TYLER, Texas — This time last year, there was hope that Easter would mark the turning point of the pandemic. A year later, many Easter services still won't look the same while others are opening fully.
"We have the two services, and we're trying to make sure our sanctuary hosts 250 people," Reginald Jones, Executive Pastor at New Life Community Church, said. "So we want to make sure that no more than half, so that we can maintain social distancing."
"We're really planning on a whole full Easter weekend," Ross Strader, Senior Pastor at Bethel Bible Church, said.
Both Strader and Jones are thrilled to be holding in-person services. This comes after both churches held online services in 2020 because of COVID-19.
"It wasn't even a plan B, it was a plan C for everything that we were hoping to do on Easter," Strader said.
However, services won't look the same as they did pre-pandemic. Strader says they still have seating set up to keep congregates socially distanced.
He says he can't even picture holding a full service right now.
"Having a worship experience where our church is at capacity with membership, people sitting shoulder to shoulder and pew to pew, I just can't even imagine what that would look like," Jones said.
While the churches CBS19 spoke with are doing some things in-person to celebrate Easter, at Congregation Beth El, a synagogue, they're still doing things online.
"So we spent the past year online that included last year having Passover Seder online," Rabbi Neal Katz said. "And again this year we had Passover Seder online as well. I do think we're coming close to a potential hybrid in-person service."
Katz says this past year has presented all sorts of challenges and by holding so many online services, the community has adapted to become stronger.
He says some services may start in person by the end of the month.