Members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church sat down with officers and parishioners Sunday morning to deliver a message of unity.

With recent developments on the Eric Garner case and other recent, high-profile police-involved deaths, some people have expressed mistrust in law enforcement officers. Sunday's event was about taking a different, more peaceful road. 

"Reconciliation" was the key message of the service, said the priest, who talked about improving the community hand in hand.

"If you want to get somewhere fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together," he told the audience.

The priest praised the efforts of the officers from the 47th and 49th precincts and said that without their protection, people would be going at life alone.

"Everyone is not the same, every person is different. I mean what happened with that police officer is not the same for every police on the street... I think it makes a difference when you speak with them and when they speak with you," said parishioner Anne Marie Robinson Warren.

After the Mass, police officers and church members took part in a joint reception honoring the officers' public service.