On the first Sunday congregations could reopen, a church called Hopeful Baptist lived up to its name

MONTPELIER, Va. — Sunday was at once wonderfully familiar and painfully different for the 70 Christians who, in staggered small groups, entered Hopeful Baptist Church for the 11 a.m. service.

In the months since the novel coronavirus shut down communal worship, some congregants could not resist coming to their small country church anyway. One 6-year-old wanted to have her birthday parade in Hopeful’s parking lot. A dozen people, longing to connect, met one evening and, spread out and silent, walked prayer circles around the building.