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Living In Lynbrook/East Rockaway
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Houses of worship remain spiritual while virtual By Nicole Alcindor
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After weeks of hosting virtual services and meetings online to abide by state guidelines and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols, many houses of worship across New York have returned to having indoor services over the past few months. For many church leaders in Lynbrook and East Rockaway, the excitement of returning to indoor services brought with it some difficulties, including decreased attendance. “The first church service back indoors was a mixed bag, and things have been challenging ever since,” said the Rev. Robert Walderman, pastor of Lynbrook Baptist Church, which returned to indoor services in July. “We are happy to be back, but we are also sad that our whole congregation is still not meeting together in person.” Since opening, Walderman said, he had to change many of his usual practices to abide by state and CDC guidelines. At the beginning of every service, upon entry, congregants had their temperatures taken and were given hand sanitizer. Attendance was low at first, but began to rise after the vaccine became more readily available. “It’s difficult because even with this new reality of indoor services, close contact with people has been removed and we have also lost complete connection with many of our congregants,” Walderman said when it first re-opened. “We went from having about 175 people attending our church before the pandemic, to now only having about 50 people showing up to indoor services.” Though there are challenges with in-person
attendance, services for Lynbrook Baptist Church are available virtually on live stream every Sunday on their website as an alternative. For Bethany Congregational Church of East Rockaway, things have taken a similar turn, as things decreased right after they re-opened, but have steadily risen since the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine. “We don’t want anyone to do anything that makes them uncomfortable,” the Rev. Mark Lukens said. “It’s a tumultuous time, and the important thing is that people need the gospel and we have to get it to them, even if it’s online.” The Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre, at 295 Main St., has yet to return to in-person services, but its committee is weighing options with hopes of reopening soon. Temple Am Echad, at 1 Saperstein Plaza in Lynbrook, has hosted online holiday and Shabbat services, Torah study, tot Shabbat and classes for students in kindergarten through seventh grade during the pandemic and has returned to more normalized indoor services.
Courtesy the Rev. Robert Walderman
Top left photo: Many houses of worship, including Lynbrook Baptist Church, recently reopened for in-person services. Courtesy Bonnie Zakarin
Top right photo: Congregants at the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre celebrated Hat Day on Zoom — the online platform they have used since their center’s switch to virtual services — in May.
