Mormons are often reluctant, whether through zeal or sense of duty, to miss Sunday services. And yet this commendable trait can turn into a public health problem when people attend church with colds or flues in tow. Picture if you will sacrament trays being passed through hands of sick, coughing people, nurseries where children mingle, and meetings where binders are passed through rows of people holding Kleenex to elderly members. How can we change our culture to encourage people to stay home when their health poses threats to others?
Here are some ideas that we have brainstormed:
- Bishops could explicitly tell people to not come if they are ill.
- We could podcast services to those who cannot make it to church for health reasons.
- We could encourage the use of Purell when passing sacrament trays and request that parents with clean hands take bread and water for their children.
- We could have a lesson on how to use Sundays in a reverent way when one is too sick for church.
What have your wards been doing?