COLUMBIA, MD. — It was Sunday morning, and the vast parking lots of Bridgeway Community Church sat empty.
Instead of greeting thousands of worshipers, volunteers stood in the damp cold, ready to explain to anyone who might not have heard that services are now online only, at least until the threat of Covid-19 has passed.
Inside, the Missions Cafe was closed. The halls no longer resounded with congregants singing or children racing to Sunday school. For a church whose stated mission is to be a multicultural community “where people were sad they had to wait a week to come back,” waiting took on a whole new meaning.
This week, as the coronavirus has spread, one American ritual after another has vanished. March Madness is gone. No more morning gym workouts or lunches with co-workers. No more visits to grandparents in nursing homes. The Boston Marathon, held through war and weather since 1897, was postponed.
This by @elizabethjdias is unlike anything else I’ve read on the coronavirus. People who practice togetherness have lessons to teach all of us: they’re pausing to reflect, to check on friends, to go to the river with a sandwich when the sun is shining. https://t.co/HRYYhgasDG
— Jia Lynn Yang (@jialynnyang) March 16, 2020