So, about a month ago I tried to synthesize some of the opening plans floating out there. At the time the whole exercise was somewhat abstract. Fast forward to today, I have seven concrete concerns about re-opening.
-We ARE in the middle of a Pandemic.
I’m very bearish about any rush to meet in person. I know many regions of the country are almost untouched, but that’s not my experience. In my little borough, South Plainfield, we’ve had more deaths than all of Slovakia and currently have more people sick than Madagascar. We’re in the epicenter of a pandemic.
Folk who had the virus, or are currently infected, will tell you it isn’t a joke; even moderate infections can leave a mark. A month in, some folk still have no appetite and can barely walk around the block, others are still bedridden 8 weeks in, still others are on ventilators, and, of course, some are dead.
If gathering together is dangerous, especially for people over 65 and people with heart conditions and people with diabetes, gathering a group of people mainly made up of those folk, is a bad idea. And here’s the thing, humans are bad at assessing risk, especially when it is sunny out and the enemy is invisible. High-risk parishioners will show up once you open up, even if you tell them not to.
-In person worship will be categorically different.
Worship in person won’t be worship in person. People kept telling me this, and I didn’t believe them, until I experienced it myself; I was in the middle of doing a graveside commendation when it hit home. Staying six feet away, everyone in masks so you can’t see facial expressions, saying the familiar words, but with so many barriers—it was a commendation, but different, not a degree or two different, but a whole different kind of commendation.
So too worship in person. Worshiping without: singing, communion, offering, peace, greeting, bulletins, and fellowship hour, is not going to be different than normal worship by a degree, but instead will be a different kind of worship. I think our current online worship is closer to “normal” worship than what we’ll experience when we first return to in person worship. That’s going to be a problem; people will push for something more “normal”.
-People will always want more.
That brings me to my third point. There is the “If you give a mouse a cookie” principle. Whatever actions we take will be almost impossible to undo. On top of that people are going to push for more, especially when they find in person worship to basically be a 15 minute prayer meeting where they can’t touch or talk. If you invite 25 people onto the Church’s front lawn, you’ll likely have 50 people in the sanctuary without social distancing, rather quickly; we have to be very careful how we remove the boundaries we set up.
-How will you enforce the rules?
I am skeptical about a congregation’s ability to enforce rules. Let’s be real, there are going to be people doing (hopefully unintentionally) dangerous things, and we all want to be a nice community that loves everyone and is inclusive.
So, what happens when the 26th person shows up on our front lawn and the law only allows for 25? Is the usher going to tell them they have to go? What do we do when a developmentally disabled person decides it is time to pass the peace and their compulsion is to do things the same every time, even though we’re not passing the peace? What happens when a church member decides to “be funny” and starts shaking hands or fake coughing on people?
-Bathrooms.
Bathrooms are a big barrier. Here in New Jersey some churches went to a “drive-in” church model. Churches were not supposed to let anyone into the building, no matter what, including going to the bathroom. I can’t imagine that worked out well.
In general, public bathrooms have been a hard thing to figure out for spaces that have them. How do you make sure only one person enters the bathroom at a time? How do we clean surfaces after every use? For that matter, how do we vent the bathroom in such a way that someone can go in afterwards and not risk sucking down tiny virus droplets into their lungs from the other folk who’ve used the restroom?
-Insurance Companies.
Before you open make sure you’ve talk with your insurance company. If you don’t follow their recommendations (most companies simply ask for a formal action plan and compliance with state laws) you might lose your insurance!
-Fatigue.
So, one of my initial impulses with this whole thing was a phased re-open with everything changing every 2 weeks. Maybe there are Pastors out there who can roll with the punches that well, but I am not one of them. It took two months of experimentation and a lot of extra work to get livestream working moderately well. Just the idea of flipping to a whole new model while still maintaining the same level of online presence, and then doing that again a few more times in rapid succession, is exhausting!
Why and what are the consequences?
The two big questions we’ll have to ask about all in person gatherings, whenever we do that, are Why? and What are the consequences?
-Why?
Is it because a secular authority has said we can? Is it because we want to get back to normal? Is it to be near people praying for a little bit? Is it to serve our neighbor?
-What are the consequences?
What will happen to the 26th person who arrive in worship? the person with a compromised immune system? the usher who has to boot her best friend from church? the parishioner who accidentally kills one of us and puts two more in the hospital because they thought they just had allergies?
