By Dawn Felder Boren
Covid took 2019 by storm and we still feel remnants of the infamous pandemic. The world shifted into a space of solitude. Everyone in their respective places, locked away with immediate family. Screens served as the new meeting place for family reunions. Stores closed, schools ceased and curfews were implemented. This change the way we worked, lived, interacted and most importantly the way we worshiped.
Churches were forced to come up with creative ways to offer services. In retrospect, Covid influenced churches and places of worship to operate outside of the norm. Cash turned into Cash App and Sunday service programs morphed into WebEx links. Even though alternatives were offered, many people had issues attending web services due to the bandwidth of our internet. School, work and entertainment were all online so high speed wasn’t so fast and 4G worked more like 1G. With the lack of normal worship people began to explore God and spirituality on their own.
It was reported that psychologists saw an increase of patients by 62% from 2020 to 2021 (APA, 2021). Covid related anxiety and depression led people to seek help and use more non-conventual methods to control their feelings. Death was at everyone’s door, and it was a fearful time. So what did we do? We created altars at home, started to meditate and we pulled out those old remedies that aided our ancestors for hundreds of years. We dug deep into our roots to connect African spirituality and the way we worship. Since stores were close, teas containing lemon, honey, sassafras, and good old South Carolina Lowcountry Spanish Moss sat on our tables. Tobacco healed stings or bites and epsom salt baths soothed aching bodies. Many begin to request prayers from the elders. They quietly wrote procedures to be taken that would protect their homes. Windows open as we paced the floor to pray out any evil and summon God, angels, and the ancestors. Anointing oil was placed on thresholds and foreheads as we attempted to elevate our faith, spirituality and connection with God. Taboo words in the church like hoodoo and voodoo came alive once again as people realize that our African practices were a way of healing and the whitewashed version of them left a negative stain on things that were meant to protect and restore us. Spirituality and connections with God were now in our hands. No deacon, preacher, or evangelist could help. Everything learned during those Sunday worship services, and Wednesday Bible studies had to be used during Covid because we were alone. Psalms 119:11 states, “ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I may not sin against you.” In this moment in time, the word that should have been tucked in our hearts had to be pulled out and planted as a place for us to lean.
Talking in tongues, having the Holy Spirit, shouting, communion, sowing seeds and being anointed are no less or more important than our African practices if it is done to bring us closer to God. We were somewhat bamboozled by white colonizers into thinking otherwise. With all of the impacts of Covid, you have to wonder will the church, spirituality and the way we worship return to “normal”. I’d say I hope not. Owning your spiritual journey is a responsibility that we all have. Growth is required in any relationship and if meditation, practicing real hoodoo and voodoo, allows you to build your bond with God then who can challenge it’s worth. Does this lessen God‘s love for you? Not the God that I serve. Covid has left us acknowledging the fact that the church is a privilege. Worshiping and fellowshipping with others is a gift because it can be gone in an instant. Many sanctuaries will never reopen and knees may never bend at some alters again. Covid has completely wiped many churches away.
The worship experience have changed forever and this could be one of the big lessons of the pandemic. Can the church recover from Covid? Absolutely, but it will be met with parishioners who have more control over their spirituality and their walk with God. An African Proverb says, “God has created lands with lakes and rivers for man to live. And the desert so that he can find his soul.” Covid was the desert that inadvertently led some to an ocean filled with God’s love. May we continue to seek a deeper connection with the Most High whether we are in the church or in our prayer closet.
Ase’ and Amen
Reference:
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/10/mental-health-treatment-demand
