The parking lots at Wrentham churches were empty for another Sunday as in person services are cancelled throughout the state and most of the world. That’s the new reality for congregations during the novel coronavirus pandemic. While the lights might be off in the churches, many of the faithful are celebrating together online.
“The heart of our worship service is getting together,” explains Pastor Ken Landin, pastor, Original Congregational Church. “Online platforms give us a way to connect that previous generations had not.”
Currently, the Original Congregational Church is providing music, sermons, and readings in digital formats through their website.
At St. Mary and St. Martha Parish Collaborative, daily mass and Sunday services are conducted on FaceBook Live. The Catholic parish, which serves both Wrentham and Plainville, also holds prayer services accessible through links on its web site. “Normally people come together in trying times,” wrote the collaborative’s pastor, Fr. Joe Mozer, in the weekly bulletin. “The prohibition of gatherings and especially the suspension of public Masses is a big loss for all of us during this difficult time. Your priests, deacons and pastoral team want you to know we are here for you by phone or in person, when possible.”
The Sheldonville Baptist Church is utilizing FaceBook Live to connect to its people. To accommodate the digital medium, services are trimmed down. “This was the simplest platform for us,” says Doug Pettit, pastor, Sheldonville Baptist Church. “Our service is modified to a few announcements and then a message.”
Pettit also explains that they moved their Men’s Bible Study to Zoom, a web conferencing tool. “That was new for us but worked well,” he says. “The platform is relatively simple to use and most of our men were able to get on without an issue.”
What’s helped the Sheldonville Baptist Church transition so well is a well established Facebook Group that’s been in place for several years and allows for quick communication. “This has been helpful,” he says. “This is one occasion where being a very small church has made the transition to virtual relatively simple. We do have a few older parishioners, but Facebook is so ubiquitous that even they are already there, so it has not been difficult.”
As of now, Trinity Episcopal Church has not made the move to the digital world. “Like other religious organizations, we will not hold services or meetings at Trinity for the foreseeable future,” says, Fr. Bill Eddy, Trinity's interim priest. “We are exploring the means by which a few of us can gather and produce a service online.”
While the members of the parish are separate, Eddy is looking forward to when this crisis passes and people return. “I am optimistic about the moment when we will regather in church.” he says. “I believe that we will re-enter our gathered community with a deeper sense of gratitude and belonging.”
The adjustment is necessary to protect the health of the community and the town spiritual leaders are doing their part. “Our number one priority is to provide for the well-being of people,” says Landin. “We are following local, state, and federal recommendations about social distancing and preparations to reduce as best we can transmissions of the virus.”
Landin added, “When referring to the practice of ‘Social Distancing’ I like to speak of that for church life as ‘Physical Distancing with Spiritual Connecting.’”
Eddy likens the current situation to scriptures. “I think that many of us are presently bewildered by what is happening — it is as if we are leaving a familiar place, even if that place is often challenging and difficult to begin with, for a wilderness with its own unknowns and unmarked pathways,” he says. “It’s a little like the Exodus from Egypt but with a new twist: as a congregation, we are not able to move together as before, as a group. We are journeying out of sight and out of earshot of one another. We can only trust that each of us is praying for the well-being of one another and that each of us is being prayed for. “
While we are in the midst of the crisis, all realize it will pass at some point. Landin says, “Faith is about hope for the future, and working towards right relationships in the present. The essence of story of God and God’s people throughout the entirety of the Holy Bible is that when the people cry out to God for mercy, the Lord delivers the people to a whole new time. God’s love never leaves us.”
He adds, “Faith sustains and guides especially through hard times.”
