The glare of sunlight reflected from the rows of cars parked at Crossroads New Baptist Church on Sunday, where hand sanitizer, a display of cloth masks and other new safety protocols greeted worshippers attending services on Mother's Day.
"Gotta take your temperature," said a woman from behind her mask at the Little Rock church's entrance, holding up a contactless thermometer in front of each person's forehead for a brief moment before allowing them inside to attend the service.
The congregation was meeting in person for the first time in two months after shutting its doors in March in response to the covid-19 pandemic -- along with the majority of houses of worship nationwide -- and the gathering marked the first Sunday after Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced a new set of guidelines that permitted the limited reopening of houses of worship.
Those guidelines included sanitizing areas of worship, mandatory masks for anyone over 10, limited-capacity gatherings and continuing to social distance with the exception of family members occupying the same household.
Continuing online services was "strongly encouraged" at the May 4 announcement, which also covered guidelines for indoor gyms and venues such as sports arenas in the first phase of reopenings in Arkansas, to be sustained for a period of time to track any spikes of new covid-19 cases over the next two weeks.
PREACHING TO PUPPETS
After eight weeks of holding livestreamed Bible study sessions on Wednesday nights and uploading prerecorded sermons for Sunday worship, Mike Smith, pastor of Crossroads New Baptist Church, told congregants seated in every second pew at the church on Sunday that he's not used to seeing people.
"I've been preaching to puppets," Smith said.
After several weeks of telling the church's tech staff how difficult it was to preach to an empty church, Smith said he'd entered the sanctuary one night to see about 25 puppets propped up in the pews, facing him.
"Now the thing about the puppets is, they never went to sleep; every time I looked up, they were paying attention," Smith said, evoking laughter. "I kind of hope we can continue in that endeavor, of paying attention."
At First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock, between 10 and 15 people had been on hand during previous Sundays to conduct online services during the past seven weeks, spokesman Zachary Ward said Friday.
First Pentecostal's building has the capacity to seat 2,875, and in order to limit its gatherings to a third of the church's occupancy, it established three weekly service times and allocated attendance by last name. The church has also invested in industrial hand sanitizer.
Hutchinson's guidelines helped the church make its decision to open with new protocols in place.
"We've got [Hutchinson's] checklist, and we've tried to check every single one of those boxes, for the safety of not only our congregants, but those who they may come in contact with outside of our church," Ward said.
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The 30 or so in attendance at Crossroads comprised half of Smith's congregation, and Steve Case, one of its members, said Arkansans knew more about the virus than they did in March, and were ready to venture out of their homes.
"People have decided it's time to open up a little bit; they've been cooped up, or maybe they're not as afraid because they've got more information," Case said. "I think when this thing first started, we didn't have a whole lot of information, we didn't know how people were getting infected. Now we do know, now we're using our common sense -- our masks, gloves.
"Even where we're light [in attendance], I believe where two or three are gathered together, there the Lord is in the midst of them -- in our midst," Smith said during the service.
NOT ALL OPEN
The Islamic Center of Little Rock was among houses of worship that remained closed Sunday during Ramadan, a time when Muslims worldwide gather at night for group prayers and end the day's fasting with a communal iftar meal.
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Denawy, imam of the Islamic Center of Little Rock, said in a statement Saturday that the center is looking toward a "very restricted" reopening near the end of this month for prayer as a congregation.
"By Allah's Will, If things go well, we can increase the number slowly and gradually," Al-Denawy wrote. "We are still working out the safest numbers, given the guidelines by the Governor and the CDC ... the health and well-being of our community and our fellow citizens are our foremost concerns."
After Hutchinson's announcement last week of the guidelines for worship houses, Bishop Gary Mueller released a letter to the United Methodist Church's Arkansas Conference on Wednesday recommending that churches remain closed for the time being while using the next few weeks to engage in careful planning and preparation for opening once again.
In his letter, Mueller also noted that Hutchinson extended the state of emergency in Arkansas by 45 days, and told faith members to consider the guidelines to be treated as directives during planning.
"Quite frankly, it is a dangerous time," Mueller said in the letter. "The coronavirus can -- and will -- surge again if we are not vigilant about following guidance from experts concerning how and when to reopen."
Hutchinson has not banned church gatherings in the state during the pandemic, as has happened in other states -- provoking lawsuits -- but did not encourage them, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
Awaken Church in Jonesboro -- which "caught a lot of flack initially" and was reported on by national news outlets for remaining open during the pandemic -- has been thanked for continuing to meet in person, Chad Gonzales, Awaken's pastor, wrote in an email Sunday.
"We have heard the same thing over and over, that by us remaining open, it not only allowed our people somewhat of a state of normalcy but also it gave them a sense of calmness," Gonzales said, noting that others have "appreciated our willingness to live what we preach."
"That's the thing about church," Gonzales said. "Church is certainly not the building, but God designed and intended for us to be together. Yes, you can certainly watch a sermon online, but church is more than a sermon. There are things you'll experience in person that you could never experience in a video."
Courtney Keltner, who attended the service at Crossroads with her husband, Chris, and 4-year-old daughter, Isabel, said the family has no internet service, and while the church was closed they attended a drive-in service at another nearby church for worship.
"You've got to go where you can go," Courtney Kelter said of worship. "I need church like people need food from the grocery store -- like you need air.
"It's been awesome to be back, the first time coming back, because I need people, and church," she said.
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A special Mother's Day video displayed on Crossroads' projector screen showed a message in parts, expressing among other sentiments that "daughters of the king" will persevere during the current "unpredictable times filled with uncertainty and fear ... because the church is not a building, it is not brick and mortar" -- it is the people.
"Any place, any time, any day, we are still the church."
Metro on 05/11/2020