WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:22 — 19.1MB)
When looking up Bloomington’s places of worship online, a message now displays, “Hours or services may differ due to COVID-19”. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a stay-at-home order recently causing Hoosiers to halt crowded activities and also religious services.
As the impact of this virus grows, more businesses and routines are being altered, however many have been finding new ways of staying together instead of closing shop.
Many places of worship have already designed easily accessible ways of staying in touch with their community and continuing to hold services to the public.
According to IDS news, St. Paul will be doing live streaming services on Sunday at 10:30 a.m, 12:30 pm and 5:30 pm on their Facebook and Youtube pages.
Sherwood Oaks is following the same services, providing live streaming services through music, scripture reading and discussion and online chatting at 8 am, 9:30 am and 1 pm on Sundays through their website.
Apart from the Livestream or prerecorded services, the Beth Shalom Congregation will be teaching through Zoom, an online video conferencing service. Beth Shalom plans to hold Shabbat every Saturday through this tool at 11 am. On Friday nights there will be a prerecorded Erev Shabbat as well.
The Unitarian Universalist Church has already been offering live-streamed services to the public and will continue to do so on a weekly service schedule of 10:15 on Sundays, through their website. They also offer religious readings and live music.
The Islamic Center of Bloomington has moved their classes online and has created a Community Emergency Response Team. This helps members of their community in need from the elderly and sick to those in a financial crisis.
As spring approaches, some places of worship are taking on the challenge of Easter Sunday online.
The Helen G. Simon Hillel Center said they plan on celebrating online as a community during this time. Passover activities will be listed soon, according to their website.
The Beth Shalom Synagogue will be celebrating Passover through an online community Seder, a ceremonial dinner through Zoom on April 9th.
St Paul Catholic Center has yet to announce plans for an Easter Sunday celebration, however, they will continue to hold mass online and discuss services for the holiday.
***
The Bloomington Friends Meeting has been actively transitioning towards online services over the past few weeks as well. Clerk of Ministry and Counsel Committee, Gini Emigh and clerk of Pastoral Care Committee Gloria Stearns-Bruner released an email shortly after the meeting decided to close in-person worship.
The email read, “Dear Friends, we know this is a hard time for us personally and as a community. We are committed to navigating these new waters together with creativity and compassion. Let’s carry on and feel the Spirit holding us through it all.”
The statement was followed with the new schedule for meetings and links to various zoom meetings. This included hymn-singing through zoom from 9:50 to 10:20 on Sundays, meeting for worship from 10:30 to 11:30 on First Days, Sunday evening worship from 7 to 8 pm and mid-week worship on Wednesdays from 9 am to 9:30.
All information is listed on their webpage, quakercloud.org or Facebook page, Bloomington Friends Meeting.
The Bloomington Friends Meeting is a place of worship for Quakers. Quakerism is a branch of Christianity, however, the Quakers or “Friends” as they like to be called, do not have a clergy, instead, relying on themselves to guide each other through services.
Elaine Emmi has been a member of the Bloomington Friends meeting since the mid-1970s. She is also co-chair of the Bloomington multi-faith Alliance. Emmi explained what meeting for worship entails and how Friends interact with each other for those who don’t know.
“If someone came into Meeting, they would come into the meeting room… after people settle down, sometimes people speak and there’s also a sense of a direct connection to God and that can be a different experience for everyone.”
Emmi goes on to explain how Quakerism is open to multiple faiths and religious beliefs.
“We don’t have set doctrine. So we have interesting combinations of people, some people feel strongly about the bible, others do not. There are atheist Quakers, there are blends of Quakers like Quaker baptists. So we feel that the doctrine shouldn’t set us apart but it’s our testimonies that bring us together.”
The Quaker testimonies center around the belief that there is that of God in everyone. Other testimonies are about equality and simplicity. Community and integrity are also a big part of the Quaker beliefs.
Members of the Friends meeting switched to online meetings and services through Zoom about three weeks ago, according to Emmi.
When asked about how the meetings have been going on so far, Emmi expressed that things have been going pretty smoothly, stating, “Life continues on for Quakers.”
In terms of using the Quaker faith to help get through the crisis right now, Emmi stated that she believes the pandemic will bring new things to light, especially with the relationship between humans and our planet.
“The pandemic right now is an extension of what we’re going through with how humans are not behaving very well on earth and so we have a lot of problems including the climate chaos that’s going on. So in one respect, I look at this whole crisis as an opportunity for us as humans to live on the earth in a different way. I kind of like to say peace on earth, peace with earth.”
Emmi also stated the opportunity of exploring different faiths right now with the abundance of online presence.
***
Another member of the Bloomington Friends meeting, Gracia Valliant described her own experience with the Quaker faith in times of crisis. Valliant has been a member of the Friends society since 1994.
She said that the shift to online meetings was not a struggle for her as she had many Friends to help out.
Valliant explained how Quaker worship has been since it was moved online saying, “I find it helpful to see people and worship with them in these times when we can’t be together physically. I am grateful for those who set it up and keep working for us.”
Valliant also described how the Quaker faith has helped her personally through the current times. She said, “I know that the Spirit is present with me and all of us as we go through this difficult time. The belief that there is that of God in everyone gives me comfort for those who are suffering more than I am. It helps me remember that we are all connected and when someone else is suffering we are all with them.”
