While weekend religious services appeared to be on as scheduled at most Lincoln churches, places of worship were taking extra precautions to ensure the health of congregants by suspending practices such as shaking hands and passing the offering plate.
Some of the city's largest churches — First-Plymouth, St. Mark's United Methodist, Lincoln Berean, Messiah Lutheran and Westminster Presbyterian — canceled their weekend services and urged people to watch a livestream from home Sunday.
First Lutheran Church shut down all activities through April 2.
First-Plymouth Pastor Jim Keck said the decision came out of "an abundance of care for people."
"We've never canceled service, so this is a completely novel situation we're in," he said. "We can't risk the possibility of even one person in our congregation being affected."
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The decision is not the first precaution to be taken at the church, 2000 D St., which regularly has 1,400 people worship in person. Parishioners had earlier been encouraged to minimize physical contact with each other and to stay home if they felt sick.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also temporarily suspended all worship services and activities. And Northeast United Church of Christ, 6200 Adams St., canceled weekend activities.
The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln said people who are sick should not attend Mass or other church gatherings, and in a letter to priests Friday afternoon, Archbishop George Lucas granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for Catholics in the Archdiocese of Omaha and the Diocese of Lincoln.
The Rev. Nicholas Kipper, director of communications for the Lincoln diocese, said the church will follow direction from the Centers for Disease Control and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
The diocese also suggested priests be the only ones to drink from the communion chalice, or common cup, and for priests to decide whether to distribute Holy Communion into a communicant's hands or on the tongue.
It did recommend that those offering Holy Communion wash their hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer before and after communion.
For many churches and temples in Lincoln, live-streaming has become an increasingly popular avenue for worship. While many congregations record services, the online tool will likely be used more and more as the virus spreads.Â
"We're actually updating our wireless connection so we can have the most capabilities on this front," said Peter Mullin, office administrator at the South Street Temple. "In the modern world, this kind of thing (online capabilities) isn't much of an issue."
While the temple, also called Congregation B'Nai Jeshurun, has stopped passing the Torah (the tradition calls for kissing of the text) and put an end to communal yarmulkes, Mullin emphasized how little was known about what to do in this situation.Â
"Everything is so up in the air, but we're still going forward with planned services," Mullin said. "It doesn't help that we're coming up on a busy month for Jewish holidays."
Despite the worries swirling through communities, faith still holds strong for the people of Lincoln.
"There may be cancellations, but church is actually about more than showing up in person," Keck said. "We're also trying to figure out how to minister to the scared and anxious."Â