Religious leaders discuss a post-pandemic future
Feb. 27—Distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine creates a possible light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
But as the world anxiously awaits a return to some form of normalcy, many are questioning what a post-pandemic future will look like.
The Ivy League Club of the Golden Isles, a local group of Ivy League alumni, has begun to pose these questions in a new series called "After the Pandemic" that launched this month. The first event, held via Zoom, focused on how the pandemic will change people's experience with religion.
Members of the club asked two prominent local religious leaders, Rabbi Rachael Bregman and the Rev. John Perry, how they envision a post-pandemic world and what may change about people's relationship and interactions with religion.
Perry, who leads Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Waverly, said he has continuously wrestled with the question of how to practice one's faith under current conditions. The pandemic has forced religious leaders and congregation members to rethink ideas and practices that have long been routine.
"Most of us understand that the mission of a congregation and the message of a congregation doesn't change, but the methods that we employ to carry out that mission and that message may have to change," he said.
Individual believers should be encouraged to have a personal devotional life, Perry said, and the pandemic has not changed that. It's group worship that must be examined in new light.
"I don't believe that the believer from a devotional standpoint is forced to go through major change, but when we talk about the collective body of believers, the congregation, coming together, that expression of worship is radically changing," he said. "I think what it's done in this COVID environment is that ... the whole digital change has been expedited as a result of what is taking place."
This accelerated onset of technology can be beneficial, he said, as churches have often been behind on these kinds of innovative practices.
"Right now, we're being forced to catch up," he said. "A lot of churches that were not using Facebook, social media, the different platforms, they're being forced to catch up. And I think what's happening is that we are being, unbeknownst to us, prepared for the new world to come."
Both Bregman and Perry made significant changes at their places of worship last year to provide for needed pandemic precautions.
Temple Beth Tefiloh in Brunswick, where Bregman serves as rabbi, switched to Zoom services, which initially came with challenges like ensuring everyone knew how to use the technology and figuring how to create a virtual service experience.
