Could hymns spread coronavirus in churches?

Churches could reopen without singing in Germany.

By Cara Bentley, Premier:

Services without sung worship are a possibility if churches are to start gathering again.

Across Europe there are discussions and disagreements about when and how churches should join the rest of society in being allowed to open to the public again – with some erring on the side of caution and obedience, such as the Pope, and others frustrated that church is seen as far less urgent than the reopening of restaurants….

…Dr Noel Tredinnick, conductor and former director of music at All Souls Langham Place in London, told Premier he hoped the same ban would not come in in the UK: “Actually I think it’s a very serious thing, I think it’s something we’re called to do and if a government chooses to say this is an unimportant ingredient in religious experience, Christian experience, then that to me seems to be the wrong thing.”

He added that there is little evidence to suggest someone is more likely to pass on germs any more than when they are speaking: “I would caution this coming to the UK and I don’t think it’s necessary…unless you’re going to ban people from speaking to each other.”

He quoted Psalm 96 and the call to sing with other believers: “I think there is this injunction from God in the Bible to sing to people and actually to sing together…what we are deeply missing is singing together.”

Read here

See also: A Festival of Hope – Virtual Prom Praise, from All Souls Music. Trailer here.