Pastor Albert "Gonzo" Gonzales stands on a flat-bed truck as his church holds Easter services in the parking log in San Antonio, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Many churches are adapting their services as Christians around the world are celebrating Easter at a distance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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Christians around the world celebrated an Easter Sunday upended by the coronavirus without the usual crowded church Masses and large family gatherings. Instead, they turned to the internet, television and radio from home to follow services that noted the grave impact of the pandemic. Some found novel ways to mark the holy day. Others still assembled in groups, but took precautions to try to avoid infection.
The virus forced a change in Easter traditions that had even endured wars. Christians in the U.S. contended with a patchwork of limits on how and where they could gather to mark Jesus' resurrection. Many states exempted houses of worship from orders curbing communal meetings to help stop the coronavirus from spreading. A few pastors said they would stay open to visitors despite pandemic-fighting guidelines.
But no matter how divergent the celebrations, the message from church leaders around the world remained consistent: prayers for the sick and dead and reassurances of God's presence. Here's a sample of Easter events from the U.S. and abroad:
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Parishioners from churches across New York City sang 'œChrist the Lord is Risen Today'ť from their balconies and windows as part of an initiative organized online.
'œMy husband and I went out on the balcony and we belted it out as loud as we could,'ť said Kathy Keller, of Reedemer Presbyterian Church, who helped launch the '~Easter2020' singing event.
Keller said people from across the U.S. sent her messages telling her they had joined the event, including a woman in Denver, Colorado who sang while snow fell outside her window.
'œEven if you didn't hear everyone, God heard everyone,'ť Keller said.
-By Luis Andres Henao
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In the central German city of Hildesheim, around 400 people participated in a drive-in Catholic Mass for Easter Sunday. People were allowed to take part if they stayed in their cars with the doors and windows closed, listening to the sermon over the radio.
Relevant Church in the U.S. state of South Carolina also held a drive-in service, but took the additional step of changing it to Saturday because of an expected storm. Gloved volunteers carefully distributed prepackaged communion packets to families who drove into the YMCA parking lot. While Pastor Matt McGarity preached from the New Testament, cars sporadically honked in agreement. 'œWe felt tonight like we would any Easter morning: joyful, expectant, hopeful,'ť parishioner Kelly Hills said.
-By Geir Moulson and Sarah Blake Morgan
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At one of the biggest churches in South Korea, Seoul's Yoido Full Gospel Church, a small number of masked church followers attended the service broadcast online via the church's website. They were seated noticeably apart from each other to abide by social distancing rules. Choir members also wore masks when they sang hymns.
People also gathered at Happy Gospel Church in the U.S. state of Florida, though they were in the parking lot. Some sat in lawn chairs or on tailgates, but families stayed at least 6 feet apart - even when Bailey did an altar call.
-By Hyung-jin Kim and Terry Spencer
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At the Vatican, St. Peter's Square was empty of crowds and ringed by police barricades. Pope Francis celebrated Easter Mass inside the largely vacant basilica, calling for solidarity the world over to confront the 'œepochal challenge'ť posed by the coronavirus pandemic. He offered special prayers for the sick, the dead, the elderly, refugees and the poor and assured the faithful that God was still among them. 'œWe are convinced that he has laid his hand upon us firmly reassuring us: Do not be afraid, 'I have risen and I am with you still!'ť
The message was echoed by David Uth, senior pastor at First Baptist Orlando in the U.S. state of Florida. Uth told worshippers tuning in to an online Easter service that a question that comes up as the coronavirus pandemic ravages lives is: Where is God?
'œHe's the same place He was the day His son died to give us salvation from our sin,'ť he said. 'œHe's the same place He was the day His son Jesus walked out of the grave. He is with us.'ť
-By Nicole Winfield and Mariam Fam
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Associated Press writers Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta and Elana Schor in New York contributed to this report.
Rev. William Schipper, pastor of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish, left, wears a mask and gloves out of concern for the coronavirus as he speaks with a parishioner in the parking lot of the church, on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Spencer, Mass. Schipper sprinkled holy water and blessed people who remained in their vehicles as they drove through the parking lot of the church. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
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People gather at the Mount Davidson cross in San Francisco, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Mount Davidson's annual Easter Sunrise Service was canceled for San Francisco's shelter in place orders over coronavirus concers. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, at left, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral, right, await their signal to begin a livestreamed Easter Sunday service at the National Cathedral with no parishioners, Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Washington, in light of coronavirus pandemic precautions. The large Cathedral would normally be full on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Lone Start Cowboy Church Lead Pastor Randy Weaver raises his hands in prayer during a livestream of their Easter service Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Montgomery, Texas. The service was held in the church's empty dirt arena where normally thousands would have attended but could not due to social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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A man celebrates a mass outside of the Church of Saint Catherine in Ralbitz, eastern Germany, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Because the Corona crisis the Easter riders processions have been cancelled. Normally according to a more than hundred years old tradition men of the Sorbs, dressed in black tailcoats ride on decorated horses, proclaiming, singing and praying the message of Jesus' resurrection. The Sorbs are a Slavic German minority located near the German-Polish border. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
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Pope Francis holds his pastoral staff during Easter Sunday Mass inside an empty St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Pope Francis and Christians around the world marked a solitary Easter Sunday, forced to celebrate the most joyful day in the liturgical calendar amid the sorrowful reminders of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (Andreas Solaro/Pool Photo via AP)
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Easter Mass is conducted without congregants at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Due to coronavirus concerns, no congregants were allowed to attend the Mass but it was broadcast live on a local TV station. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Terry Sartain prays inside his car during Relevant Church's Easter service at a YMCA parking lot in Clover, S.C., Saturday, April 11, 2020. The coronavirus has pushed the members of the church out of their usual church setting. The weather forecast for Sunday impelled the church to hold its Easter Sunday service Saturday. (AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan)
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In this Saturday, April 11, 2020 photograph, a woman wearing a protective face mask stands near a fire lit next to her brother's grave in a cemetery in Herasti, Romania, during a Orthodox Palm Sunday memorial for the departed. The cemetery, usually crowded for the Palm Sunday ritual, which gathers believers before midnight to light fires at the graves and share food in memory of their dead relatives, was all but empty as people observed the interdiction to join religious celebrations in the week leading to the Orthodox Easter imposed across Romania as authorities try to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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A priest blesses an elderly woman after offering her willow branches, an Orthodox Palm Sunday tradition, in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Priests accompanied by volunteers delivered the traditional willow branches to residents as people observed the interdiction to join religious celebrations in the week leading to the Orthodox Easter, imposed across Romania as authorities try to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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Pastor Paul Marc Goulet prays to people in their cars at an Easter drive-in service at the International Church of Las Vegas due to the coronavirus outbreak, Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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Keeping to safe social distance guidelines, worshipers pray at their own vehicles as they attend an outside drive-in Easter service at the Living Word church due to the coronavirus Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
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