For a lifelong church-goer like me, there is no more familiar sight than people sitting in a church pew. It has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember – and for nearly every Sunday morning of my entire life. Nothing could be more ordinary for me. Then came COVID-19 when so many ordinary things – like attending church – were suddenly out of reach, and we were confronted with the strangest of questions: how can we be the church with completely empty pews?
Holy Communion did what most churches did, and created worship services that were virtual – in our case, via Facebook Live – in an attempt to keep our community of faith together and connected. Unlike some congregations with the resources and skills to create impressively-produced video presentations, we chose to keep things fairly simple – if for no other reason than to share something that would be recognizable and familiar in a time when the world seemed so strange. But for as familiar as we tried to make it, there was no way that this could be the same experience as when we gather together in the same room. It was still community (and the ability to type comments and greetings to each other was actually a new means to connect) but it was dramatically different from the kind of immediate community to which we were all accustomed and which, truth be told, we probably took for granted until it was so rudely snatched away.
In the first few months, it was easier to be satisfied with Virtual Church because it was the only possible option; nobody anywhere was worshipping together in person. (To do so in the early days of the pandemic would have been criminally foolish.) Also early on, it was new and actually kind of exciting, and a much appreciated means to sustain the lines of fellowship. And frankly, for those of us who were actually there at church to lead worship were blessed to have the best of it. WE were fortunate to be in our beautiful sanctuary. (I actually was at Holy Communion every Sunday morning for fourteen months straight. I felt blessed to be there – and in all honesty, there was no other place I wanted to be.)
And for the first few weeks of COVID, there was less than half a dozen people in the sanctuary – and sometimes as few as three. Before long, I would occasionally invite someone to sing a solo or duet, and when we did my “O the Joy” service our faithful folk musicians were on hand, masked and physically distanced and eager to serve.
By midsummer 2020, a few churches began to have In Person worship once again – in most cases sharply limiting the number of people permitted to attend and keeping people carefully spaced. Holy Communion, in keeping with the recommendations of the ELCA, chose to remain virtual. We eventually began to have parishioners come in as lectors- and Kate Barrow filmed other parishioners at home reading the introduction to the lessons – a way to involve more people and for more faces to be seen. During the season of Advent, several different families participated in the lighting of the Advent Wreath- filmed in their homes and shared during the service. It was a wonderful way to include still more people in Sunday morning worship- but it also reminded us all of how much we missed each other.
For me, the single most exciting step towards normalcy came on Christmas Eve when we had the Senior Choir participate in our evening candlelight service …. and later on for Palm Sunday and Easter as well. A few members of the choir did not feel comfortable coming back, and I was perfectly fine with that – but most chose to come and seemed grateful for the opportunity. And I, for one, will never forget the overwhelming joy and gratitude I felt upon hearing those beautiful voices once again reverberating through the sanctuary.
And I have to mention something else that the senior choir did during COVID that was a beautiful light in the darkness. I think it was Kate who came up with the idea of the choir ‘caroling’ to some of our shut-in’s …. especially those who did not have a computer at home and were not able to access our virtual worship services. On three or four occasions, we gathered on a Sunday morning after church and sang for half a dozen parishioners – singing a mix of familiar hymns for them. (And more than once, a neighbor or two would walk over to listen in- and to thank us.) It was such a simple thing to do … and so very gratifying.
It was during the summer of 2020 that Holy Communion began doing Drive-Thru Communion once a month. My best friend Marshall’s church in Fort Atkinson was doing this and he found it to be tremendously moving – so I suggested that we try it. The idea was eagerly scooped up and warmly embraced by the congregation. Again, it was not the same as gathering under one roof, but it was an exciting step towards that. And the week before Christmas, we tried a Christmas Caroling event in the parking lot and we were thunderstruck by how many members of the church came out for that. It was a clear indication that our congregation was hungry to come together in whatever way they could.
We even found a way to preserve at least some semblance of our “Look for the Light” program that has happened every December for more than twenty years – an incredible event involving adults and children alike and even live farm animals in our sanctuary. Kate Barrow, who created the program and has skillfully overseen it over these many years, re-conceived it as a drive-thru event, complete with a live Mary and Joseph and Baby, farm animals, and the senior choir. So often when we say the words “it wasn’t the same,” it is to express disappointment …. but in this case, “it wasn’t the same” was much more about gratitude. We all knew that it couldn’t possibly be the same program that we had enjoyed year after year, but thank goodness for the energy and ingenuity allowed the program to live on. It felt like a joyous act of defiance!
