British MP Jo Cox honored as EU referendum campaigning resumes

Competing UK referendum rallies held in London 03:37

Story highlights

• British MP Jo Cox is remembered in church services in the village where she was killed
• EU referendum campaigns resume following a pause in wake of her killing

London (CNN)Campaigning ahead of Britain's referendum on whether to leave the European Union resumed Sunday, following a three-day pause in the wake of the murder of British MP Jo Cox.

Worshipers paid tribute to the 41-year-old Labour MP Sunday in a service at St. Peter's Church in Birstall, the northern English village where she was shot and stabbed Thursday -- the first killing of a sitting British lawmaker since 1990.

In Jo Cox's town: Market stalls, a quiet library and now flowers after an unthinkable crime

British MP Jo Cox, who was killed in Birstall Thursday.

The Rev. Paul Knight, who led the service, told CNN that those attending "rejoiced in what Jo was able to accomplish in her short time in Parliament."

"She was a shining example of the way we ... should work together," he said.

He delivered a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan as an appropriate example of how people should help others, "whatever their creed," as Cox -- a former aid worker who advocated for Syrian refugees and other causes -- had done.

Cox was a vocal supporter of Britain remaining in the EU. When the suspect in her killing, 52-year-old Tommy Mair, appeared in court charged with murder and other offenses Saturday, he said, "my name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain."