Faith during COVID-19

Introduction

I write this in mid-July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, I may revise this post as the situation develops/changes.

No one has had an easy time during this COVID-19 pandemic. During the height of COVID-19 (which I hope is behind us) with the lock-down/quarantine/self-isolation/stay-at-home order, things were very dark, compounded unrelated tragedies in Nova Scotia (the mass shooting in the Portapique area and several Canadian Forces members with Nova Scotia ties dying on operations)

Even though things have gotten better in many parts of the world, there is no cure, and there end in sight. At present, we must accept this pandemic and find a way to live with it, the “new normal.”

Like when other disasters and tragedies occurred in the past, people questioned God. “How could God let innocent people die?” “How is God going to protect you from a plague?” No doubt, for some, their faith has been shaken. My faith waivered at times during the pandemic as well, but I found peace with God through prayer and reflection.

Faith in Humanity/The World

While we tend to focus on the bad (i.e. the death toll, the financial disaster caused by COVID-19, the inadequacies of our healthcare system, the selfishness and inconsiderateness of people, the hoarding of toilet paper and other items, the social inequalities that make the poor at higher risk of infection, etc.), there has also been a lot of good that has occurred (friends checked in on each other by social media, phone, or email; people buying groceries for those unable or unwilling to do so; people making/donating masks and PPE items to frontline workers, etc.).

I have been very lucky that I have not lost anyone to COVID-19. I had a dear friend who was diagnosed with COVID-19, was on a ventilator for nearly a month, and survived. He is currently still in convalescence. To be honest, after a week or two on the ventilator, I didn’t think he was going to survive, but miracles do happen, and he did pull through. I prayed for him on many nights, so did his other friends and family.

One of my coping strategies during this pandemic was to find the “small victories,” be grateful of the little things, that I still had a job, able to work from, a lighter work schedule from home, no significant financial worries, but above all, that I was still healthy. I was thankful that I was in a better position than many other people and I tried to help out by giving more to charities and food banks during this pandemic. Another thing that I consider positive during the lockdown was that things “slowed down.” No longer were we in a rush to get things done, there was time for long conversations, time to do hobbies, time to read that book that one started months ago, time for oneself.

Church

One of this things after the pandemic started was a significant shift in how the faithful worshipped, most significantly the closure of churches. While none of us wanted churches to close, it was an eventuality with COVID-19. A large proportion of most churches are more elderly in age, and they were/are at a higher risk of suffering the more severe effects of COVID-19. We also didn’t know much about the disease at the time so churches had to err on the side of caution to be safe.

Ironically, the shutdown coincided with the season of Lent, and many have dubbed it the “Lentiest Lent.” Many hoped that the pandemic would be “over” by Easter and people could worship this most significant season in church. Sadly, that did not happen.

With the closure of churches, many churches turned to the use of technology and held online worship services (i.e. livestreaming or uploading a recorded a church service). I watched a few services, but I found it didn’t meet my faith needs.

I remarked to someone that COVID-19 must be harder than a low-churchman than a high-churchman, since Sunday worship seems to be the central aspect for low-churchmen, but for high-churchmen, there are the Daily Offices and personal prayers and devotionals upon which to fall back. When more evangelical denominations “demanded” certain governments to reopen churches, I was almost dumbfounded. Church is not a physical place, it exists in all of us, and our faith must be strong enough to worship and have a relationship with God even when physically attending church is not possible. That being said, it doesn’t mean that physical church is not necessary and one doesn’t need to attend church, because church provides more than just faith, it provides community, and these are extraordinary times. Faith is not a rigid adherence of rules, one must be flexible, the important thing is your relationship with Christ. My faith and relationship with Christ goes beyond the physical church.

As a high-churchman, I was happy to say Morning Prayer at home on Sunday in lieu of attending church. I have never said this much Morning Prayer in my life (I’m not a morning person and I rarely have the time for it in the morning, Evening Prayer is shorter and I like that is brings closure to my day). On high feast days, I would even burn incense and play recorded sung canticles/Psalms for a more spiritual experience.

Thomas Cranmer created the Daily Offices out of the Canonical Hours (e.g. Matins, Vespers, Compline, etc.), combining them into just two services. As a friend described it, when Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer, he wanted each parish to be like a little monastery. During COVID-19, there was “always” time for prayer, I burned a lot of incense, and I worked on improving my Plainchant and Anglican Chant; and being cloistered up like a monk during the lockdown, it made me feel that it was what was envisioned by Cranmer.

Communion (or the Lord’s Supper)

One of the early significant changes to church services in response to COVID-19 was the implementation of communion in one kind. It was a big deal for some (Article XXX of the 39 Articles of Religion, Of Both Kinds: “The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people: for both the parts of the Lord’s Sacrament, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.” And since Anglicans are common cup people, keeping communion in both kinds was basically impossible.

Also the transition to spiritual communion from the physical act of communion was a huge paradigm shift for some. Pre-COVID-19, due to the nature of my employment, I was not always able to attend church on Sunday, so I would try to attend a weekday said communion service before or after that Sunday which I jokingly called “makeup church,” but that was not always possible. Communion is an act of personal devotion and as I wrote earlier, faith is not a rigid adherence to rules.

It may be surprising to learn that the custom of weekly communion is a relatively new thing in Anglicanism (20th century), brought on by the Oxford Movement (which basically advocated for frequent communion, daily if possible) and the Parish Communion Movement (which made communion the central act of worship on Sunday, prior to that most people just participated in Sunday Morning Prayer or Sunday Evening Prayer (Evensong was a cathedral thing, not typical of a local parish church (remember it was a time when few could read music and text, as well as have time practice the music)). Communion was only required three times a year (with Easter being one of them).

However, non-weekly communion is common among other denominations (as a lot of them emerged in the 19th century). As a Methodist growing up (Methodism grew out of Anglicanism), communion was only celebrated monthly which reflects the pre-Parish Communion/Oxford Movements practice, but as an Anglo-Catholic, I became accustomed to communion at least weekly. At first when churches closed, I was worried, especially with Easter approaching, but these were extraordinary times, and one must adapt to the situation. I do not know when my next communion will occur, but I am not worried, though I do look forward to that day when we can safely celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a community.