I think it was in the fall of 2020 that the church’s COVID committee first began to seriously contemplate a return to In Person Worship- or at least began thinking about how that might happen and what it might look like. We would set a tentative “hoped-for” reopening date, only to have ever-escalating COVID numbers force a postponement time and time again. It was not until the spring and the easing of the crisis that we could finally see a path to safely reopening, with June 6th chosen as the date when our long-empty pews would finally be filled with parishioners.
And when the big day finally arrive, the sight of people in the pews of our sanctuary was nothing less than thrilling/astonishing/amazing (choose your favorite adjective.) Actually, part of what made such an astonishing sight was because Sunday was the third day in a row that Racine’s high temperature was to exceed 90 degrees – and I for one was certain that only a small number of members of our church would brave the oppressive heat (understandably) and that many more people would opt to watch virtually in the air-conditioned comfort of their homes. On top of that, I knew that there were people who are not yet comfortable with being part of such a gathering and would remain home for that reason. Add all of that up and I honestly thought that we would be lucky if we had 40 people in the pews.
I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong about anything in my life!
Well over 100 people showed up for worship- with bells on, as they say! And even with careful protocols in place …. all parishioners wearing masked and physically distanced …. the feeling in that room was a wonderful mix of joy, gratitude, and fearlessness. And this morning’s service began with Caritas – Kate Barrow, Kathy and me – singing the song that we sang back in March 2020 for Holy Communion’s first virtual service at the outset of COVID. That song was Kurt Kaiser’s “Sunday Morning,” a wonderful song that I learned a thousand years ago when I was in high school and singing with a group called the Now Disciples. The words of the refrain were a perfect way to open this morning’s joyous service:
Oh, it’s so good to be here …. praising the Lord again!
When I think how Jesus loves me, I take heart to live for Him!
One of my very favorite moments of the morning came right after our song, when Pastor Laura stepped forward to welcome everyone – and found herself momentarily verklempt. It really underscored just how monumental this moment was for our congregation. It was an incredibly happy day- but it came only after fourteen months that have been tremendously difficult – and at times tremendously scary. I think the lump-in-the-throat sensation that most of us were feeling welled up from that rich mix of emotions, and Pastor Laura’s well-chosen, eloquent words spoke so beautifully to this.
The deep emotions of the day were also acknowledged by Lisa Lequia in her children’s sermon. This was the first time in 14 months that Lisa was able to speak with some of our congregation’s children actually in the room. What a joy!
For today’s service we decided to do “We are Called,” an energetic and vibrant contemporary liturgy put together by Kate Potter Barrow that has been warmly embraced by our whole congregation, young and old alike. And I was so glad that one of our congregation’s young people, William Anderson, was able to serve as assisting minister.
Pastor Mark rose to the occasion with a beautifully crafted and heartfelt sermon that called on us to be courageous enough to ‘stir up trouble’ for the sake of Christ’s gospel …. and for our arms to be as wide-open as God’s arms are. It was just what we all needed to hear.
The service also included a deeply bittersweet moment when we had to bid farewell to Warren and Joanie Williams, who are moving to the Pacific Northwest to be close to family. The two of them have been powerhouses for social justice in Racine, working tirelessly on a host of issues with a special place in their hearts for the homeless. Moreover, Warren has lent his beautiful baritone voice to the senior choir over the last several years – so I will miss him as much for that as for his gigantic compassionate heart. As hard as this goodbye was, at least we could share it together.
But of course, what made this service so amazing was the people in the pews. I actually was sitting at the piano with my back to the congregation, so I couldn’t really see them – but I could hear them singing, especially on the opening hymn, “All are welcome”! Again, this is something that once upon a time I would have regarded as almost laughably ordinary. But after more than a year without it, that sound seemed like a choir of angels!
We (meaning the church’s COVID team) went into this service a little bit nervous – wondering what might possibly go wrong. Actually, one of the only ‘mistakes’ that was made in the whole service was that one of the pastors forgot about the Passing of the Peace, which was going to feature some wonderful ‘peace signs’ that our congregation’s president ordered. We felt really fortunate that this was pretty much the only thing that went wrong all morning ….. a not-so-minor miracle for “Holy Confusion Lutheran Church,” as we like to call ourselves.
After the service, we had a time for fellowship right outside – with ice cold lemonade plus treats that bore a lovely message that so beautifully fit the day:
That says it all.
Like most churches, we are going to continue to share our services on Facebook Live because there are quite a few people who will continue to join us that way …. members on vacation, former members who have moved away, shut-ins, and those who still want to avoid large gatherings. For all of the awfulness of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has necessitated a widening of our outreach, a deepening of our resolve, and an awakening of understanding of what it means to be the Church – and what it means to Come Together as the church.
