Remote possibilities: sermons as religious support during the COVID-19 pandemic

Psychological and sociological studies have reported that highly religious people have better mental health overall, which was also confirmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little investigation has been undertaken to understand the actual enablers of religious coping that contextualize these mental health results. Australian pulpit rabbis were invited to submit sermons delivered on the eve of the first Sabbath of the pandemic. These sermons were conceived as “artifacts” of religious support and Nancy Ammerman’s (2021) multidimensional model of lived religion—in particular, the narrative, embodied and moral dimensions—served as the conceptual framework for analysis. Religious support was evident in the sermons in the ways sacred texts and values were deployed to encourage shifts in conceptions associated with congregational gatherings and agency in private religious beliefs and behavior. By tapping in on faith in God, familiar religious concepts, and values, congregants were encouraged to abide by health directives, endure them, and sustain hope for a redemptive future. The contribution of this qualitative study lies in its identification of a dimension of religious support and how it assists people of faith during difficult times.