Local churches offer ways to worship on Easter Sunday He Is Risen
As always, Easter services remain a source of renewal and hope. Last season, although emboldened by the joys of Easter — a raging COVID-19 pandemic caused many services to be canceled. While some houses of worship opened, clergy and the faithful struggled with the growing impact of the coronavirus.
“Virtual attendance” via computer or smart device was born and those who could not gather together as one still found a connection in the Word. Ritual social distancing and cleaning protocols became part of the religious experience.
This year tells a different story.
With a year's worth of experience and the promise of vaccinations for all in the near future, Easter will be celebrated in Butler County churches in a variety of pandemic-safe ways, including drive-in Easter services and online celebrations.
The Rev. Peter de Vries, pastor of Old Union Presbyterian Church, 200 Union Church Road, Mars, said Easter this year will be a lot different from last year.
“A year ago, my wife and I were doing services in our house and livestreaming them,” de Vries said. “It felt a little weird.”
This year, he said Old Union plans to have two Easter services, one at 7:30 a.m. and one at 10:30 a.m.
“Basically, we are going to ask people to sign up for one of the services,” he said. “The way, we can get as many as possible in, factoring in walk-ins.”
De Vries said the church figures it can accommodate 50 to 60 in the sanctuary at each service safely.
The 10:30 a.m. service will also be livestreamed on the church's Facebook group. De Vries said participants must request to be a member of the group to access the livestream.
The service will be posted onto YouTube later in the day.
The traditional Easter breakfast has been scrapped, he said.“This is still not normal, but it is a lot better than it was last year,” he said.The Rev. Timothy Dawes, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, 215 N. Main St., Zelienople, and Zion Lutheran Church, 557 Perry Highway, Harmony, said the churches will have in-person Easter services at 9 a.m. at St. Paul and 10:45 a.m. at Zion.“Zion Church has facilities to record and post its service online later in the day, on the church's website,” Dawes said.He said each church could hold 60 worshippers safely by following pandemic protocols.Dawes said last year, Easter services were canceled. When the churches voted to reopen in June and July, he presided over Easter services emphasizing the resurrection of the churches, no matter the date.Park United Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Grandview and Main streets, Zelienople, will have a 6:45 a.m. Easter sunrise service outside on the front church steps. It is open to anyone interested in attending.Masks should be worn and social distancing will be observed.In case of rain, this service will be in Park Hall.The 9 and 11 a.m. will be in person and online.
The Easter service will be in-service and also online.Roman Catholic Bishop David Zubik of the Pittsburgh Diocese invited the faithful to join him in the online observances of Palm Sunday and Holy Week from Saint Paul Cathedral via diopitt.org/holy-week-2021.“The pandemic has led us to new ways of connecting with God and with each other,” Zubik said. “We are looking forward with renewed anticipation and joy to this holiest season of the year, as we share in the redeeming power of God's love and grace.”Parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh may accommodate up to 75% of capacity, provided that everyone is masked and six feet of social distance is maintained. Moving to 75% capacity will allow for opening up more seating.Clergy, liturgical ministers and cantors who can maintain adequate distance may remove their masks while speaking or singing. They must put their masks back on as soon as they finish.A longtime tradition returned Good Friday when four churches resumed their joint Good Friday cross walk.
Pastor Lisa Griffin of St. John United Church of Christ, 502 E. Main St., Evans City, said her church joined with Crestview United Church in Callery and St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Evans City and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Evans City to stage the walk.Beginning at noon Friday at Crestview United Church, a procession carrying a cross visited four locations in Callery, offering a prayer and a verse of the hymn “Were You There?” at each stop.After the cross walk ended at Crestview, there was a short Good Friday worship service in Crestview's outside pavilion.“We are beginning to reclaim our community celebrations,” Zubik said. “We thank God and our health care workers for progress against the virus. We must continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing and sanitary procedures as an expression of love for our neighbors and respect for life.”Other traditions had to be tweaked this year.Griffin said St. John's traditional Easter breakfast was impossible this year because of pandemic restrictions.“We're going to have a 9 a.m. drive-by tailgate party breakfast with breakfast finger foods,” Griffin said. “People will be able to drive up, get food and set up their lawn chairs and have breakfast in the parking lot. People still wanted to have the breakfast.”
Following the 10 a.m. Easter service, she said there will be an Easter egg hunt on the church grounds.“We are trying to be very cautious about loosening up too much,” Griffin said. “The theme this year is 'Anchored in the Resurrection.' We are still battling the pandemic, but our faith anchors us.”Nearly all Catholic parishes also continue to offer livestream and other electronic access to Masses and devotional activities. The links are on their websites.Zubik's 10 a.m. Sunday celebration of Easter Mass will be livestreamed on the diocesan website, diopitt.org/holy-week-2021, and on Cathedral parish Facebook pages and websites. It will also be cable cast on Comcast Channel 95 in the city of Pittsburgh and on ChristianAssociatesTV.org.Dawes said, “This time reminds me of the old hymn, 'Strife is Over, the Battle Done.'“As for COVID-19, we are not quite there yet. We have to hang in a little more, but it is coming,” he said.
