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Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | March 31
It was Sunday morning, and under normal circumstances, believers across Nagaland would have dressed in their Sunday best to attend the worship service. In Zhavame village, with most of its denizens who are either working or studying outside having returned back to their native land in view of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, a regular Sunday morning would have meant exchange of a lot more greetings, smiles and laughter.
But the pews are empty and the church was unusually quiet with Sunday worship services being suspended now. “Sitting in an empty pew with just a handful of people who had come to pray individually, scattered across the church hall, I felt very sad because it didn’t feel like a Sunday,” Rone Shupao, an active church member of St. Xavier’s Catholic Church Zhavame expressed. The three churches in the village had been kept open for anyone who might want to come and pray personally and on account of it being a Sunday, they had also decided to ring the church bell.
Rone Shupao observed that just a few people trickled in at different times of the day to connect themselves with God. Being physically inside the church gives you a more divine experience, Rone said. Despite the situation, she was thankful that the church doors were open and also noticed that some believers might have walked into the church quite early in the morning. “There were already offerings of fruits and vegetables”, she said.
However, most people chose to stay inside their own homes wherein some of them conducted their own family worships among themselves.
In places like Kohima, where many churches have turned to the social media for Sunday Worship Service, Meripeni Zares, who is a member of City Church Kohima said, “Thank God for online church during this lockdown period.” “We may be physically distancing but we are not spiritually distancing”, she affirmed.
Further stating that “we have tried to make the online church experience as real as possible by getting out of our PJs and getting seated with our Bible and hymnbook”, she expressed that they have definitely been blessed. However, she goes on to say, “But this online worship service in no way can be compared to attending a physical church.”
“I guess we crave for authenticity and as human beings we long for real relationships and connections. The Church is more than just word and worship. It's the people that make the church. And in the absence of those friendly smiles, greetings, hugs, quick exchange of words and pep talks, the online church falls short. We miss the gathering of imperfect people, their sounds of singing and prayer, just knowing that we are in this journey of faith and life together,” she profoundly elucidated.
