Clergy give report on COVID-weary congregations
Sep. 28—PLATTSBURGH — The Church of the Nazarene has kept to the straight and narrow as far as COVID-19 protocols.
"Our protocols are still social distancing, wearing masks until you're seated, hand washing and hand sanitation stations, in addition to offering an online viewing option for those that are not comfortable being in person," the Rev. Chad Clardie said.
"The summer attendance definitely increased. With the recent spike in cases in the county and the change in our status to high transmission rate, we noticed a drop in in-person attendance again."
The church, located at 187 Broad St., streams its sermons and programs live to its website: www.plattsburghnazarene.org
"I think just like everybody, people are frustrated and weary by the continued outbreak," Clardie said.
"What we're doing is just trying to provide encouragement, trying to provide a safe place for people to come. We send a lot of cards and make phone calls and send emails and try to check in on people."
His congregation most keenly feels the loss of community in his estimation.
"There's a lot of fellowship and people sitting around and talking," Clardie said.
"We used to serve coffee and doughnuts between services, and we don't do that any longer. I think people are feeling the loss of that and missing that a great deal.
"It's our 100th anniversary year, and we had a big banquet meal planned and we were going to do one combined service where we all got together and we had to postpone that again until this calms down because it's just not safe for us to do it at this time."
FIRST ASSEMLY OF GOD
The First Assembly of God is closed at 164 Prospect Ave. in Plattsburgh.
According to its Facebook page and church recording: "Due to the rise in illnesses in our church and community, we have made the decision to close the church for the next 2 weeks. This includes Sunday September 26th and October 3rd. We will be live streaming the service on Facebook and our website (www.plattsburghag.org). This also affects Griefshare, Chosen Youth Ministry, Computer Class, Prayer Meetings, and Men's Meetings. The Christian Supply Center and church office will also be closed. If you need to reach us, you can leave a message on the church voicemail or email us at church@plattsburghag.org. We will resume all normal weekly activities on Wednesday, October 6th, for the Conquering Anxiety Seminar at 7:00-8:00 PM."
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
At the First Presbyterian Church, located at 34 Brinkerhoff St. in Plattsburgh, pandemic conversations are ongoing amidst the delta surge in Clinton County.
"Before we came back in May, we were out from March of 2020 until May of this year," the Rev. Dr. Timothy J. Luoma said.
"Before we came back in we established a Zoom setup in the sanctuary. I can broadcast right from the pulpit and people can either attend in person, etc."
Masks are required for everybody regardless of vaccination status.
"We have been encouraging people to join by Zoom if they can and have definitely noticed that there are more people who seem to be doing that. I can tell from the sanctuary type of thing we are getting more people who are doing that."
TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were recently observed at Temple Beth Israel located at 1 Bowman St. in Plattsburgh.
"We required proof of vaccination for everyone, socially distanced within the sanctuary, required masks," Rabbi David Kominsky said.
"We provided a Zoom option. I think we'll all be glad we can get back to something closer to normal, but for the most part I think this felt like a reasonable compromise that kept everyone adequately safe. It allowed us to celebrate together in a way that we couldn't last year."
"We also set it up so that folks who were participating from home could actually do readings and stuff in the sanctuary this year," he said.
"They would appear on the TV screen and the sound would come in.
Kominsky's tech skills have increased exponentially since the synagogue went remote during the pandemic lockdown.
"I think we're at this point where everyone is ready to be over and done with this," he said.
"There's frustration that we aren't yet. I think I'm seeing a greater divergence in risk tolerance than we have historically. Where I feel some people feel like they are vaccinated and are set to go, and they are willing to accept whatever risks come with it.
"Some folks are looking at Delta and saying this will probably be a mild infection if I get one, but they are not sure about long COVID. They're still happier reducing that risk at this point."
Email Robin Caudell:
Twitter:@RobinCaudell
