This is a holy time for believers in both the Jewish and Christian faiths, but the traditional worship services and gatherings associated with Passover and Easter aren’t following their traditional format this year.
Rabbi Amy Bigman leads Congregation Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing, and Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. is the senior pastor at Triumph Church in Detroit. They spoke with Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Doug Tribou about worship in the time of COVID-19.
Bigman has been connecting with congregants on Facebook and email. And on Wednesday evening, she led an introduction to the Passover Seder by video.
“We lit the holiday candles together and shared some prayers," she said. "I shared some prayers that were specially written for Passover during the time of coronavirus and then gave people the opportunity to go on to continue the Seder ... in their own house.”
Triumph Church has been hosting services as a drive-in. Congregants pull into the church parking lot, tune into a specific radio station, and watch the service on a giant screen.
"It gives them the ability to feel like they're not alone because there are other people in the cars around them," Kinloch said. "But at the same time, ensuring that they are doing their part and the church is doing our part in order to make sure that we're responsible for the health of all people."
To learn more about how each congregation is responding to the pandemic, and how Bigman and Kinloch view faith in a time of crisis, listen to the complete interview at the top of the page.
