Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — For the last seven years, the Very Rev. Martin Diaz has served at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He can tell you where the regulars sit, and he can even picture their faces as he looks throughout the cathedral.
Picturing is all he’s been able to do this weekend.
The four-day Easter celebration — beginning on Thursday with an evening Mass commemorating the Lord’s Supper and ending with Mass on Sunday — would have been the busiest time of the year for the Salt Lake City mother church. But the novel coronavirus outbreak has changed that. Instead of gathering together, believers will only be able to tune in via the internet.
"In my mind, I can see the people. I can see them here praying with us," Rev. Diaz said. "Even though I know that some of them are at home and able to join us online, it's sad in that they're just not with us. I really have them in my heart as we're praying. This is not a staged event in any way. This is us celebrating those masses as we would celebrate them — truncated, differentiated in just a little way."
Digital services are far from new. Even before the current global crisis, faiths throughout the world have been putting their services online, and have been doing so for years. But to have it be the only option? That makes for a much different Easter weekend.
"The Lord is on YouTube this weekend," said the Rev. Kevin Belter, of Redeemer Lutheran Church.
That has created a unique challenge for leaders of local churches as they try to find ways to still make it a special experience for their respective congregations — especially when it comes to Easter.
"It's difficult for Lutherans to be apart because we have an embodied theology, in terms of we believe in the true presence of Christ and the sacrament is real body and blood," Rev. Belter said. "And so, it's tough for people to not come together to receive that for the forgiveness of our sins. But we also acknowledge that faith comes by hearing the word of Christ, and so we do see the sufficiency of the word there."
Rev. Diaz said they’ve had to be more aware of where the cameras are to make sure the audience can feel more connected from their homes. He said that instead of speaking and looking at the audience, they are trying to speak more toward the cameras.
"We’re trying to be as prayerful as we can so that the people, as they're watching us on their computer screen and their phone, they're able to see us praying like they would see us on Sunday," Rev. Diaz said.
The pandemic has altered some of the services as well. The Catholic church added in a new prayer for the traditional Good Friday intercessions specifically for the pandemic; some of the meetings have been and will be shortened; and, of course, some of the ceremonies haven’t been able to go on as planned.
On Thursday, the traditional foot-washing ceremony wasn’t held, and there won’t be the blessing of the baptismal water on Saturday because there won’t be any baptisms to perform.
"The central part of the Easter Vigil service, the Paschal Vigil, is the baptisms and confirmation for the adults," Rev. Diaz said. "There are no people, so we are not able to do that. Those people will be baptized and confirmed probably around Pentecost, or so, once we're going to be back in church."
And, obviously, the festival-like celebrations that come with Easter Egg hunts and large community gatherings won’t be happening either.
It’s a different Easter season, yes, but for the churches the message of the weekend remains the same.
"We believe this really did happen," Rev. Belter said. "And we believe that where two or three are gathered, Christ is with us; so people are focusing on gathering together in their homes where they can. But we can't minimize or deemphasize that Easter actually did happen. Christ was raised from the dead the third day, and we want to celebrate that because that's our victory over death, as well."
