When asked about praying, Jesus said,

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.”   Matthew 6:5-6

To illustrate this there are these three examples of his having prayed:

And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. Luke 5:16

And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Mark 1:35

There were two occasions when he did pray in public. When he fed the 5,000 people one time and another time 4,000, He basically said grace, something He could have done quietly as in neither case does it say He prayed out loud.

It seems to have been a private prayer al fresco.

“Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.” John 6:11

“And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.” Mark 8:6.

Now as far as the need for cathedrals, which were the result of the desire of those who felt guilty about the way they had done things to buy their way out of any eternal punishment in the afterlife, churches, and those mega-churches that seem to be more show-time than prayer time, He said,

“Again, I tell you truly where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

So comparing privately saying grace to large churches it would appear, according to Jesus anyway, that although it is not wrong to pray in public, but whether you pray in public or in private, it needs to be with the right spirit and not done for show.

So, during the time of COVID-19 when for the sake of reducing crowds to help limit the chances of transmitting the virus, It seems pretty much in the spirit of Jesus that people should stay home and pray at home at the time they would have done so in public

Whenever two are gathered.  

But there is a problem with doing as Jesus advised.

No collection.

Attorney General William Barr is prepared to sue states that limit the ability of parishioners to pray together during this pandemic and a number of Republican governors have exempted religious services from some or all of their states’ social-distancing rules.

On the official Department of Justice twitter account, Kerri Kupec tweeted,

“During this sacred week for many Americans, AG Barr is monitoring Government regulation of religious services. While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency. They must be applied evenhandedly and not single out religious organizations.

Expect action from the DOJ next week.”

That week ended Friday.

Apparently the lives of all American citizens are secondary to those who ignore the need to limit the spread of the virus by not following the Christ they claim they follow.

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Justin Walker, a 38-year-old former law clerk to Brett Kavanaugh, has deemed the prohibition against gathering in churches for worship as a grievous threat to Christian believers.

In mid March, Mitch McConnell shut down the Senate and negotiations on the first corona virus-relief bill so he could travel to Kentucky to attend a gathering presided over by Brett Kavanaugh to celebrate Walker’s investiture as a federal judge, and just this month Trump nominated Walker to serve on the D.C. Circuit.

This is the appellate court on which Kavanaugh previously sat.

Then, when the On Fire Christian Center filed suit against the City of Louisville and its mayor over the ban on large gatherings and the city’s stay-at-home order, Walker ruled that the church should be permitted to conduct a drive-in service. 

The thing is churches in Louisville are exempt from the restriction on large gatherings.

What they objected to was the local police had been instructed to hand out information about health risks and to record license-plate numbers to perform contact-tracing in the event that any attendees later became sick. 

In his opinion Walker declared, “On Holy Thursday, an American Mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter,” comparing the city’s mayor to the persecutors of the Pilgrims, Southern plantation owners who “flogged slaves for attending prayer meetings,” and the “state-sponsored murder of God’s only son”.

Kentucky’s Rand Paul praised the ruling saying,

“Thank God for a judge who understands the First Amendment prevents the government from prohibiting the free government exercise of religion.”  

The guidelines being put in place to protect the rights of American citizens to stay healthy are being claimed to be illegal attacks on Christian believers, at least the ones who see gathering for prayer as a way to make a point.

Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Gray has said that despite the governor’s request, many of their churches plan on staying open.

“It appears that most Kentucky Baptist church leaders are planning to carry on with their regularly scheduled services unless things change between now and Sunday. Several Kentucky Baptist pastors will urge additional precautions by asking those who are sick to please stay home and those who are concerned to feel free to also stay home.”

Pastor Rodney Howard-Brown of Tampa, Florida scoffed at medical experts saying,

“If you cannot be safe in church, you’re in serious trouble. The only time the church is closed is when the Rapture is taking place. This bible school is open because we’re raising up revivalists, not pansies.”

The pastor seems too have forgotten about church shootings when speaking of the automatic safety if churches.

If the ban on large gatherings applies generally with no entity being exempt, how can the churches who are complaining claim they are being singled out for attack?

At the same time there are televangelists selling miracle cures on television while all the faith healers who are constantly staring out of the TV “curing” people have yet to show up at the hospitals and do any curing.

Pastors who are keeping their churches open like Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Louisiana who issued his “Pastor Spell Stimulus Challenge”, encourage people to send their $1,200 relief check to their churches while continuing to tithe, are also insisting that people shouldn‘t worry about getting the virus when at church because if they die, they will get to Jesus faster.

If dying was that great a thing, why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead?

Why would Oral Roberts have asked people to send him $3 million because God told him if he didn’t raise that much money he would die?

Why the evangelical cures on cable TV?

Most churches, to their credit, are following the guidelines for the general good.

But as we are now seeing with the pastors and those connected to the churches who defied the guidelines for social distancing who are coming down with and in some cases succumbing to COVID-19, as well as learning people have traveled long distances and even have crossed state lines to attend church and then returned home, we can safely assume that those who went into churches to pray have come out with a virus to spread.

And as Jesus also said,

“By their fruit you will know them.” Matthew 7:16

Selfish and petty.