No singing in South African churches

During the week I have read some news about the reopening of South African churches. The President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has obviously made an announcement that churches may start with worship services again. According to IOL news this was announced by the President together with the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana. The bishop was quoted:

play music, don’t sing

In the Policy Guide that the SACC has issues there are many recommendations. It doesn’t forbid singing. It states:

The singing of hymns may need to be considered VERY carefully. Two meters is not far enough apart for hymns to be sung. Similarly, responses need to sotto voce (intentionally lowering the voice) to avoid expressing any saliva.

Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop.

One of the church leaders within the SACC, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba summarises the policy to his followers on his blog:

… a limit of 50 on services, disinfecting surfaces between services, physical distancing in churches, the avoidance of shared hymnals and prayer books, the wearing of masks during services, restrictions on singing (because it has proved to play a big role in spreading the virus), avoidance of the common chalice at Eucharist, no gatherings after services and rigorous hygiene in church toilets.

I have especially noticed two former SACC leaders, who are critical. Peter Storey, who was the President of the SACC 1980-83 is not happy at all. He writes:

Allowing public worship ill-advised and dangerous

John de Gruchy, another well-known South African Theologian, writes on his blog:

The fact that most Christians throughout the world have been prevented from going to church buildings has not meant that the church has stopped being the church.  The first Christians did not have church buildings; they gathered in homes for prayer and fellowship, and they did so in order to go into the world to proclaim the good news about Jesus.  That is why at the end of the Eucharist we are sent into the world to love and serve. It is misleading, then, to say that once the pandemic is over, we can go back to church when we never stopped being the church.

According to News 24 the SACC says that they did not “coerce government into allowing places of worship to open”. I guess this is a very sensitive issue. So the question is:

Will South African Christians be able to do this?

And in the same breath I need to ask the same question to our own church because we also gather in many churches. I have participated some Sundays, but we have also prayed at home at times. I am reluctant. In our own city, Uppsala, the number of infected people seems to increase again. Is the right thing to close churches again?