WASHINGTON — During Holy Week, there remains a cruel and callous contradiction set in motion by coronavirus – that in a moment when so many hope and desire to come together through faith, they must remain apart.
The tangible aspects of how parishioners worshipped for two centuries at St. John’s Church and Christ Church in Georgetown are now gone.
The doors are closed, the sacraments of communion cannot unfold as the congregation once knew. Laying out hands for healing, shaking hands with the requisite "peace be with you," and lighting candles together will be absent during these holiest of days.
"How do you now get an emotional intimacy without a physical connection?" Rev. Gini Gerbasi of St. John's Church asked. "It’s an enormous challenge, but we’ve got no choice."
The two churches are separated by just four blocks. They stand on opposite sides of tony Wisconsin Avenue, but are both linked through their Episcopalian faith.
When Rev. Timothy Cole of Christ Church became Washington’s first case of coronavirus and his congregation self-quarantined, Gerbasi decided to begin daily virtual video prayers for the congregation.
Congregants – now from both neighboring parishes – record readings with their iPhones and computers, kids and cats occasionally playing supporting roles in the background.
The morning and evening prayers are posted to YouTube, with subscribing viewers notified when new daily videos are posted.
It is an affectionate invitation into nearly 80 parishioners’ homes, and a remarkable feat of participation. The cumulative effect, Gerbasi said, keeps the churches’ family fabric intact, a palpable closeness shared in a virtual space.
"The intimacy of seeing each other, in one another’s homes, avoids just filming church as we would usually do," Gerbasi said. "It’s a new visual experience that overcomes the barrier of not being able to touch one another, physically be with one another. Instead, you have this visual intimacy you wouldn’t otherwise have had."