Synagogues and churches adapt to pandemic reality | City News – scottsdale.org
Posted By admin on April 10, 2020
Over the past two weeks, Temple Kol Ami Rabbi Jeremy Schneider has led Shabbat services in front of an empty room, save for the monitor set up in the front row.
The monitor, Schneider said, shows him what his congregation is seeing in real time.
It is very challenging to lead to an empty room, he said. I miss looking my congregants in the face and eyes. I miss their immediate reactions. I miss the immediate connection.
As social distancing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic keeps people from gathering in groups larger than 10, Temple Kol Ami is among the Scottsdale-area churches and synagogues that are adjusting to new ways of maintaining contact with congregants.
Social-distancing constraints will be especially challenging this week, as Christians begin Holy Week and look toward Easter next Sunday and Jewish congregations prepare for Passover beginning at sundown Wednesday.
Those constraints also pose a financial strain for many pastors and their rabbis, both personally and for their churches and synagogues.
Scottsdale United Methodist Church canceled in-person worship on March 15.
In addition to live-streaming services on Facebook, theyve hosted drive-in worship where attendees tuned into FM 88.1.
As this is an evolving situation, we have had an evolving approach, said Rev. Ann Lyter. Now, in the face of the Stay at Home order, we will be doing just that, staying at home.
We will still be presenting worship, but it will be through technology Zoom and possible video recordings and accessible by the public through Facebook Live, at our usual time of 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings.
St. Patrick Catholic Community also moved all services and their Faith Formation programs online via Zoom.
New needs have shown up, old needs change, and we are constantly adjusting to the daily new normal to find ways to meet the needs of our parishioners, our community, said Adam Stein, coordinator of communications for St. Patrick.
Along with Shabbat and Sunday services, synagogues and churches also have been forced to treat funerals and weddings differently.
For Temple Kol Ami, weddings through May have been postponed to the fall, save for those who choose to elope.
Most of the couples still want to get legally married on their original date with me and sign the marriage license. But the big events have been postponed. Everyone is very sad and disappointed, Schneider said.
Lyter even had her own wedding on March 22 and limited attendees to 10 family members and officiants, including herself and the groom.
We created a Facebook group for wedding guests and shared the wedding in the group on Facebook Live. The unplanned benefit of that was that some of my family who were not able to come to the wedding even before COVID-19 could attend virtually, Lyter said.
Lyter added that, at this point, Scottsdale United Methodist Church doesnt have any weddings scheduled and I dont imagine scheduling one until the restrictions have lifted, she said.
Funerals, however, will be held at Scottsdale United Methodist Church on a family-by-family basis with some choosing to wait until the restrictions are lifted. Others are having private services with only the closest family members in attendance and planning a larger memorial service when it is safe to do so.
Others are using technology, like Zoom, to gather people together virtually. This has the advantage of allowing people to grieve and including family members and friends that would not be able to be together, sometimes those who wouldnt have been able to attend even without the current restrictions, Lyter said. I will not conduct funerals with large in-person gatherings until it is safe to do so.
As for calling their elderly and vulnerable parishioners, Schneider and Stein said that of all their congregants, they reached out to the elderly first.
I organized a phone tree where we physically called every member of the congregation over the age of 60 in the first week of shutting down. Then, we called the rest of the congregation, Schneider said, adding that they have 412 families and 180 of them are over the age of 60.
I strongly encouraged one of my congregants who is 75 to download Zoom, he added. I walked him through it and then I recorded my kids video meeting with him and checking in. Then asked members of the congregation if they wanted to participate like this as well.
Schneider calls this physically distant, but socially connected, an initiative he started at the synagogue since members have volunteered to not only check in on the elderly, but also pick up groceries and essential items for them.
One particular member, Temple Kol Ami preschool director Debbie Glassman, visits her 96-year-old father from the parking lot of his home.
He comes out onto the balcony, Schneider said. This is being physically distant, but socially connected.
Live streaming makes it easy for most to stay connected, but not all congregants can turn to video; and churches, like Scottsdale United Methodist Church, are determining how to provide services in other ways.
Unfortunately, some of our members cannot access our online worship because they do not have the technology. We are looking into ways for them to listen in by phone if they do not have access to a computer, Later said.
The lack of in-person services has also had an impact on financial giving.
According to a new survey conducted by California-based Christian research firm, Barna, of Protestant pastors from across the U.S. about their churches responses to the pandemic, 79 percent said financial giving is down, with 47 percent reporting its down significantly.
Some pastors pointed out that for smaller congregations, Holy Week and Passover are among a limited number make or break times in their year financially since more people pack pews and open their wallets wider.
Attendance at the digital services is on the rise, however, according to Barna data. Fifty-four percent of pastors said their online attendance last Sunday, March 29, was higher than their usual in-person attendance.
The congregants have been very appreciative of our efforts to continue worship and provide the message of hope, love, and grace that is the gospel message, Lyter said.
Additionally, one in four reported attendance was much higher.
Our reach has gone national as family members share the video link with their family members in California or New York, for example, and they live-stream together, Schneider said.
As much as it feels physically distant, the ability to go to services online has socially connected families that hadnt normally been able to go synagogue together since they were a family. And members that work and cannot make it to synagogue on time can now come home from work and log in and still feel a part of the community, he added.
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Synagogues and churches adapt to pandemic reality | City News - scottsdale.org
