CapFed Best News: Religious leaders serve even without services

Topeka’s streets were a little more quiet than normal last Sunday morning. Church parking lots were nearly all empty. Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz as people across the city tapped into hastily prepared feeds of sermons.

One of the casualties of the temporary ban on social gatherings resulting from the coronavirus is worship services of all faiths and denominations.

The wave of cancellations of church gatherings picked up momentum on March 13 when Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, which includes Topeka, announced he had given “the faithful” dispensation from their obligation to attend Sunday Mass.

Soon religious bodies across the area informed their congregations that they wouldn’t meet in person the following Sunday.

How would their members respond to not being able to meet? What could they do in lieu of group services? How would it affect donations? Questions abounded.

Many churches already had established the ability to provide a message via the internet. While watching a sermon online may not be new to most church members, not having an option to congregate was uncharted territory, aside from a few snowstorms over the years.

“We have to discover what it means to ’be the church’ when we can’t be in physical proximity to each other,” said Rev. Tobias Schlingensiepen, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ.

“It seems like every day or two we’ve upped the ante of precautions,” said the Rev. Greg Hammes of Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church. “On Tuesday we received word from the archdiocese that we were canceling all public celebrations of Mass, except for some very limited exceptions. I’m hearing that it’s been kind of a punch to the gut. People have done a lot of mourning in the past week, and they are scrambling to understand what’s going on.”

As quickly as they could, churches put together plans to cope with the changes, which affect not only large gatherings but all their programs, classes and outreach ministries.

“The Christian church has, throughout history, risen up amid challenges like this,” said Rev. Doyle Pryor, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church. “If you’re one of the younger, healthier ones, serve your neighbors. And if you’re one of the ones at risk, we will serve you. The message should be, ‘We will love you, and we’re going to be there for you.’

“Our church has been celebrating when we can help others, because then maybe we won’t just focus on getting through this, but it might make stronger people on the other side of this.”

Imam Omar Hazim said the Islamic Center of Topeka last met on March 13 at its regular Friday prayer service. He said he announced that night that the mosque would be closed for the foreseeable future. That would include the cancellation of Sunday’s Quranic classes.

“Our community is very intelligent, and they took it in a very positive way,” Hazim said. “One of the principles of our religion is to do everything we can to prevent harm, as well as to avoid causing harm. So when we apply that principle, people understand that we’re doing the best thing.

“Muslims believe that the whole world is a place of worship. So they recognize they can pray at home, or in the park, it don’t matter. God hears your prayers, and he hears what’s in your thoughts.”

Some churches in the area did meet last Sunday.

“We really wanted to see our people face to face one time before what we thought would come about,” Pryor said. “We were able to communicate, I hope, a calm and a plan for moving forward. We’ve set up a network so that if you’re in need, someone will contact you on a weekly basis to make sure you have what you need.”

Pryor said his church has been able to keep small groups and Bible studies going by meeting on Facebook Live. His church already had established a YouTube Live channel to broadcast Sunday services. This week he has added to it short messages of hope specific to the coronavirus crisis.

Pryor said his church is making the staff of its media department available to some churches who didn’t have the pieces in place to record and broadcast their sermons.

“That way those churches can hear from their pastors,” Pryor said. “They need to hear from their shepherd at this time.”

Schlingensiepen expressed one concern that has to be on the mind of every church leader:

“We’re not sure what the giving is going to be like. We’re trying to make sure our congregation knows that we haven’t stopped doing missions during this time. We’re encouraging people to continue (giving) as best they can. There is a lot of fine-tuning going on in the background to make sure that we emerge from this strong, and possibly even stronger.”

1) What effect are you hearing the quarantine is having on the people of your congregation?

PRYOR: “People are human. My congregation is dealing with the same things everyone else is. Our retired people are worried about whether they’re going to have a retirement at the end of this. Our young single moms are worried about maintaining their jobs and their children’s school.”

SCHLINGENSIEPEN: “I think right now everybody is in a wait-and-see mode, and they’re anxious.”

HAZIM: “They think we’re making the right decision in not meeting. If we can’t do one thing that we’ve been doing for many years, then it’s easy for them to make the adjustment and do something else.”

HAMMES: “I think that there was some thought that, though everything else can get changed, that our church is solid. They’re hurting. But they’re strong. I think for the most part people understand the need for this.”

2) What do you believe you need to provide your congregation during this time?

PRYOR: “Sanity. They need to hear consistency. They don’t need to hear that the sky is falling. It’s going to be OK. God is still faithful. He’s still on the throne. We’re not people without hope. This world isn’t all there is. And that’s what causes Christians to persevere.”

SCHLINGENSIEPEN: “The first thing we need to do is be the church. Continue to offer hope, and see that there is going to be a future and step into it together.”

HAZIM: “About the best we can do is be in position to share with those who are less fortunate. I can encourage people to stay close to others and share with them what we have.”

HAMMES: “I’m trying to get across the message that we can still pray, and still be together spiritually. The people are looking for reassurance. That’s my role. As we practice social distancing, we can shrink the distance between us and God. And we can do that while we’re still at home. While we’re physically distant from each other, we can still reach out to each other.