Joint services are not possible due to the corona crisis. However, the churches do not want to give up, instead they use new platforms.
District - The churches are on site and want to remain accessible to the faithful. At a time when clergymen of all denominations feel that people need support and encouragement, but due to the Corona crisis they cannot fall back on classic forms such as Sunday service, new ways and imagination are required.
Pastor Christian Keller from the Protestant parish of Erding can announce one of the most progressive ideas. You rely on social media. "Henning von Aschen had this great idea," says Keller, referring to a service that is broadcast on the video platform Youtube. The motto is: If you are not allowed to come to us, we will come to you.
Silent prayer is still possible in the church
But what about that generation for whom Sunday church attendance is part of normal life and who is not so Internet-savvy? "Our churches are open." Von Aschen breaks with evangelical customs. People who want to go to the church for silent prayer can suddenly do so: The Christ Church in Erding is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Redeemer Church in Klettham on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Church of the Resurrection in Altenerding on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. .
There, believers will also find suggestions for celebrating services at home. The idea comes from the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Von Aschen is already consistently using the Facebook page of the Erding parish. There are even speeches from the pastor holding the tablet PC, not particularly professionally shot, but that is precisely why it is so authentic. The message is clear: "God cannot be quarantined."
"We keep the position"
The Evangelical Church is defiant these days. As pastor Steffen Barth in Wartenberg, who quoted the apostle Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians at the last public service, at which the chairs in the church were further apart: "We are anxious, but we do not despair."
The message of the church services at the airport, an ecumenical offer, is similar: Franz Kohlhuber from the Catholic Church and Stefan Fratzscher from the Protestant Church even find an almost military phrase in “We hold our position”.
Internet broadcasting of services
The Catholic Church also uses the Internet, albeit more centrally: At www.erzbistum-muenchen.de/stream, services are brought to your home monitor, live from Munich's Cathedral of Our Lady - Sundays at 10 a.m. and Mondays to Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. Cardinal Reinhard Marx is celebrant. The places of worship - also in the district - remain open for silent prayer, intercession books are available.
The Catholic Church in Erding does not yet use social media such as Facebook. City pastor Martin Garmaier explains: "We are currently consulting with the parish association council on how we can improve the offer, especially over the Easter days." The solemnity without services - an appalling idea for the clergyman, and it is not too bad for Henning von Ash to ask for advice. "I'm a bloody layman, but he's really fit there."
Easter at home
District Dean Michael Bayer explains: “In due course, liturgical handouts for home can be found on the homepage of the Archdiocese, the Dean's Office and on many websites of the parish associations. In the churches, too, they are sometimes ready to take away to be able to celebrate Easter customs as a house church. ”
From Moosinning, like other priests from their church, he would say the blessing on the palm branches in the service on Palm Sunday and the blessing on the Easter candles and the food in Easter service "so that the blessing of God can be heard in every believer spread out at home. You don't have to go to church to do this, ”says Bayer.
Pastor Gregor Bartkowski (Wartenberg) emphasizes: "We have not left, we are there for the people." Of course, this includes pastoral care, anointing the sick. The suspension of public services ordered by the archdiocese was “bad news for Bartkowski. But the situation is also that we have to show solidarity with the people ”. It is expressly desired that the churches themselves remain open. City pastor Garmaier emphasizes: "We are there by opening rooms!"
Online offer
Cardinal Reinhard Marx does not celebrate public services in Holy Week and Easter in Munich's Liebfrauendom:
Palm Sunday, April 5th, at 10:00 am; Wednesday, April 8, at 5 p.m., Maundy Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m .; Good Friday, April 10, 3 p.m .; Holy Saturday, April 11, 9:00 pm; Easter Sunday, April 12, 10 a.m. They will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.erzbistum-muenchen.de/stream.
The services and pastoral YouTube offers of the Protestant parish of Erding can be found on the YouTube channel "Evangelical Parish of Erding".
Klaus Kuhn
