Yukon’s United Church hosts a hybrid ceremony for Easter

Key takeaways: 

• ‘We’ve realized how crucial online presence is,’ states the minister.
• The United Church of Canada, located at 601 Main St, celebrates Easter weekend with a string of hybrid occasions (online and in-person). 

Over the previous two years, The United Church of Canada in Whitehorse, Yukon, has shifted its Sunday service to stick to public health limitations. 

Now, ordained minister Beverly Brazier states the church plans to hold virtual ceremonies for the foreseeable future, “even if everything stood to open up completely.”

“We’ve recognized how critical online presence is,” she expressed. “There are people with mobility problems or social pressure or only want to come and check us out safely.”

Easter weekend was no anomaly. The church intended to host a drive-through on Saturday so members who desired to join virtually could pick up bread and juice for Easter’s Sunday Communion.

Easter is a 2,000-year-old Christian ritual that celebrates the rebirth of Jesus Christ. The night before being crucified, Christians consider he had one last supper with his disciples where he broke bread and distributed it among the people.

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“We use a standard loaf, one loaf,” described Brazier. “So because of COVID-19, numerous people still don’t feel secure or safe, so they worship with us online. And we felt, how cool would it be to share the same loaf as much as feasible?”

The vision was to provide members muffin-style buns made from the same dough to pick up for Sunday service. 

However, this initiative did not make actuality due to some logistical miscommunication.

“It was a good view, but it’s not happening this year,” said Brazier.

The Sunday service will still occur in a hybrid form with Facebook Live and an in-person choice. 

Source – cbc.ca