Clergy call for confidence
‘Distancing does not mean closing our hearts’
In his Sunday message to members of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Lead Pastor Lee Heyward shared that in this time of adversity he was reminded of the Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy in the New Testament.
“God has not given us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but he’s given us a spirit of love and power and a sound mind,” Heyward said.
The message in many respects perfectly captured the dilemma and the challenge facing worship leaders concerned about the coronavirus spread: how to offer a message of optimism and faith — and perhaps more importantly, a sense of community — at a time when prudence dictates separation and caution.
And so Heyward spread his message through a video — not in person — and announced that all services and programming at the church would be canceled for the time being. But he also offered congregants live-streaming and recorded video services via Facebook,
YouTube and the church’s website. And he encouraged congregants not to be afraid or isolated, but to invite family, friends and neighbors to gather in small groups “as we bring church to the spaces and places that you choose.”
Similar messages were shared across the religious spectrum.
At Parklawn Assembly of God, where more than 200 people gathered Sunday morning, Bishop Walter Harvey observed: “We’re not the same world, or the same city, or the same church as we were last Sunday. Last Sunday, you all came in hugging and kissing and shaking hands.”
Parklawn also live-streamed its service, and Harvey, like Heyward, picked up on the idea of being safe but not timid.
“We recognize that this is a moment God has set us up for. While the world is operating in fear, we are here as a fearless church,” Harvey said. “We will not spread fear. We will spread the spirit of love.”
For the Sherman Park church, that meant recognizing that coronavirus presents special outreach opportunities.
“Those who are most vulnerable are affected the most,” Senior Pastor Marcus Arrington said. “That happens to be families and children who live in underserved communities, many of them children of color, many of them African American here living in the city of Milwaukee. So we are currently in conversations to see how Parklawn can be light and love in this critical hour.”
Effects of isolation, loneliness
At Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid in Glendale, Rabbi Joel Alter said providing support to those affected is one way to bridge the chasm of isolation many may experience.
“Pastorally what I’m most worried about are the effects of isolation, of loneliness, for people in their homes, and all the moreso for people in care facilities, assisted living facilities, that are barring visitors outside of family,” Alter said.
“We take strength and encouragement from being together. And the joy and the purpose of religious life is evident in community. And so, one of my jobs as rabbi is to assure people of God’s continued presence in their lives, to make sure that the community mobilizes to provide concrete support and ‘presence’ for people even in their relative isolation. And I think also to help people maintain perspective. That even as our social lives — our lives in public — not just as Jews, as people, as Americans are shut down, that actually ... we are not defined by our public lives, that we retain our integrity even in our isolation.”
The synagogue canceled Saturday’s kiddush lunch that typically follows the morning service, and encouraged highrisk members to stay home, and those in attendance to sit farther apart. Earlier last week, Alter said, it suspended handshaking during the service and encouraged members to refrain from touching the Torah scroll, then putting their hands to their lips. Instead, they suggested pointing to the holy scrolls and touching their hearts.”
Also, he said, they would likely cease sitting shiva at a member’s home in the event of a death, and instead would encourage mourners to call in.
“There are a lot of changes,” said Alter.
Changes in practices
Those changes could be seen in one place after another over the weekend.
Catholic Masses continued to be celebrated throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, but Archbishop Jerome Listecki last week dispensed the obligation to attend for three Sundays, leaving the decision to individual judgment. He also made other recommendations that could be seen across the archdiocese.
At St. Hedwig Catholic Church, Father James Connell reminded worshippers that the Sign of Peace would best be observed with a bow, a smile or a wave. Consecrated wine would not be part of Holy Communion, as Catholics believe Jesus is already fully present in the consecrated host.
St. Mary in Hales Corners suspended the tradition of holding hands during the Lord’s Prayer. And Father Brian Mason asked that people who regularly take Holy Communion to those in nursing homes or hospices make sure they are still allowed to visit. He said some nursing homes had asked that the practice be suspended.
At other Catholic churches, vessels of holy water were either empty, or parishioners were given the option of refraining from blessing themselves.
In a similar way, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Cedarburg, there was no sharing of the peace, no Holy Communion, no passing of a collection basket, no hymnals in the pews, and no children and few older adults in attendance. A live-stream was offered for those at home.
Pastor Vicki Simon addressed the concept of social distancing that seems so counterintuitive to life in the church.
Her message: “Social distancing in body or proximity does not mean closing our hearts.” She encouraged parishioners to view social distancing as an act of compassion itself “by doing our best to protect others from harm.”
Make social distancing an opportunity to increase compassion, she said, by reaching people in different ways — friendly phone calls, social media conversations, texts or cards.
Disappointment over lost events
In addition to canceling or curtailing services, most places of worship also canceled all special events and social gatherings.
In Pewaukee, the halls of the Hindu
Temple of Wisconsin were all but empty Saturday, a stark contrast to the colors and lights that normally accompany Holi, the Hindu festival of spring.
