Worship During a Pandemic

For the last several months, we have gone to church in our pajamas.   At 9:15 we sit on the couch with our cups of coffee and click on the link sent to us.  We are directed to a series of videos prepared earlier in the week by the Nassau Presbyterian Church staff.  Sometimes we skip over some of them (like the children's message).  We always do the welcome, Scripture reading, sermon, prayers, and blessing.   We don't sing along.  

It has become a comfortable routine but it is not good.   I need music as a part of worship and I miss it.   I don't sing in the church choir and I may never do so again.  Church choir rehearsals are "super spreader events" and the decision has been made not to have choir in the fall.  We are not sure when we will be able to worship in the sanctuary again.

Some churches like our church in South Bend are beginning outdoor services in the parking lot but our Nassau Church has almost no parking lot.  When we did have worship, we parked along Nassau Street where the meters were turned off on Sunday mornings.  

We have also attended adult church school every week where two different Princeton Seminary professors gave 20 minute presentations on topics---one series on Acts and one on pivotal moments in American church history that spoke to our own right now.  Both series were excellent and gave us topics for discussion in our Tuesday small group--which met by Zoom meetings the last few months.

Again, as I did with grocery shopping, I want to record what life is like during this time of social distancing.   I hope that soon it will just be a memory and we can get back to life as it was.  I fear that we may be masked and wary for a long time however.