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Prayer is > the virus, photography by Lorie Shaull

Prayer is > the virus message written on plastic wrapped baled hay in Goodhue County, Minnesota
Changing Signs

Although I was raised in the Methodist Church, I no longer count myself as a religious person. However, I do enjoy reading what local churches, especially in smaller towns, post on their outdoor signs to communicate with the general public. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I've noticed lots of signs like the one pictured here -- instead of Bible verses, the signs are all about how to connect online. Just one of the many ways the pandemic has effected religious practice.
St. Francis of Assisi with a Mask

St. Francis was a great lover of God's creation which in these uncertain times reminds us how amazing it is even still to be able to enjoy our surroundings in nature.
Start of Virtual Worship

This is my church starting a live session during the Covid-19 pandemic and creating that ability to connect online through technology to continue that sense of community and worship.
Church Visits

Along with watching tv church services, my mom and I still visit our church from time to time, since it is still open. We usually go to sit by the altar and do reflection prayers.
At Home Church Service

During quarantine my mother and I have watched church services through the tv. We do this every Sunday morning to still keep maintain our religious tradition of going to church every Sunday.
A Religious Response to Covid-19 from a Presbyterian Community of Faith Near Detroit

This response documents the initial and early communications of a Presbyterian pastor to a congregation on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept through this geographic region (March and April, 2020). Included in the documents are mail and email communications to the congregation, reflections on seasonal observances of the Christian church in light the pandemic (Lent, Holy Week, Easter), and a sermon specifically addressing personal and community and faith issues in response to the pandemic. Relevant demographic information of this community of faith: denomination, Presbyterian Church USA; size 1,200 members; location is largely affluent suburban community bordering Detroit; racial composition is overwhelmingly white. Context of pastor and faith community: pastor (white male mid-sixties) has served since November 2019 as the interim head of staff in a temporary position (pastor's experience includes 40 years as a Presbyterian minister); the congregation's senior pastor moved to another congregation June, 2019 and is in a transitional time between called pastors.
Family Growth Through Worship at Home

Because of COVID-19, my church, like many others, has had to go to streamed services. They have been filming worship and preaching from my pastor's home, and then we are all able to watch on Facebook and YouTube during the normal service times. This has definitely been a change for my church, and even just my family. I definitely miss going to church services on Sunday mornings as well as throughout the week. My husband and I are very involved in our church, and I lead a life group that normally takes place at a coffee shop. In the midst of the pandemic, I have also had to lead my life group virtually. We have been meeting over Zoom, and it has been weird, but it definitely makes me feel so grateful for technology. It could easily shake our faith to be so much more disconnected from our fellow believers, but we have chosen to allow our faith to be strengthened by the time that we get to spend together as a family in worship. We may not get to be with all of our friends and church family to celebrate, but we do get to have a much more intimate worship time at home. My husband and I have grown in our faith and relationship with one another by focusing on pouring into each other and having church at home with just the two of us.
St. Mary's Cathedral in St Cloud, Minnesota, photograph by Lorie Shaull

Faith & Hope are not cancelled; a sign outside St. Mary's Cathedral in St Cloud, Minnesota
The name of Jesus is above COVID-19, photography by Lorie Shaull

Message on a sign at Joy Christian Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota
My experience

