by Bernd Hühmer

In Germany, the corona pandemic still has us fully under control. Life has become quieter, larger events have long been banned, museums and restaurants are closed. Many people suffer from the prescribed loneliness.

Life also stands still in the parishes: groups, circles, choirs are forbidden, and services are not allowed to take place. In my parish, church services are only allowed again when the incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per week based on 100,000 inhabitants, drops to below 35. We are still a long way from that. Of course, this has consequences for congregational life and also for the collections that are collected in the service. Fortunately, we are still doing well financially and nobody has to fear for their existence. We can thank God for that.

We make a lot of digital offers in the congregation, i.e. devotions that we put on our homepage or spiritual impulses that we send via WhatsApp. Next Sunday, for example, there will be a service for confirmands and young people via Zoom. However, none of this can replace church life, because like our partnership, the church lives from encounter and exchange and fellowship under God’s word.

Pray for us that the situation will normalize in the course of the year and that not too many people will turn their backs on our church because of the inactivity prescribed for us!