By Sabrina SHELTON

Amidst all of the closures, quarantines, and uneasiness of the last two weeks, the local churches are doing everything they can to keep the community together and the faith alive. The faithful are leaning in harder with their relationship with God and their neighbors, and those who may not have visited a church in a while are suddenly digging within themselves to have some faith at the moment. Most churches have moved services online, either through Facebook Live or private streaming services.

For St. George’s Episcopal Church, the focus right now is sending their congregation information on upcoming services and holidays.

“We’re setting up an online help center, to connect younger volunteers with older parishioners who are sheltering in place and may need errands run, prescriptions picked up and so forth,” said Rev. Amy Pringle. “I’m still waiting to see how things play out in the so rapidly-evolving developments of the pandemic…”

St. George’s has also sent out a “church at home” resource for people to use as a household devotion. And, as far as Easter is concerned, there are plans to distribute some form of online worship that will cover all of Holy Week. As of now, all of the church’s resources are available on their website for anyone to access at saintglc.org.

Services have moved online at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church (see their ad on page 9) and at La Cañada Presbyterian Church, worship is livestreamed until May 10, unless gathering restrictions change. In an email to the congregation, Senior Pastor Jeff Hoffmeyer wrote, “The call for us right now is to be the Church. This means encouraging one another, and it also means ‘not neglecting to meet together,’ but finding new ways to do so.”

All of the churches are communicating their plans for worship and keeping the feeling of community strong.

Montrose Church has canceled all in-person gatherings until the beginning of April. It hosts Facebook Live services each Sunday at 10 a.m. All Facebook Live streams can be viewed as a replay approximately 30 minutes after the service ends.

On the church’s website, a message from Pastor Dave Roberts reminds everyone to “‘Love God. Love Others.’ Now is the time to model our calling more than ever and go the extra mile. We want to be ready to serve those who are in need.” Roberts encourages others to “reflect [God’s] love with your presence on social media. Send an encouraging note or make a phone call to a friend in self-quarantine. Listen for the needs of others, and ask God to show you how you can help.”

Even though the community cannot meet in person for the foreseeable future, all of Crescenta Valley’s churches are continuing to reach out and keep themselves accessible. The message is loud and clear from these churches: they are here, they are listening, and so is God.

  Sabrina SHELTON