The temple had planned to celebrate Holi as it does annually, with a cultural show filled with performances by the community’s children, and the traditional throwing of gulal, colored powders. The show, four months in the making, usually attracts some 300 to 400 people, with performances by 20 to 25 groups.
“Some of the kids were upset. I have a 6-year-old too, so she was upset with it; she was supposed to perform,” said Karthik Vaddi, the temple board’s secretary. “It’s a tough time to deal with some of these challenges but I think we can come together as a community and get past this.”
The temple shut down its cafeteria, which sells meals to worshipers to support temple operations.
On Saturday night, as the temple prepared to close, priests were going about little tasks and cleaning as five or so worshipers went about paying their respects to the idols around the room that serves as the temple’s main prayer hall. The priests refrained from handing out prashad, holy offerings of food, and applying ash tilaks to temple-goers’ foreheads.
“Usually, on a given Saturday, we have a much larger audience. We have at least 300 to 400 people visit the temple through the day,” Vaddi said. “On a day like today, with all the events canceled and the cafeteria not being open, I would say we hardly would have 50 people through the day.”
‘A test to all of us’
“It’s a tough time to deal with some of these challenges but I think we can come together as a community and get past this.” Karthik Vaddi Temple board secretary
For some, such curtailing of religious traditions can be more than just disappointing, it can be a bit scary.
Last week, as coronavirus became a global pandemic, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee decided to cancel programming and limit congregational prayers to 15 minutes. But as schools started shuttering and public response grew, ISM leaders on Thursday took the drastic step of canceling Friday Jumuah prayers, the body’s main congregational gathering of the week.
“The last couple of days have truly been a test to all of us,” Imam Noman Hussain of ISM’s Brookfield mosque told worshippers in a video on Instagram. “The reality is that the decisions that were taken were not decisions we wanted to be in the position to make.”
“It’s on the one side very beautiful to see that in the times of tragedy and the times of difficulties and challenges, how so many people want to continue to hold on to their faith,” Hussain continued.
But in an interview Sunday with the Journal Sentinel, Hussain said the outbreak has resulted in worry for Muslims in Milwaukee and around the world. It was, after all, the first time that many of the congregants were seeing ISM’s mosques — buzzing hubs of cultural and spiritual gathering — almost entirely shut down.
“For the most part, I think this is the first time a lot of Muslims are seeing the mosque completely closed for the first time in their lives,” Hussain said. “Prayers haven’t been canceled before.”
Don’t underestimate prayer
What this means going forward is something of a question. Despite far lower attendance, some ministers said they would continue to hold services as long as possible — and as long as safe. Others were already getting a taste of an entirely new reality, with no specific end in sight.
“As a priest, I never thought I’d see the day when a number of large archdioceses, even larger than Milwaukee, have already canceled Mass,” said Father John Clote on Saturday afternoon at the Basilica of St. Josephat in Milwaukee. “This includes Peoria, Illinois; Chicago; Boston, just announced a few hours ago; Detroit; Seattle; and quite a few others.”
Clote said, “This is new territory for all of us,” and encouraged parishioners to keep their faith.
“We should also remember that the early church started in homes,” Clote said. “It started in homes and small gatherings. … If it comes to that and we’re isolated, hopefully, we’ll take that opportunity to pray for your family, friend, your neighbor, whomever that happens to be.”
The Rev. Geoff Ward, told a congregation of about 20 gathered at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in River Hills that the coronavirus will not keep the community from gathering, at least in some fashion.
“I can’t promise you that next Sunday the governor won’t say that we cannot gather together as we are to today, but I do repudiate this idea that we will not have public worship. We’re going to have huge public worship. We’re going to have more public worship than we’ve ever had — courtesy of this live stream.”
Ward encouraged the congregation to continue to pray, not aimed at changing God, but because of the impact it has on individual hearts.
“I encourage all of you not to underestimate the power of prayer.”
Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield conducted its Sunday service on Facebook Live with three people in the sanctuary: the Rev. Suzelle Lynch; the church’s director of religious education; and the cameraperson.
By 12:30 p.m., the service, with the theme of kindness, had been viewed 412 times. Many congregants commented in real time about how the readings and sermons affected them, something that doesn’t typically happen during in-person services.
“Happy Sunday everyone,” one church member posted. “This is a blessing and very much needed.”
Epikos, a non-denominational church with three campuses in Milwaukee County, also canceled in-person worship and live-streamed its services
Pastor Paul Stevens said it might have felt odd for people to be worshipping at home in their pajamas, but he said: “We are together. We are the church. Because we are under many roofs this morning, and not one, doesn’t mean we stop being the church.”
Chelsey Lewis, Annysa Johnson, Eric Aspenson, Ricardo Torres, Jordyn Noennig, Devi Shastri, David Haynes, John Diedrich, Raquel Rutledge, Gina Barton and Thomas Koetting, all of the Journal Sentinel staff, contributed to this report.