Millions of Catholics and Christians are preparing to celebrate their first Easter Sunday since the novel coronavirus forced everyone to stay home.
Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“In our family, Easter is huge,” said Jennifer Uy from her Carmel Mountain Ranch.
Uy said her family usually joins extended family for a get-together after Catholic Mass.
“I’m really bummed out that this year we can’t,” she said.
Pastor Paul Kim is also a little bummed.
“Make no mistake, I still miss seeing people," he said while sitting inside an empty Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Encinitas.
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The church is obeying social distancing rules.
“That causes us to be creative as much as possible,” said Pastor Paul.
He said he and his fellow pastors have adapted to delivering their sermons to a camera instead of full churches. Redeemer then posts the video online and then hosts watch parties on Facebook to allow interaction.
“Christianity is not about a building. It’s not about people. It’s ultimately about Jesus,” said Pastor Paul. “Even the message of Christianity says that the tomb was also empty and that makes all the difference in the world.”
“We definitely don’t want to miss that,” said Uy. “We’re going to wake up, we’re going to get dressed in our Sunday best, and we are going to stream Easter services online.”
Uy said their extended family will join them after mass on Zoom. She added she still plans to have her two children hunt for Easter eggs inside their house.
“I want them to make sure that they still feel the love,” she said.
