Community Chat

[Oznell]

I think the friendly hand shake, in both secular and church situations, will disappear for an extended period.  For Protestant churches, I expect the carefully prepared individual breads and little glasses of juice will at some point resume, under even more sanitary conditions. 

Perhaps Roman Catholic and Orthodox communities will develop some dispensation to move away from the communal cup.  It's hard to imagine even the most devoted communicants adhering to that, under the circumstances.   I'm sure they'll work it out in a way that isn't perfect, but acceptable.

Online services continuing, and then ultimately, slow, socially distanced reduced numbers of church attenders at any given time, will probably be our route, I expect.

Like in China, (but for different reasons) there may be some who will form more 'home churches'.

It's a historical fact that the global church has survived so much throughout history, including hideous plague and ferocious persecution in some corners of the world--  I have absolute confidence it will adapt and survive once more to the end. 

[Pook]

It's not about the building and congregating, it's what is in your heart and how you treat others every day. Individual praying is just as good or probably better than sitting in a crowd since so many critique what others are wearing and just want to be seen at church. 

[golding76]

A few days ago, I read something that struck a chord with me.  With all the apprehension of touching another's hand in a handshake (that now seems like a quaint and sweet idea), the writer asked whatever happened to the wearing of gloves.

When I read that, I thought of all the positive aspects of wearing gloves.  There is always coughing to pass a germ along, of course, but maybe wearing gloves would help a bit in keeping germs at bay. 

As a young child, I and my mother would always wear white gloves to church or for any dressy event like a wedding.  Sometimes the gloves came up to my mid-arm, sometimes they were lacey, but we always wore some sort of glove.  Before that era, men wore gloves, too.  Gloves look elegant.

What if, after (God willing) all this nightmare settles down and we have a vaccine and other measures to control this coronavirus, we all return to wearing gloves.  We could shake hands with at least one person a day.  I realize this sounds a bit ridiculous, but I believe our ancestors knew something instinctively about survival.  Perhaps there were no antibiotics, anti-virals or disinfecting potions to protect them, but they knew not to press the flesh if they wanted to live a longer and healthy life. 

[KarenQVC]

Let's just say it is a good time to be a Buddhist.

[Oznell]

What a picture of elegance you posted, @golding76 !  

[sunshine 919]

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@golding76 wrote:

A few days ago, I read something that struck a chord with me.  With all the apprehension of touching another's hand in a handshake (that now seems like a quaint and sweet idea), the writer asked whatever happened to the wearing of gloves.

When I read that, I thought of all the positive aspects of wearing gloves.  There is always coughing to pass a germ along, of course, but maybe wearing gloves would help a bit in keeping germs at bay. 

As a young child, I and my mother would always wear white gloves to church or for any dressy event like a wedding.  Sometimes the gloves came up to my mid-arm, sometimes they were lacey, but we always wore some sort of glove.  Before that era, men wore gloves, too.  Gloves look elegant.

What if, after (God willing) all this nightmare settles down and we have a vaccine and other measures to control this coronavirus, we all return to wearing gloves.  We could shake hands with at least one person a day.  I realize this sounds a bit ridiculous, but I believe our ancestors knew something instinctively about survival.  Perhaps there were no antibiotics, anti-virals or disinfecting potions to protect them, but they knew not to press the flesh if they wanted to live a longer and healthy life. 

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I was thinking the same thing today.  When I was growing up ladies always wore gloves, I had a white pair also.  I was thinking that designers will start with the gloves again.  They always look nice  Thanks for posting this nice picture.

[speedy girl]

I've been thinking about church so much too. I just can't imagine sitting close in the pews again and all the hand shaking that normally happens. I guess they can make some changes about those things but for me, I'm not going to be doing any unnecessary crowds for quite some time. I do miss church so much but will stick with on line services for now. 

[Qgirl26]

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@Anonymous032819 wrote:

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@Qgirl26 wrote:

I worry about the financials myself, @walker . We can mail in our tithes and offerings or we can give electronically as well. But with some being out of work and things so uncertain, it's tough for the churches. I know our church is financially hurting already as they had to let 2 people on staff go just a week ago.

Having said that though, I think that they still need to take their time and make sure we are safe. But yeah, we are all going to be wanting to run when we hear someone cough. And heaven help us if WE start on a coughing fit! Have you ever noticed when one person starts coughing, several follow? I have noticed that before. You get just a little tickle in your throat and you don't want to cough because it's so quiet but someone coughs and then someone else does and you think, what the heck, so you let your cough out too? Well, it might just be me but I have done that. But I seriously will be afraid to let out the tiniest cough in church, even if it's something I know is just a tickle in my throat. Nobody else realizes that! We will all be tacking one another to get out the door! It's going to be fun.

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Or, how about having seasonal allergies, or a bit of dust tickles your nose and you have to sneeze?

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Yes, so true. We are in trouble.

[Qgirl26]

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@wishmoon wrote:

I'm non-religious but I used to be a believer and KNOW that they'll pass the collection plate but will probably put a new spin on it. You'll probably have to dump your envelope in a box with a slit on top.

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@wishmoon, we don't HAVE to do anything.

[Qgirl26]

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@golding76 wrote:

Qgirl126,

Thank heavens I have a diverse religious background, but I have been a Greek Orthodox Christian from the time of my baptism and chrismation (that occurred the same time -- when I was six months old).

However, I grew up in a small town that, when I was young, did not have a Greek Orthodox Church.  Since weekly attendance at Sunday School and Church were non-negotiables in our parents' home, my brother and I attended Protestant churches on a weekly basis and attended Greek Orthodox Liturgy on the "High Holy Days."  We typically went to the church in Baltimore, Md.

So, I very early on attended Episcopal Sunday School and church, but as we grew, we wanted to attend church with the neighborhood kids.  So, for our truly formative years, my brother and I attended Sunday School and church at the Grace Reformed Church.  Wherever we went, I was satisfied.

When I married and settled in Northern Virginia, I was able to attend Greek Orthodox services weekly.  Older now and not wanting to drive far, I started attending services at my local Catholic Church, and I have enjoyed that very much.  It isn't as though I stopped attending services at my church, but about two years ago it was obvious that I was attending Mass at the Catholic Church more often than attending Liturgy at my Greek Orthodox Church.  So, I do have a place to go, but in my heart, I will always be a Greek Orthodox Christian. 

I truly hate that I will probably have to stop attending my church, though.  I know they won't change.

I am able to continue live-streaming my church's services, but it just is not the same as being there in person.

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I hear you, @golding76  and hopefully in time, you will get to go back again. I want to go back too. I just want to make sure the time is right. Church is not an easy place to distance ourselves from others because it's just not the nature of how things are done there. The thing I am most thankful for is the fact that we can have services streamed online. If this had happened years ago, before we had this option, we'd all be completely on our own to worship. And we do what we have to, but it just feels better to have our church leaders continue to lead us. I am thankful this is an option for us all, no matter what our religion. Hang in there and know you aren't alone. We might be different religions but we are in this together.