'How we can show love for the most vulnerable': Churches cancel in-person Easter services

Barring a miracle, most U.S. churches will be closed for in-person Easter services this year because of the coronavirus crisis.

While Easter service has long been a springtime celebration that brings together the Christian faithful to rejoice in their belief in the resurrection of Christ, and to mingle in their Easter finery, church leaders and believers have scrambled to maintain these traditions without bringing large numbers of people together.

Most, at least so far, have heeded the call of health officials despite President Donald Trump's suggestion that Easter could be when Americans return to normal life and leave their self-imposed quarantine.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches full?” Trump said on Fox News. “You’ll have packed churches all over our country ... I think it’ll be a beautiful time.”

Trump added that “I’m not sure that’s going to be the day,” but “that would be a beautiful thing.”

At least one key medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, downplayed the prospects of an Easter return to normal on CNN, calling the date picked by Trump "aspirational."

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In any case, the many church leaders and organizations are sticking with plans to close in-person services.

In Chicago, the Rev. Ira Acree, pastor at Greater St. John Bible Church on the city's West Side, said he planned to be in church on Easter to livestream services to his congregation.

"Now is not the time for politicians to play politics with peoples lives," he said. "We are fighting an invisible enemy that has no party loyalty or affiliation," he said.

A Harris Poll for Axios released lat week found that 48% of Americans are not willing to attend church, up from 38% within just three days.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of The Episcopal Church said in a statement that suspending in-person public worship "is generally the most prudent course of action at this time, even during Holy Week and on Easter Day," which is April 12. 

"It is important to emphasize that suspension of in-person gatherings is not a suspension of worship," he added. "I very much encourage and support online worship."

The changing circumstances – the White House recommends avoiding groups of 10 or more for about two weeks, meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended avoiding large gatherings of 50 or more for eight weeks – have prompted some churches to reorient themselves. 

The guidance is also expected to affect those observing Passover, April 8-16; Orthodox Easter, April 19; and Ramadan, which is expected to start April 23.

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"There’s been a little bit of chatter around whether churches, if they were really going to lead out of faith, not fear, shouldn’t we just meet together physically and trust God with the rest," said Bryan Dunagan, pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

"An easy answer to that is that not having thousands of people in close quarters is one way we can seek the flourishing for our city," the 40-year-old pastor told USA TODAY. "And it’s how we can show love for the most vulnerable.

"In the meantime, we might be social distancing, but we don’t have to settle for spiritual distancing," he said.

Christian Today suggested in an editorial that attending Easter services in the face of the health crisis, even after taking strict measures to maintain hygiene and social distancing, "actually mars our witness."

"Rather than looking courageous and faithful, we come off looking callous and even foolish, not unlike the snake handlers who insisted on playing with poison as a proof of true faith.” the magazine said.

For many, canceling Easter services is unprecedented. In Cooksburg, Pennsylvania, the Cook Forest Easter Sunrise Service, presented in a camp amphitheater at a state park, will not be held for the first time in the 70-year tradition.

Nora Lawson has not attended Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington, Virginia, for three weeks because of the virus concerns but plans to attend Easter vigil Mass on Saturday if it is held.

"Easter is just one of the most special masses of the year, and I would be sad if they had to cancel it," she said. "If they did, I would understand. I don't want to be sick."

Lawson said her church has already taken precautionary measures in recent weeks by foregoing the chalice cup of wine for communion while continuing to offer the communion wafer.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement calling on parishes to use "common sense hygiene" practices and reminding Catholics they are not obligated to attend Mass if they are sick.

While not mentioning Easter specifically, the statement said bishops may suspend the distribution of Holy Communion by the chalice and, in more serious circumstances, can suspend public liturgical celebrations outright. 

The archbishops of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, meanwhile, canceled all masses last weekend for the foreseeable future.

“Let us pray for all who are sick, as well as doctors, nurses, caregivers and all those working hard to combat the disease," Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said in a statement that did not specifically mention Easter. "We should also remember those whose lives have been otherwise disrupted, especially anyone who has lost income from a loss of work during this difficult time.”

But Cardinal Raymond Burke, a former archbishop of St. Louis and Vatican official with a strong conservative voice among Catholics, expressed concern about the shutdown of churches and the inability of Catholics to gather for worship.

“Even as we have found a way to provide for food and medicine and other necessities of life during a time of contagion, without irresponsibly risking the spread of the contagion, so, in a similar way, we can find a way to provide for the necessities of our spiritual life,” Burke said on his blog.

