-There are no children in our building,
no musicals to see even if I took the train to New York
this afternoon, no basketball tournaments to be played.
And I'm looking into an iPhone camera
that's being held up by a music stand
while we pray for Facebook Live not to crash
instead of being with many of you.
-The coronavirus outbreak has forced some religious leaders
to rethink the way their congregants interact.
For some, this means temporarily closing their doors.
-"Social distancing."
Those words are the antithesis to Christian community.
Christian community is about spending life together.
I think about the ways in which Jesus healed people.
It was often with a touch.
And now how we're being told to practice
and embody completely refraining from physical contact,
from even shaking someone's hand.
And so how is it that we convey as deeply as possible
through the presence of our faces on a computer screen
or through our voices that someone is still with you?
-Breese Eddy, a single mother of two,
has felt the outbreak's ramifications firsthand.
-This is normally when you'd be running laps
around the sanctuary, huh?
The coronavirus, I think,
is making everyone rethink stuff we took for granted --
being able to hug, shake hello, share a meal.
And while it's a sacrifice,
it's absolutely 100% a sacrifice worth making because,
while I may not be the category of folks
that are at greatest risk
for having one of the severe complications,
it's my responsibility to look out
for the well-being of everyone around me,
and that means attending church virtually
and not being able to join in person.
And I completely accept that.
-Virginia's All Dulles Area Muslim Society
will temporarily shut its doors
in hopes of slowing the virus's spread.
-As Muslims we believe that our public health
and our bodies have a right over us,
and that oversees the necessity of rituals that we have to do.
So in this case, because of the coronavirus
and how impactful it is
and how easily it is to get contaminated by it,
we thought that the best thing was to not have services
because, when you're having hundreds of people
come in for prayer, you just need that one person
who is sick to contaminate everybody else,
and we did not want to be the breeding ground for that.
And I implore other faith communities to take heed
and to do the right thing for their community
and for the rest of community as well
because sometimes staying open
is more harmful than closing down for a couple of weeks.
-And in Maryland, the University Christian Church's
weekly program,
which serves meals for those in need,
has also felt the pinch.
The church usually relies on the University of Maryland
for donated meals
but has turned to other partners after the school
announced it was switching to virtual classes
through at least April 13th.
-We're reaching out to our churches
and to other community partners and saying,
"How can we continue to provide a meal for those who need it,
for those who this may be the only meal they get each day,
how can we utilize these resources?"
So in some cases we're struggling
with how do we follow the guidelines,
how do we follow what the doctors and health
professionals say, which is very important,
but at the same time continue to care for our neighbors,
continue to care for each other
and make sure our vulnerable folks
are getting the resources they need
and getting what they need to stay healthy and whole.
Our call is to love our neighbors as ourself,
and so we need to be thinking not just of what we want to do
or what we think is in our best interests,
but we need to be thinking of what is in the best interest
of our neighbors, of our whole community,
especially those who are most vulnerable.
And so we listen to those experts
who have knowledge and resources to offer us,
and we do our best to follow those guidelines.
-Despite the disruptions to Sunday worship,
congregants like Bill Hillegeist think social distancing
is what's needed to slow the infection rate.
-Well, it's certainly made worship
a more solitary experience.
It's -- I'm denied the physical presence of community
and friends surrounding me.
The sharing of the handshakes of peace.
However, I consider this all temporary,
and it's something we need to do for the greater good.
It's just a necessary evil, because I firmly believe
that lowering the incidence rate is truly important.
Flattening that curve is the one piece of information
that I've taken to heart.