shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, were later killed in a shootout with authorities. The pair were found to be radicalized extremists who planned the shootings as a terror attack, investigators said.
Police search students outside Umpqua Community College after
a deadly shooting at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015. Nine people were killed and at least nine were injured, police said. The gunman, Chris Harper-Mercer, committed suicide after exchanging gunfire with officers, a sheriff said.
A man kneels across the street from the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina,
following a shooting in June 2015. Police say the suspect, Dylann Roof, opened fire inside the church, killing nine people. According to police, Roof confessed and told investigators he wanted to start a race war.
He was eventually convicted of murder and hate crimes, and a jury recommended the death penalty.
Police officers walk on a rooftop at the Washington Navy Yard after a
shooting rampage in the nation's capital in September 2013. At least 12 people and suspect Aaron Alexis were killed, according to authorities.
Connecticut State Police evacuate
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. Adam Lanza opened fire in the school, killing 20 children and six adults before killing himself. Police said he also shot and killed his mother in her Newtown home.
James Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a July 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve people were killed and dozens were wounded when Holmes opened fire during the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises." He was sentenced to 12 life terms plus thousands of years in prison.
A military jury convicted Army Maj.
Nidal Hasan of 13 counts of premeditated murder for a November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen people died and 32 were injured.
Jiverly Wong shot and killed 13 people at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York, before turning the gun on himself in April 2009, police said. Four other people were injured at the
immigration center shooting. Wong had been taking English classes at the center.
Pallbearers carry a casket of one of
Michael McLendon's 10 victims. McLendon shot and killed his mother in her Kingston, Alabama, home, before shooting his aunt, uncle, grandparents and five more people. He shot and killed himself in Samson, Alabama, in March 2009.
Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting spree on the school's campus in April 2007. Cho killed two people at the West Ambler Johnston dormitory and, after chaining the doors closed, killed another 30 at Norris Hall, home to the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department. He wounded an additional 17 people before killing himself.
Mark Barton walked into two Atlanta trading firms and fired shots in July 1999, leaving nine dead and 13 wounded, police said. Hours later, police found Barton at a gas station in Acworth, Georgia, where he pulled a gun and killed himself. The day before, Barton had bludgeoned his wife and his two children in their Stockbridge, Georgia, apartment, police said.
Eric Harris, left, and Dylan Klebold brought guns and bombs to
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999. The students gunned down 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves.
In October 1991,
George Hennard crashed his pickup through the plate-glass window of Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, before shooting 23 people and committing suicide.
James Huberty shot and killed 21 people, including children, at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, in July 1984. A police sharpshooter killed Huberty an hour after the rampage began.
Prison guard George Banks is led through the Luzerne County courthouse in 1985. Banks killed 13 people, including five of his children, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in September 1982. He was sentenced to death in 1993 and received a stay of execution in 2004. His death sentence was overturned in 2010.
Officers in Austin, Texas, carry victims across the University of Texas campus after Charles Joseph Whitman opened fire from the school's tower, killing 16 people and wounding 30 in 1966. Police officers shot and killed Whitman, who had killed his mother and wife earlier in the day.
Howard Unruh, a World War II veteran, shot and killed 13 of his neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, in 1949. Unruh barricaded himself in his house after the shooting. Police overpowered him the next day. He was ruled criminally insane and committed to a state mental institution.
Clark said she wanted to tell people in Orlando: "Time brings about healing, what you can't see today, what you can't imagine today. Tomorrow, you can see it as a reality if you just keep moving forward. That's what we've been doing."
Even with time, the grief feels fresh.
Earlier this week, more than 150 people gathered for the Wednesday Bible study, the same event where the shooting occurred last year. This time, it was led by Rev. Anthony Thompson, whose wife, Myra Thompson, died at the church shooting last year.
"The closer it gets to that anniversary date, the more anxious I feel," Thompson told CNN affiliate WCBD. "I cry without even knowing it's going to happen. I really have no control."
In honor of the nine people who died, the church has asked that people perform an act of kindness on June 21 as "Acts of Amazing Grace Day"and share that deed on its Facebook page.
"With thousands of acts of grace being performed around the world, we will surely make the world a better place," the church posted.
Any meaningful change
A year later, there is one cosmetic change. The Confederate flag no longer flies at the state Capitol complex.
And since June 17, 2015, President Barack Obama has delivered more words of regret after more mass shootings -- four in the past year.
Congress has failed to pass any meaningful legislation concerning guns, even broadly favored proposals such as expanding background checks.
"It's a shared responsibility," Clark said. "I believe that we must deal with gun reform. There's nothing wrong with the right to bear arms. We ought to make sure those who bear arms, they're qualified to do so."
What happened to the suspect
Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the suspect, Dylann Roof. He is charged with 33 federal offenses, including hate crime charges for allegedly targeting his victims on the basis of their race and religion. A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in July 2015.
He told investigators he wanted to start a race war, according to one law enforcement official.
Roof's state case is scheduled to go on trial in January. His federal trial has not yet been scheduled.
CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.