Churches should be open for prayer
Today is Good Friday, when Christians believe Jesus was crucified, and the religious themes of loneliness and loss are incredibly pertinent in the midst of a pandemic. Why, then, can believers not enter churches to pray? Church leaders talk about “accompanying” their congregations throughout their lives, in good times and in bad, but at this most traumatic moment, the doors are locked shut.
The Government initially banned public services, but invited the churches to remain open during the lockdown for private prayer. And yet church leaders, including Anglicans and Catholics, insisted that they be shut. The Church of England went further and banned ministers from even setting foot in their own churches. Parish clergy have also been told they cannot volunteer to assist with those dying in hospital.
The general explanation is that the churches want to be seen to be doing the right thing and to offer public “leadership”, but given how fast church attendance is falling in the UK, one has to ask to whom they think they are setting an example? It is widely acknowledged that Christianity is struggling to remain relevant in the modern world, and the coronavirus crisis is a rare opportunity to share its message – the Easter season, after all, provides plenty of reflections upon death and resurrection.
Yet the hierarchy seems cautious and inflexible. Where is the great tradition of Christian heroism, of “giving until it hurts”, as Mother Teresa put it? It cannot be that difficult to open one or two cathedrals on Easter Sunday, strictly for solitary prayer and with social distancing enforced.
The calls to “pray for Boris” illustrate that millions of us retain an instinct to turn to a higher power, particularly during an illness or natural disaster, and individual parishes and ministers have been meeting that need through a kind of spiritual DIY, providing services and prayers to watch online. Such innovation has been admirable, and it is possible that a great deal of personal faith has been strengthened.
The question is, what will the established churches look like on the other side of this emergency? Will they fill up again in thanksgiving, or will people have lost the habit of Sunday worship? Shuttering the temples implies that church attendance is ideal but not a necessity, and while that is obviously not what church leaders believe, they have to explain why, when Britain needed them to step forward, they chose instead to step back.