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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been more than a year since I\u2019ve seen my congregants in person.\u00a0More than a year since we held our last in-person church service, since I\u2019ve visited a congregant in the hospital, held a dying congregant\u2019s hand, or cried with a new widow.\u00a0It\u2019s been more than a year since my church, and tens of thousands of others, had to learn\u00a0almost overnight to create worship on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.<\/p>\n
Although some religious leaders have gotten headlines by denying the COVID virus and continuing to hold services and rallies, many of us\u00a0spent the past year doing everything we could to keep our people connected and safe.\u00a0We proclaimed early in the pandemic that while the building is closed, church is still open,\u00a0and that while our faith may be worth dying for, in-person\u00a0church services are not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a few short weeks in March 2020, we bought ring lights, cameras, special microphones, and mastered the art of preaching on Zoom.\u00a0\u00a0We adapted liturgies and rites. Some of us learned to do communion and Ash Wednesday outside from six feet away. We conducted funerals, weddings\u00a0and baby dedications on Zoom, surprising ourselves at how intimate and sacred the rites still felt.\u00a0The Spirit was present despite the distance.\u00a0We learned to create meaningful holidays online \u2014 we got through the Jewish High Holidays, Eid and Christmas, and are planning our second online Easter and Passovers. I think we would enjoy the creativity if the situation wasn\u2019t so apocalyptic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Rev. Debra W. Haffner's remote worship recording set-up at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Va. (Photo: Family photo)<\/span><\/p>\n We did everything we could to stay connected. Congregants created phone trees to check in on each other; last spring, every family in my congregation was contacted every week at home. This fall, we created neighborhood circles so people could shop for each other in case of illness and drop off encouraging notes.\u00a0We held drive-throughs to continue our donations to neighborhood food banks, raised money through online collections for organizations that serve our neighbors, and held small group meetings of under 10 people outside, socially distanced and masked, in our parking lots.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nothing to see here: <\/strong>For most churchgoers, controversy between religious freedom and public health is not real<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Surprisingly, many of\u00a0our\u00a0congregations have not only survived but thrived and transformed during the pandemic.\u00a0We have many more people attending services remotely than we did in person.\u00a0Attendance at our worship services is 50% higher than it was pre-COVID.\u00a0We have had 15 people officially join my church as members; none of them have ever been in our church building.\u00a0People who are ill, elderly or\u00a0had moved away from our area now join us each week.\u00a0I have a suspicion that at least some of my congregants prefer watching worship on their sofas, drinking coffee and eating breakfast, and maybe muting my sermons.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rev. Debra W. Haffner at Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Va., Easter 2019. (Photo: Family photo)<\/span><\/p>\n Our individual congregants have not fared as well. So many are lonely.\u00a0Prior to COVID, mine was often the only hug some of my single congregants received each week. Some of them haven\u2019t been touched by someone else in more than a year. Mental health issues have been exacerbated. So many of our congregants are experiencing financial hardship and insecurity. Many are wrestling with parenting, vocational and relationship issues.\u00a0For every couple that feels closer from quarantine, another is contemplating divorce. I\u2019ve done more pastoral care in the past month than in any month that I can remember. Everyone is tired of living like this, Including your minister, rabbi or imam.<\/p>\n We want to come back to in person worship, but no, we are not going to have church just for the people who have been vaccinated.\u00a0Our commitment to full inclusion and equity means that we will only come back when all can attend, either in person or virtually.<\/p>\n Holding together lives: <\/strong>In Chattanooga, faithful persevere as coronavirus, tornadoes hit<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Congregations like mine are working to obtain the technology to stream services and to assure that our spaces are well ventilated. Nothing feels easy, including the emails and calls wanting to know why we aren\u2019t already back in the building if the numbers are going down. The confusing and contradictory messages haven\u2019t helped. Nor has it helped that clergy weren\u2019t considered a priority group for vaccines. In Virginia, we\u2019re at the bottom of the IB priority list; we\u2019re still not eligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet despite everything, our faith held. So did love and hope. Belonging to a beloved community got many of us through this past year.\u00a0As it will get us through the months ahead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/03\/25\/USAT\/39b564e3-a8aa-47e9-953d-5b02a8444d62-Easter_Passover_Rev_Debra_2019.jpg?width=180&height=240&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nLove, hope and our faith held\u00a0<\/h2>\n