From Texas-
In its 1898 annual report to the diocese, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, — an African-American church founded about a decade earlier —
explained the parish’s relatively modest number of baptisms and
confirmations that year: Just one each, because the “usual day for such
services” was Easter and the church had no service that Easter Sunday,
“on account of smallpox anticipation.”
Over
the past few weeks, Christians have adapted to the Sunday shutterings
of churches — this time on account of coronavirus anticipation. But
being barred from church on Easter feels like another matter altogether.
As an Episcopal priest who’s also an American historian, I take some
comfort in precedent. This will not be the first Easter churches have
closed because of epidemics. Smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever:
They’ve all closed churches on Easter Sundays past.More here-
https://www.news-journal.com/opinion/winner-were-losing-easter-services-but-we-arent-losing-easter/article_15a209b0-7c0d-11ea-ad7c-a37ea331f380.html
No comments:
Post a Comment