I am a 22 year old college student. I grew up in the Methodist church in Lisbon Ohio. I was baptized there. I have always believed and god and I higher power. I stopped going to church after my favorite reverend quit. I recently have moved to South Carolina to live with my boyfriend and go to law school. I woke up in the middle of the night one night right when corona started in fear. I believe my dream had something to do with me dying of the Coronavirus. I was shaking so bad in my legs that it woke my boyfriend up. I told him I had a dream I died of the virus and he told me I was crazy. Then I got this fear of dying. I wondered about after life and god. I stayed up most night worrying and when I did sleep I woke up in panic attacks. I convinced my family to drive down and pick me up. (I was too afraid to tell them about my fears in fear of them making fun of me). I had been up for a couple days at the time I told my mother about it. She told me how she’s had spiritual experiences when her mother passed and that she believes in god. I never really talked with her about it before. That night I went upstairs and (I know this sounds crazy) this doll my grandma gave me before she died was on a table outside of my bedroom. It was strange because I haven’t seen it in forever. I had even been sleeping in my room the time I had been there and haven’t seen it. I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. I later started to have many questions about god and religion. My dad has always been religious because as a kid they had evil spirits in his house that would mess with him and his siblings. My moms side of the family has always discredited him because his father abused all his siblings and even my grandmother. They thought maybe the sprit was his dad and he was thinking it was a demon. He mentions this demon would shake his bed and he would call out the name of the lord and it would stop and run away scared. I don’t think he was lying. I never had. I believed he experienced it. Why would my dad lie? What would he gain from it? I talked more to my dad about god and religion and I felt more comfortable. I forgot to mention but while I was having my doubts I kept seeing the number 116. I looked this number up forever ago and it was an angel number. It means I will succeed and what I work for will become my reality. I told my dad about it and he said it’s a sign from god. I would be watching a TikTok trying to calm myself down and I would see the number or I’d be having a panic attack and see the number playing a game. I went up to visit my sister (we have all been in quarantine) and I told her about my experience and she told me she didn’t believe in anything. We were molested as children and I am not sure but I think her belief come from the pain she has endured. I had another panic attack. My boyfriends aunt is religious and weird enough the next day she invited me to her church video thing on Facebook (I’m not sure what to call it lol). I thought well that’s weird she has never done it before. So I watched it and weird enough it was about what I was stressing over. I watched it and I had more and more questions. I talked to my dad over FaceTime and he explained stuff to me. My aunts whole family never really believed in god or any higher power. A best friend of mine amber moved to North Carolina our senior year and I know she had become one with god. None of my friends other than her really believe in god or have ever been religious. I talked to her for a bit and she told me all the signs I was getting were from god and were comforting me. She said coincidences don’t happen. Every time I had my doubts and I mean every time I would see 116. She has had a very spiritual experience which brought a lot of comfort to me. I had a lot of questions about afterlife and heaven. My dad randomly sent me this video on near death experiences and all of them had a spiritual experience. The comments had a woman who said she was an atheist all of her life and she had some coincidences that made her believe. I didn’t get through all of the video as I had school work to do. But my dad came in from work and said it was weird... the video he randomly found YouTube. He didn’t search it up or anything. It was suggested to him. This was on his work computer and he was just looking up politics with the Coronavirus. I took this as a sign. I told dad that was insane because it was EXACTLY what I was worried about the night before. I hadn’t even talked to him about that. Since I have had my doubts I’ve also had signs from god and I truly believe they are signs. I never really had these experiences before other than when I told my mom about me being molested I had sleep paralysis the night before. It was a yellowish figure came and grabbed my hand and held it. I woke up the next day to tell my dad about it and he said it was my guardian angel comforting me about something. Later that night is when I told my mom. I don’t believe in coincidences and I really hope my narrative makes sense to you. But God is really here. I’ve been nicer and more helpful. I’ve been praying more and praying for other people and outcomes. My fears are gone. My doubts have went away. My anxiety isn’t there anymore. I believe I was sent to this page just to share my experiences. I feel like the Coronavirus has showed us what’s really important family, life, and god.
How my Great-Grandmother has Been Affected by Covid-19

I would like to start this off by mentioning that I understand the importance of religion for many people, but my grandmother is someone who takes her religion extremely seriously. Ever since I was a young child I always remembered my great-grandmother (a survivor of both the Great Depression, Polio, and World War 2) being completely dedicated to her religion and her attendance has only been affected by health issues. This changed a few weeks ago when it came time for Easter Sunday and my great-grandmother, being 94 could not attend that service for the first time in her life. She attempted to navigate technology to allow her to watch the service online but was unable to get all the kinks worked out, even with us younger grandchildren helping. Even if my grandmother had been successful in watching her service online, it would have been drastically different than what she had experienced her entire life. For someone who is a widow, survived many tribulations, and now has to go through Covid-19 is affecting her and the people around her, it makes things very difficult. Many of my family members are not devout to Christianity like my grandmother, this is very hard on her, with her not attending service, and not being able to talk about her religion it is causing her to go as she put it "stir crazy".
A view of Lancaster

Photo 1 - The old Soul
Virtual Worship Service

April 19th was our seventh Sunday of not gathering together in person for worship. Each week, we've tried to provide a simulacrum of a worship service through Facebook and YouTube. This week, I (as pastor) took my sermon out into nature. Pastoral ministry these days is surreal, bizarre, and exhausting, but we continue trying to foster spiritual health and growth within our congregation.
Moving Communion Online: What would Calvin say?

Months before the COVID-19 virus spread, forcing us to move our worship services online, our congregation made the decision to schedule communion for March 29th, the week before Palm Sunday. As we planned worship for that week, we struggled with whether / how to celebrate communion online. There were practical questions as well as theological questions to address. Our Constitution (Part II. Book of Order) is clear that communion is to be celebrated in the gathered congregation, or at least immediately following worship as part of a pastoral call to members who cannot be present in the worship service itself. As Christians in the Reformed Tradition, we ultimate found that our theology of the sacrament of communion (informed by our theological forebear, the 16th century reformer John Calvin) and what we understand to happen in communion, made it feasible for us to proceed to celebrate communion online. The experience was remarkable. We found that the spiritual connection to the Communion of Saints (as Calvin described those of every time and place who call on Christ's name) was palpable, and a gift for us all, especially at a time when we were not permitted to connect with Christ and one another in the same physical space.
Church @ Home

