City Reformed Church Responds
This debate over essential and non-essential is something that City Reformed Church (CRC) has struggled with as well. Like Blessed Sacrament, senior Pastor Chris Ganski and Associate Pastor Phil Anderas struggled at the outset of COVID-19 to figure out how bad the situation was and what their response should be. Unlike Blessed Sacrament, though, CRC has no archbishop from whom to take their cues in such a situation. By the latter half of March, though, the situation was clear: shutdowns would go in effect. And so CRC announced on March 20th their first strictly online service for the coming Sunday. But the announcement was also filled with exhortation. Quoting extensively from the Old Testament, Pastor Anderas reminded the flock of God’s faithfulness before ending: “Grace & peace in Christ, who died for us and conquered Death." On March 22nd, then, the Church met online and followed it’s liturgical order of worship: the call to worship, a prayer, a song, a sacred reading, the call to confession, another song, an extended period of prayer, and then the staple of Protestant services: the sermon. Pastor Ganski preached on 1 Peter 4: 1-11 and encouraged the congregation to follow Christ in holiness and remain self-controlled and sober-minded, knowing their eternal inheritance is secured by God.
The Christ-as-fighter and the conqueror-of-death themes were apparent from the first email announcing online services. In fact, the worship folder for March 22nd depicted a crucified Lord, crowned with thorns, but girded with a sword. The image captured well the message in the midst of COVID-19: Christ as a perfect sacrifice but a warrior on behalf of his people against death and the devil. Along these lines, Pastor Anderas at the start of May began an online series called Cross-fit: Training in Christianity. The pun, Anderas explained, was the point of the course and the Christian life. Christianity is not something, he writes, that happens by osmosis but through hard work just like an athlete—the dying onto self, the carrying of one’s cross. The email then included links to the online resources of the course.
City Reformed Church also provided support to families both within and outside the congregation. Having many young children in the Church, Kelli Dunn (the children ministry leader) became an increasingly important figure in the life of the church. City Reformed Church also collaborated with Ephesians Missionary Baptist Church to bring seniors meals.
As with Blessed Sacrament, Pastor Ganski and Pastor Anderas in early May began thinking about how to reopen. On May 13th, Pastor Ganski sent an email to the congregation soliciting them to fill out a survey exploring people’s thoughts about returning to meeting together on Sundays and for small groups. That Sunday (May 17th) the survey results had yet to be released and Pastor Anderas preached a sermon entitled “How to Survive an Apocalypse.” It was a sermon that could have been delivered at any stage during the crisis. Focusing on the Song of Moses (Exodus 15: 1-21), the text and exposition were oddly (so it seemed) hopeful. Focusing first on the Israelites dire situation caught between Egypt and the sea, Pastor Anderas then turned to the work of God in rescuing his people from death and Israel’s response to their miraculous salvation.