Church leaders, congregations coming together in new ways to keep the faith

Despite the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, local faith leaders continue to fulfill their callings to serve their communities.

“While the crisis has created social distance, it has not – thankfully – created emotional or spiritual distance,” says Rabbi Daniel Stern of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek.

When in-person services came to a halt last spring, it was particularly prickly as the directives from local and national health officials came prior to Holy Week, Easter, Passover and Ramadan services that routinely boost attendance.

Ripple effects of the health orders quickly took an economic toll on employees whose labors enable faith communities to carry out their missions through various programs. And as emotional and financial concerns mounted, faith leaders began shouldering more than the spiritual needs off their flocks.

“Uncertainty has caused a lot of anxiety,” said Pastor Andrew Jones of First Lutheran Church in Concord. “Not knowing how the economy will be next week, next month, next year. Not knowing when they will be able to see family in other parts of the country again. Uncertainty is the largest problem.”

Sorting through health orders

After nearly two months of sheltering in place in a bid to flatten the curve and head off a surge of cases, Contra Costa County allowed faith communities to hold limited outdoor services with social distancing protocols effective May 18.

While still extolling a preference for remote services, a June 17 health order said churches could again welcome their communities inside – albeit with strict protocols that emphasized social distancing and a mask mandate.

But this joy was short lived. The 4th of July holiday brought a resurgence of cases and a rising positivity rate, attributed to the public’s flaunting of preventive measures. So on July 11, local officials once again prohibited indoor religious services and cultural ceremonies.
Concord’s First Lutheran Church has followed the trend of a growing number of congregations that provide both in-person and virtual options.

Jones has offered online services filmed at his home since mid-March. His wife Stephanie adds visual elements to help people follow along with the service, and congregation members have also recorded readings of the Bible lessons for the day.

More recently, Jones is taking advantage of a grassy area on the church property for services. He created 30-40 socially distanced spots for families in the outdoor space. Though it’s warm or windy at times, Jones said it has worked out so far.

“It’s been a bit different preaching sermons through a mask, but I find it to be an easy way I can love my neighbor,” he said.
Finding comfort online

Outdoor Mass also may be a possibility for St. Agnes Catholic Church in Concord, once logistical obstacles are addressed. As with other communities with aging congregations, there is concern that sitting in cars in the parking lot for 40 minutes may be discomforting in warm weather. Until a better plan is developed, live streaming is just fine.

While other churches have moved between the online and the outdoors, communities such as First Presbyterian Church of Concord have found a comfort zone with keeping services, small groups and meetings streaming through cyberspace.

The Rev. Johanna McCune Wagner noted they have maintained the importance of musicians sharing their gifts as well as the elements of prayer, scripture reading and preaching. Wagner has expanded offerings to include daily morning prayer services.

Like other faith community leaders, Wagner had a steep learning curve on educating the membership so everyone understood how to find the church’s channel on YouTube and participate in WebEx/Zoom meetings. But now it’s old hat for the congregation, and a recent Zoom tea affair even featured treats dropped off by the Congregational Care committee.

Sacraments, rituals on back burner

For houses of worship, the pandemic has taken its greatest toll on the practice of certain sacraments and rituals.

Congregation B’nai Shalom has followed a scaled-back version of traditional services, with the normal Sabbath offering of several hours scaled back to 60-90 minutes online.

“I think the social connections are as essential as the spiritual ones,” Stern said. “We are a tight-knit community. Seeing each other’s faces over Zoom helps to make people feel more human and more engaged.

“That being said,” he added, “I recently began streaming our services from our sanctuary. That change has been deeply meaningful for our community.”

But some rituals – such as reading from the Torah scroll – can only occur with a quorum of adults in the sanctuary. “So this ritual, sadly, has been suspended,” Stern said.

At St. Agnes, Father Johnson Abraham has taken creative steps to offer Holy Communion so the experience can be as true as possible to pre-COVID-19 days for parishioners. Although Masses are online, the music ministry sings outside the church as people line up on the patio to receive Communion.

“It is a blessing to have the ability for parishioners to safely return to our campus, even if public events are now restricted to outdoors,” Abraham said.

Other faith leaders also lament having to suspend ceremonies.

“We have not had any baptisms in this time. We may have a few coming up,” Jones said.

Learning to help from afar

Trying to provide pastoral care from a distance remains one of the greatest challenges as faith leaders adapt during this period of uncertainty.

Stern is grateful that organizations like the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family and Children’s Services have worked on managing the social issues that have emerged.

Jones pointed to the emotional aspects of the pandemic and the restrictions that have come with it, such as elders unable to see and touch their grandchildren, adult children not being able to see aging parents in long-term care facilities and now struggles with children returning to school.

Faith communities around the area are also facing fiscal hardships. St. Agnes had to lay off most of the parish staff, leading to the deferment of faith formation programs and sacramental preparations.

“I am actively working with the pastors of our neighboring parishes to restart what we can when we can,” Johnson said.

Yet through it all, faith leaders have dug in to serve their members and the community at large in the same unwavering spirit that has long defined their missions. Stern echoed the hopeful perspective of his colleagues as they all uniquely strive to come to grips with the unceasing effects of the pandemic.

“While we look forward to the day when we can all gather in person, we are grateful for the new and creative ways we’ve come together,” said Stern.