Faith leaders urge following COVID advice of medical experts

After conducting church services virtually for approximately a year because of COVID-19, faith leaders are urging their congregants to continue living safely while suggesting ways to personally connect with each other when hugs and handshakes are not possible.

Those messages were delivered by two ministers and a lay leader during the first of four virtual gatherings Thursday sponsored by the African American Community Partnership Group Lake County (AACGP) to maintain faith while preventing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the questions asked by moderator the Rev. Kalif Crutcher, a chaplain at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, was what to tell a person who declines to wear a mask because God will offer protection. Questions came from both Crutcher and Facebook messages.

A panelist, Bishop Sylvester Williams Sr. of the CME church’s Third Episcopal District, said people should not stretch their faith too far.

“Don’t put the Lord through a foolish test,” Williams said. “You shouldn’t jump off a mountain just to see if the Lord will catch you. We have to do what the scientists tell us, and God will see us through this.”

The Rev. Michael Nabors, the president of the Evanston chapter of the NAACP and pastor of that city’s Second Baptist Church, said he acted quickly to protect his congregants when the country started shutting down a year ago, but nurtured them at the same time. “The third (Sunday) in March, we shut down,” he said. “We were already livestreaming so it put us ahead of some others. We had hundreds from our church watching, and hundreds more from around the country. That was a good thing about this.”

Nabors said he missed the company of others, and recognized many likely felt the same. Though he has become accustomed to communicating by text, email and social media platforms, he used something more traditional to create community when people could not gather together.

“I told them I was lonely,” he said. “I told them I needed them to write me a letter. I’m old-fashioned. A letter is very personal. I got 600 letters, and I wrote every one of them back.”

Crutcher also asked the panel of Nabors, Williams and Amber Bolden, a lay leader, about other ways people can connect, whether there are fears over receiving the vaccine and what people should do when science comes in conflict with faith.

When it comes to faith and science, Nabors said they are completely compatible. He sees the efforts of the medical and scientific communities as much a part of God’s work as anything else.

“God made all of us in his image, and that includes the scientists and the doctors,” he said. “God gave them all the gifts they are using for all of us. God is watching what those folks are doing, and we have to be patient.”

While Williams said he recognizes people want to go to church physically rather than virtually, he said as more and more are vaccinated the time for the return is getting closer. He rejects the notion of temperature and health checks on a Sunday morning so live services return sooner.

“We’ve got to hold on for a little while longer,” he said. “We are so close right now.”

Questions were raised about fears people may have about receiving a vaccination. Nabors said people should not worry about inoculations.

“As soon as it’s their turn, everyone should get shots,” he said. “We have three vaccines out there, and we should be very confident in them.”

Another subject posed by Crutcher was concern about mental health issues as people are isolated from each other. Bolden said parents should watch for signs of unease with their children. If they need help, there are places to find it.

“See what’s going on in your own household,” Bolden said. “If you’re working two jobs to take care of your family, that’s when it’s time to engage the village. Have someone nearby check on them to see if they’re plugged in.”

Gayle Graves, the co-chair of the AACGP said Thursday’s forum is the first of four dealing with faith and the pandemic. They will take place Thursday, March 18 and March 25.