COVID-19: LCC recommends suspension of church services, releases materials for home devotions

CANADA – Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) is recommending that congregations temporarily suspend regular and ordinary worship services and other group events in response to the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. The action comes in light of the request of federal and provincial governments urging the closure of large group events, including worship services, throughout the country.

Directives from the government to suspend services, he noted, “have not been made to silence the proclamation of the Gospel, nor does such constitute a persecution of Christ’s church; rather they have been made in the interests of the safety and welfare of all the people.”

LCC President Timothy Teuscher announced the recommendation in a letter to pastors and congregations released today. Suspending services is an outgrowth of the church’s obedience to the Fourth and Fifth Commandments, he said, which require us to respect governing authorities and to defend the physical needs of our neighbours. Directives from the government to suspend services, he noted, “have not been made to silence the proclamation of the Gospel, nor does such constitute a persecution of Christ’s church; rather they have been made in the interests of the safety and welfare of all the people.”

President Teuscher’s letter urges congregations to keep their doors open for individual prayer, while also urging strict observance of social distancing and cleaning guidelines. It also provides practical advice for pastors on how to provide private confession, absolution, and communion in a safe, hygienic, and socially-distant way.

A Guide to Home Devotions

Recognizing that the closure of churches may carry on for an extended period of time, LCC is also developing take-home resources to assist parishioners with private and family devotions. To that end, LCC is urging congregations to allow congregants to take home the hymnal they regularly use during worship services, if safe to do so, and after wiping them down with disinfecting wipes.

As many of our members are not aware of the value of the hymnal for personal devotional use, LCC has prepared a Brief Guide to Home Devotions which should be printed off and distributed to members along with the Lutheran Service Book. In the event there are hygienic reasons why your congregation’s hymnals ought not to be distributed to parishioners, you can also print off and distribute the “Orders of Daily Prayer,” which Concordia Publishing House has recently made available for free online in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

LCC’s Brief Guide to Home Devotions will help members navigate the Lutheran Service Book as they utilize resources like the Orders of Daily Prayer, the daily lectionary, prayers, and hymns. The Guide also lists the Scripture readings from now through the end of April, along with collect prayers, and provides links to additional devotional resources which members may find especially useful during a quarantine situation.

In addition to providing a copy of the Lutheran Service Book and this Guide to Home Devotions, congregations should take this opportunity to ensure all parishioners have access to a Bible that they can easily understand. If not, offer to give them one from your church. Alternately, congregations may wish to print off for members the full text of lectionary readings from now until the end of April.

Pastors may also wish to include a list of comforting hymns well-known in their congregation, to supplement the suggested hymns included in the Guide to Home Devotions.

Finally, congregations are urged to ensure contact information for all members is up to date, so that pastors can continue to offer pastoral care and keep in contact with members even in a quarantine situation.

Future Work

As this suspension of church services continues, LCC is actively working to assist congregations in a number of other areas too, including through guidance on live-streaming church services; the provision of additional prayers for home use; live-streaming video devotions; and more.

Visit www.lutheranchurchcanada.ca/covid-19/ to keep up to date on all resources from Lutheran Church–Canada in response to the coronavirus pandemic. You may also wish to sign up for LCC’s weekly electronic newsletter InfoDigest here.

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