‘Hurting for hope,’ churches in rural S.D. mark Advent
CANTON, S.D. — The Nativity stable at Canton Lutheran Church will be silent this year, breaking from a community tradition of gathering for a live Christmas performance. Instead, churches in this rural corner of South Dakota are grappling with how to approach an Advent filled with quiet mourning after the coronavirus tore through the region.
Church announcements are marked not with parties and performances, but with deaths. South Dakota and North Dakota, states largely spared from the worst of the pandemic during the spring and summer, have seen a frightening pace of death since October. The states’ per capita death over the fall was almost double that of even the next worst-off state.
Even as congregations mourn, they are finding new significance in Advent, when Christians mark the long, dark nights leading up to Christmas as they prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
“Advent is the season when we look forward, and long and wait for that new life to come upon us,” the Rev. Tim Thies said. “We’re a people hurting for hope.”
The church’s annual Nativity performance often draws a crowd of thousands to Canton, a city of about 3,500 people nestled against the Big Sioux River dividing South Dakota from Iowa. People come to see the camels, the angels who ascend on a hydraulic lift — and of course, the infant Jesus, played by one of the church’s newest arrivals. Not this year.
The church canceled the live show, fearing that a large gathering would add to the virus’ toll.
“There’s just a void and you can’t fill it,” Thies said.
Community grieving also has been halted, even as the impact of the deaths from the virus has rippled, said Cheryl Johnson, a member of Canton Lutheran.
Memorial services for some people were postponed; others had small graveside gatherings.
“These were pillars of the community,” said Johnson. “There should have been hundreds of people at those services.”
One man who died operated a construction company that built many of the homes people live in; another operated a manufacturing business that was a big employer. Many from the older generation were faithful donors to the churches that run charities in town.
Canton Lutheran’s congregation has lost 12 members over the last few months, from COVID-19 and other causes, Thies said.
The virus has been a crucible on the neighborly harmony that is the pride of many towns. Impassioned debates over politics and mask requirements, the unrelenting discomfort of isolation, the pain of losing loved ones and the pressures on medical workers have all compounded into discord.
Churches saw needs arising, even as they waded through divisions.
The Grand Valley Lutheran Church, a 126-year-old congregation of mostly farming families a few miles south of Canton, shut down services during the early days of the pandemic. But the Rev. Lance Lindgren — who later died of the virus in November — was adamant that the church continue to provide some form of worship, so hymns from the church organ streamed over Facebook.