NewsCommunityVista SemanalLocal

Actions

SLO area worshipers take sermon online, prepare for Easter and Passover

Posted
and last updated

Passover and Easter are just over a week away and San Luis Obispo faith groups are doing what they can to bring their congregations together while abiding by the coronavirus restrictions.

Music, sermons, and worship are all still taking place across the country but these services are now being hosted online.

"It's weird, it's weird because the whole idea of a service is to be - is to congregate, is to come together," Jewish Community Center Federation Board Pres. Gail Schwartz said.

Virtual sermons now take the place of a typical worship service as the coronavirus prompts alters to close.

"A lot of people are finding ways to connect and that has a lot to not just with faith but with hope," Schwartz said.

That connection is especially important now with the start of Passover just one week away and Easter the following Sunday.

Ahead of the typically packed Easter service at Mission de Ttolosa, Father Kelly Vandehey leads his congregation by video in weekly mass.

"I heard God call my name," Vandehey said in a video shared on the Mission website. "Each day for six days, a short presentation to guide us through this journey of Lent."

And for the Jewish community, the inability to share a Passover meal won't stop the ritual seder from being served.

"Our seder is going to be virtual," Schwartz said.

Schwartz, along with another JCC Federation board member, are preparing to deliver meals, including potato pancake mix, matza, and soup mix, to congregation members stuck in doors.

"Made a couple trips to the store and we now have enough completely for 20 people and we're working on 30," Schwartz said.

Easter egg hunts may be canceled and worship arenas closed, but people of different religions are bonded by faith.

"We love you, we care for you, we miss you," Vandehey said in his video.

Here are some local places of worship sharing live stream services.

Active Church

Mission de Tolosa

Congregation Ohr Tzafon