Easter season with a difference: With empty churches and parks

By peace 4 years ago

Easter – The streets were deserted. Not a sight of people dressed up, hurrying to church as has been the norm during Easter.

The shops were devoid of the “Easter Sale” notices designed to lure custom. Pascha – the feast to celebrate the resurrection of Christ failed to live up to its name, as there was no public feasting.

The preaching that defines the day was replaced by silence as people remained indoors.On televisions and live streaming on social media platforms, the church services were different.

The African Inland Church in Pipeline, Nairobi, had a jerrycan of water and sanitiser placed among the empty pews, near the Holy Communion table. There was no breaking of bread to signify Christ’s body.Instead, Rev Abraham Mulwa passed the bread that signifies the body of Christ using metallic tongs. The microphone was covered with a piece of cloth.

The choir, scattered on the altar, belted out tunes behind the lone preacher donning a mask.

“The people who cannot join us today, the ones who are watching from home can take communion spiritually,” said Mulwa.On social media, people talked of the irony that this Good Friday presented.

At a time when people need hugs, visitation to the sick and to gather and intercede for one another, Covid-19 has stopped everything and changed the meaning of Easter.

If things had remained the same, people would have travelled to join their kin in celebrating Easter. Orders for food and drinks would have streamed in. Chicken and goats would have been slaughtered to prepare sumptuous nyama choma.

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Bus companies would have cashed in on people traveling to spend the holiday in the villages.

Then Covid-19 came and everything froze.There is an eerie silence at the pulpits, a reminder that the world is at a standstill. Some hotels have placed padlocks on their gates and the social places have been abandoned as call to stay home and keep social distance dominates conversations online and off the net.

The movement restriction order by President Uhuru Kenyatta to control spread of the virus has separated families that had planned to mark the festive season together.

Source – https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/