‘There is an excitement about getting hugs again and seeing people’s faces again’

No doubt about it, COVID-19 changed the way people worship – and not just on Zoom.

Locally, many churches in the Diocese of Joliet are requiring people to register for the Mass they wish to attend (with phone support, if needed) – as are churches of other denominations.

For instance, Community Christian Church in Plainfield is requiring advance registration for in-person services, although online services are still available, too.

Grace Episcopal Church in New Lenox began offering in-person services on March 27 in addition to its online services. Still other churches, such as Word of Life in Crest Hill, have held in-person services outdoors or in their parking lots.

Still others, such as First Congregational United Church Of Christ in Lockport, are currently offering online services only. Some churches in other denominations don’t require registration but do have mitigations in place, such at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Joliet.

Last yer, the Plainfield Congregational Church United Church of Christ even offered prayer on a drive-thru basis.

While “hybrid” services were virtually unknown in the Will County area before COVID-19, it appears they might be here to stay – although some pastors, such as Rev. Cameron J. Moore, pastor of St. Mark Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Joliet, feels virtual services lack the fullness of in-person worship.

In-person services offer ‘communion of spirit and body and fellowship.’

Moore said most churches have found ways to be inventive during the pandemic and that churches should get strive for the methods that best suits their congregations.

He does feel streaming services on Facebook Live and Zoom has increased people’s participation in church services tremendously. And he added that St. Mark used COVID as an opportunity to get some remodeling down inside the church, he added.

But Moore feels that, overall, in-person worship is still the way to go.

“For our church, and I can only speak for my house of worship, they’re eager to get back into the building,” Moore said.

Moore said the core of what makes church activities, sporting events and other forms of socialization special is not the actual activity but the fellowship that happens during these programs.

“It’s the communion of spirit and body and fellowship,” Moore said, “And when you take that away, people can get used to it. But once you come out on the other side [of COVID], people will gravitate to those communal gatherings. It’s in our makeup.”

Moore said people the level of comfortableness people have attained with staying home may be a coping mechanism for the present situation.

Granted, some people are homebodies and spending time in one’s own home has certain benefits, he said. People feel safe and comfortable in their spaces. They like “not having to get dussied up” just to go “here or there,” he said.

“But we can’t ignore those of us who are longing for fellowship and interaction,” Moore said. “I’m a very personal person. I like interaction. I like meeting people and growing and connecting with people.”

“We must remember that God is going to bring us out of it, and, in the end, the church is always going to prevail,” Moore said. “We must trust God in all that.”

‘We’re being challenged to be creative’

Jenny Steinberg Kuvin came to the Joliet Jewish Congregation as its new rabbi September, right before the number of COVID-19 cases began to spike, making her feel like “the Zoom rabbi,” she said.

In-person attendance at the major holydays during the end of September and first part of October was good, Kuvin said. Then the numbers spiked, and services and programs went virtual.

Although Saturday morning services are now in-person, the Friday evening services are still virtual, she said.

“The board reviews it monthly,” Kuvin said. “We’ll probably continue virtually on Friday night until the fall, I would assume.”

Challenges with online services have included a technology learning curve with an older membership, the parts of worship that must be done live and members missing what they call “their happy place,” Kuvin said.

“There is an excitement about getting hugs again and seeing people’s faces again,” Kuvin said.

But safety is also a concern with in-person services. The congregation, which is growing in membership, currently has 78 families, Kuvin said. Ten, on average are attending in-person on Saturday morning with another 10 to 15 attending on Zoom, she added.

Kuvin feels general nervousness about the virus keeps some people, especially the elderly, participating on Zoom. It’s not because “they want to stay home on Saturday morning,” she said.

But Kuvin sees another challenge to in-person worship that has little to do with COVID-19.

“Because we worship on Friday night and Saturday morning, which is kind of counterculture, it’s much easier to sit on Zoom on Friday night than to drive 30 minutes to go to the synagogue,”Kuvin said.

Families today have many demands on their time, she feels, so virtual programming takes off some of the pressure. However, Kuvin is concerned that the children, after months of remote, learing, might view their Hebrew classes as simply “one more screen.”

Still, COVID-19 gave Joliet Jewish Congregation the opportunity to “update the technology to keep up with the times.”

“We’re being challenged to be creative,” Kuvin said. “And that has its benefits.”

‘When we do Zoom, it’s mostly educational in nature’

Zulfie Khan, president of the Al Aqsa Community Center in Plainfield, said it’s not really possible to offer religious services virtually because of how services are constructed. People must either pray at the mosque – and Muslims pray five times each day – or they pray at home, he said.

But the center hasn’t discounted “virtual” either.

“When we do Zoom, it’s mostly educational in nature,” Khan said. “I feel Zoom may still be around because the educational part can be done very effectively on Zoom.”

The center isn’t requiring registration. Coming to the mosque to pray is done on a “first come, first serve” basis although “we haven’t had to turn anyone away,” Khan said.

People must stand six feet apart, wear facemasks and, especially now during the month-long celebration of Ramadan, they are bringing their own prayer rugs. The prayers involve a lot of prostrations, so attendees prostrate on their rug and then “fold it up and take it back home,” Khan said.

The mosque recently just had its first positive case of COVID-19 and closed for three days last month. Khan credits the overall lack of cases with the center’s organized system of following protocols.

“We were following them religiously,” Khan said.