We didn't realize it at the time, but apparently a few of us at St. Peter's Lutheran were preparing to do church during a pandemic. During the last few years we have shifted to a giving resource called Tithe.ly that allows for easy digital online give. We also began streaming one of our church services. Both of these resources were sort of utilized by the congregation, but now they are being heavily utilized. We began a service called Church @ Home, where church and lay leaders contribute to the service from their homes. Every Sunday morning one of our rooms turns into a recording studio with lights, microphone, web camera, and projection streaming software. We've been doing a mixture of live and pre-recorded video and audio. We've been supplementing these streams with zoom small group gatherings. We are 7 Sundays in and I feel a longing from my congregation to be incarnational...to somehow see each other in person. People are putting on a brave face, but the longing is creeping up in different ways. We are an affluent congregation, and so the number one question I hear is, "What can I do? How can I help?" We are creating a relief fund based on donations to help people in financial need. The fund will first help church members, but I foresee it being used for the greater community. As we are trying to tend to the present, the leadership is attempting to look into the future and imagine how life at church can be...given that it needs to be different from before.
COVID-19 changed me

I'm an international student that was suppose to graduate this may, I study in the United stated after Covid 19 started spreading, my state had low cases everything was online one day I woke up receiving an from my sponsors asking me to book my flight back home since its better there so I did, as I reached my country the checked our temperature and all , then sent us to a hotel that was guarded by the military themselves we didn't leave our rooms for 15 days, had no contact with anyone even the people in the hotel. The first few days went well but then it was sad and depressing being back home not seeing your family or connecting anyone in person , i used my time wisely, i started to create a schedule of the activities i would like to do , such as watch my lectures , solve my homework, work out , i became more connected to god , i did my prayers on time, I started drawing again and thinking of my future and what will i do once everything is over , after the 15 days i came home i learned how to cook , our maid went back to her country so i started helping my family in cleaning the house, cooking , going to buy the grocery washing them then putting them in the fridge , i washed the clothed and hanged them in the sun , i was used to a certain life style and i felt corona helped me change my personality, I became more independent, more organized , more spiritual more caring and understanding
Pandemic Religious Experience

This whole pandemic has been very interesting, to say the least. One are of my life that has been greatly affected by this pandemic is the religious aspect of my life. It has changed from going to church 1-2 times a week and doing a bible study with friends 2 times a week to spending virtual time with God on Sunday mornings. My church is doing their best to make our services as interesting and normal as possible during this unique circumstance but it is still vastly different. I never knew how important the atmosphere that my church provides was until now. I miss the community and sense of safety that it provided and I cannot wait until we are able to return to how things were before.
virtual meditation

Instead of meeting with friends for zazen or mindful meditations, they have all been moved online through Zoom. One nationwide for zazen: https://zenleader.global/virtual-zazen/?mc_cid=2af74c531b&mc_eid=1eb7ddaedc and one through Ozarks Dharma Community: https://www.ozarksdharma.org/2020/04/thursday-open-sit-meditation-now-online.html
Religion during a pandemic

My Church services and small groups have gone completely virtual. We mostly have been using zoom or FaceTime to connect with one another. Every Sunday, the sermon is posted on Facebook as well as Youtube. Its personally strengthened my religious beliefs as I believe God is using this time to connect and draw His people closer to Him. I only have Him to depend on as an unchanging source.
Our Holy Communion Table

Here’s how we prepare our Holy Communion Table.
First Presbyterian Church West Plains

My story and a link to our churches sermons is in the pandemic file.
Communion during a Pandemic

During the shutdowns associated with the coronavirus, Catholics have been prevented from gathering for mass for many weeks. Although many people watch services online, there is no easy or sanitary way to receive holy communion. This photo, accompanying article in AMERICA magazine, shows a priest in New Mexico distributing the eucharist to people in cars. Although this practice is not common, it is a creative solution to a serious challenge in religious practice.
Aunt with COVID-19

During this Pandemic, my aunt has unfortunately caught the coronavirus. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and has been hospitalized. She is 78 so her age hasn’t really helped with anything at all. My family has been going through a tough time especially my mother since this is her oldest sister. My mom has formed a conference call for our family and other family members to get on a call at 3 in the afternoon, everyday, to take the time to pray for her sister, as well as to pray for other people and things during this pandemic.
Prayer Space

In my house we have a sacred space where we go to pray and devote our time to God. During this Pandemic we have spent more time in this space doing bible readings, praying, and just coming together as a family. It’s how we try to find peace throughout all of this and still stay connected with God.