By LEAH DARNELL, student reporter
Worship pastor Justin Shurtz leads viewers through songs and then Pastor Bruce Thomas gives a sermon about the word “empty” and the reason for celebrating Resurrection Sunday.
Since going online for a month, Thomas has been speaking to a 10-person crowd at the church with a variety of cameras set up for the live stream. An echo fills the empty sanctuary as he speaks to those watching at home.
For Christians, Resurrection Sunday, often referred as Easter, looked different this year. Instead of gathering together at church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Glenville Church in Wichita, Kansas, along with other churches in and around Wichita, celebrated online.
With churches going online, especially during Holy Week, the Lord’s Supper was done in homes on Good Friday. On Resurrection Sunday, members could only shout out praises to whoever was home.
Still, families are finding new outlets to connect with other members through live streams. Instead of gathering together in a sanctuary with 350 others, families of Glenville Church are gathering in living rooms with a phone in hand, leaving words of encouragement on the live chat feature or having a laptop hooked up to the flat screen television, all the while staying in comfortable pajamas.
“As much as our lives are in chaos right now, we are in our empty houses and our families are around,” Thomas tells his viewers.
One woman, watching the live stream along with all the other parishioners, lifts out a shout that only her own screen hears.
“Amen,” she says emphatically.
Because of the corona virus, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has issued a stay at home order that is limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer, including at church. Churches were the main area of concern as a number of cases were linked to large church gatherings.
The live stream will continue for a few more weeks, after Kelly announced extending the stay- at-home order to May 3. Families of Glenville Church and the rest of Wichita are anticipating the day the stay at home order is lifted, and they can gather once again.