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Livestreaming church services

To fill the gap, many churches are rapidly shifting or expanding services online in time for Easter.

When Highland Park Presbyterian canceled in-person worship two weeks ago in favor of online service, Dunagan says, the church had its largest worship gathering of the year – 6,000 viewers – for a church that averages 2,000 for normal church services.

Bishop Kenneth Carter, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, notes that Easter is a busy time for many churches, with turnout in some churches four times the normal Sunday.

With most of its 30,000 churches shutting down on Easter, the Methodist church is turning online to fill the void.

"We are having to up our game on this," Carter told USA TODAY, noting not only in offering "worship through technology" but in taking practical steps, such as keeping online sermons shorter.

He said the church is "trying to find an alternative way to get the message out, but really honoring the deep desire not to do harm to people by being in a larger gathering, even if that would be our first inclination."

While the coronavirus crisis will keep the crowds away this Easter, Carter says he thinks the ordeal is "going to drive our culture into some kind of introspection just by the nature of people being alone and in solitude."

The Easter shutdown is clearly putting heavy pressure on the technology side to get sermons online.

“Before, the livestream served a need,” said Pastor Aubrey Fenton, of the Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Delanco, New Jersey, which has been livestreaming for seven years. "But now it’s more of a necessity.”

The Episcopal Church, which has around 6,000 churches in the U.S., is going full speed ahead with technology to help fill the Easter gap.

Nancy Davidge, public affairs officer with The Episcopal Church, said there is a "tremendous amount of energy about people who know how to do this stuff, to do it and share it," especially to churches in rural areas that may not be as tech-savvy.

While most churches will be closed, Davidge said there could well be some very tiny churches, with small congregations, who may be able to gather to worship and maintain appropriate social distance.

"We really hope that people exercise great care and thought when they make their decision," she said. "But we recognize in our church that one size does not necessarily fit all."

For Easter, the national Episcopal church organization is looking for a church in New York City from which to livestream the Sunday service.

Since the lack of a physical gathering means no passing of a collection plate, Davidge told USA TODAY some churches in the run-up to Easter are sharing information about online giving.

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Taking it day by day

As the number of coronavirus cases mount – U.S. cases are over 11,000 with at least 150 deaths – more churches are opting to close as Easter approaches.

Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas and a major evangelical supporter of President Donald Trump, initially chose to keep an in-person service option by holding services of less than 500 people.

"It's a time for us to pray for our country and a time for us to pray for our president," he said last week.

He has since reversed course on holding open services, "in light of the rapidly changing circumstances and new guidance and recommendations regarding COVID-19."

Jeffress announced this week that the church will suspend all in-person worship services immediately until further notice, encouraging to participate online.

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In Kilgore, Texas, the Chandler Street Church of Christ decided at midweek to move to online services only starting immediately.

Chris Vidacovich, Chandler Street's pastor, told USA TODAY that the church, located in East Texas, had already been evaluating the situation daily and had already canceled an Easter Egg hunt.  He said they "want to take caution but try not to overreact or underreact."

He said they "want to take caution but try not to overreact or underreact."

The church now is now offering communion supplies for pickup or will bring them to the homes of worshippers for the next couple of weeks..

In Nashville, Tennessee, one church is offering a drive-thru communion option for all baptized Christians. At designated times throughout the week, The Rev. Thomas McKenzie, who leads Church of the Redeemer, is distributing wafers that were consecrated during the church's recent Sunday services.

Meanwhile, in Arlington, Virginia, Joe Nangle, a priest at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, said canceling Easter services would be "huge, huge, in terms of the ongoing practice of the Catholic faith."

But, he said, it is necessary.

Nangle, 87, said he has heard a lot of "crazy stuff" from some conservative Catholics that closing the church is terrible, but he says such measures are in line with the thinking of Pope Francis, who has even scaled back Holy Week services at the Vatican. 

He also agreed with not passing the chalice cup, which he said would be a "petri dish," for communion, noting that presenting the communion wafer is sufficient theologically.

"That's science and we have to abide by that," Nangle said of the CDC's recommendations to avoid large groups. "People like me would say, 'right on, we should have been doing this a few weeks ago.'"

The National Association of Evangelicals, said that in the moment of crisis, the Lord likely will accept efforts to honor him in less orthodox ways.

"We will not be passing the peace with hugs, but rather with texts and phone calls. Are these modes inferior?" the association said in a joint statement with Christianity Today. "Yes. Will they be acceptable to the Lord? We also believe, yes."

Contributing: Grace Hauck, in Chicago; Holly Meyer and Larry McCormack, The Nashville Tennessean