The global pandemic of the novel coronavirus has caused widespread orders for staying at home and restrictions on people of more than a handful gathering at once. Currently, in Swain County, the restriction is 10 people total and people must keep a safe distance of about six feet. For churches, this means most services have gone online.
This is Holy week for Christians, which began with Palm Sunday and concludes with Easter Sunday— a week full of church activities and a time that often means a larger number of people filling the sanctuary. For those of the Jewish faith, it’s also a time of celebration with the start of Passover on Wednesday night.
During times of distress, the church can serve as a solace and support system. It’s where people can connect with others across economic, and racial lines or other differences.
Terry Hanna, pastor at Bryson City Presbyterian Church notes it’s been a real adjustment to deliver messages during this holy time to the congregation online instead of in person.
“We are all adjusting to doing worship via Facebook Live every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. We just have music and meditation. Sunday school, Bible Study, and fellowship meals have been canceled, which is hard, especially during the Lent and Easter season when we expect more activity, not less,” Hanna said.
Regardless, she said members of the church continue to connect with one another on the phone, and sending notes to each other.
“We have an active prayer chain by call in or email, and we try to keep our website up to date,” she said. “And like I said last Sunday, maybe without all the pomp and circumstance we usually expect, we will actually take the time to see Jesus differently— a suffering servant who sees us with eyes of love and a heart of forgiveness. And maybe it is time we worship him differently, in simple truth and love. I don’t know. I have to believe there is good news even in this.”
The Grove Church, one of the larger congregations in the community has had its services online since March 15 on both Facebook Live and Youtube. The congregation has also been utilizing other means to connect online including Zoom video chats three times a week, a pub theology conversation Monday nights at 7:30 p.m., and Christian Spirituality at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Jeff Helpman, pastor at The Grove, said there are some drawbacks to the online services beyond just missing having that in person experience.
“Upload speeds and download speeds make it hard to watch a service uninterrupted,” he explained. “We’ve selected a small group of people to run the services to keep the circle of contamination as small as possible. We keep our contact to a minimum and do our best to sanitize. There is no real substitute for being with people (in person), but we are trying to make it as personal as we can by engaging the viewers with questions they can respond to live to the panel and with other listeners through the chat option on both streaming platforms.”
The presentation is more laid back too, and has taken on a conversational approach.
“We assume that most people are relaxed and sitting on the couch watching live, so we are also sitting down on couches gathered in a makeshift living room,” he said. “We incorporated some worship songs into the set to provide a time for people to sing and connect through familiar songs.”
For Easter, he said, they will try to provide time for communion for those watching.
Some in the county are having drive-in services for Easter, where a service will be shared to all while they remain in their vehicles. First Baptist Church will have a drive-up service at 10 a.m. and Harmony Baptist Church will have a drive in service at 11 a.m.
John Tagliarini, pastor at First Baptist, said, “Given our current situation, worshiping and being able to offer worship to the congregation is a wonderful opportunity.”
His congregation is also keeping up through Zoom meetings and, particularly touching, he said, the youth called the elders of the church and hope to keep up with them throughout the COVID-19 closures.
On Easter, the worship will be from the front porch where they usually hold Sunrise Service and people in their vehicles will be able to tune in on their radio.
“My final observation, in light of all that Resurrection Day brings to believers, is this, ‘The churches may be empty, but so is the tomb!’ The quote is from a conversation I had the other night with my brother, Gene,” shared Tagliarini.
Churches are keeping their Facebook accounts and websites updated with information. People can also call the churches and leave a message for questions.