This week, Christians turn to the Good Book for a tale of how Christ returned to Jerusalem, was betrayed, arrested and crucified.

Three days later, as the story goes, he rose from the dead and ordered his followers to preach the gospels – the Good News – to the world.

The traditional Christian calendar commemorates this week with special rituals on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter.

But, in this time of trial, our churches are shuttered. The preachers and their congregants are home. Preachers and priests, from the Vatican to Boothbay, stand alone in front of cameras hoping the congregation will tune in. I am sure many did.

Meanwhile, we all reel from the news of the day, where New York City hospitals are in crisis mode, as hundreds have died and funeral homes and morgues are overwhelmed. We dread the daily reports of statewide infections as experts tell us the worst is yet to come.

Some of our neighbors look askance at snowbirds returning a bit early as the governor ordered them and visitors from away to self-quarantine for two weeks.

Others, despite church closures, practice the tradition of helping others, valid lessons handed down over the generations.

Some refer to the story of the loaves and fishes as recounted in Mark and Matthew. You remember it, don’t you? A great crowd gathered to hear Christ preach. After the sermon, the crowd stayed around, and it got late. There were no food trucks or busy church ladies to set out a homemade meal. So, the preacher fixed it by somehow stretching seven loaves and two fishes into baskets of food to feed the multitude. On this particular Good Friday, a small group of volunteers will gather at the Boothbay Congregational Church to practice those traditions.

It is the Boothbay Region Food Pantry where each Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., anywhere from 20 to 45 families will drive up to receive enough groceries to get them through several weeks.

Fleet Davies, a 73-year-old retired defense contractor from Upper Montclair, New Jersey, said he always wanted to live in this seaside community he visited as a child. About 10 years ago, he moved. But he didn’t just sit around and gaze at the scenery. He joined with community volunteers, rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

All week long, he and dedicated volunteers gather groceries. They buy from vendors and farms. They collect leftovers and outdated items from the local Hannaford market. Somehow they can pay the bills thanks to generous donors and foundation grants.

In the wake of this deadly virus, they figured out a system that protects them and allows them to continue their work.

Families drive up to the back of the church or have a friend drive them if they don’t have transportation. They walk to the door where an outside volunteer gives them a list of available items and asks them to fill out a list. This shopping list is slipped into a clear plastic envelope and slid to the inside volunteers who fill the order, box it up, put it in a grocery cart, and wheel it to the door. The families then roll it to their vehicle, unload it, and bring the cart back.

Then volunteers wipe it down with sanitary wipes. Davies said they are meticulous in using wipes, lots of wipes, hand sanitizer and other protective practices. Caution is the word as the volunteers, most over 60, are the most likely group to suffer fatalities from the virus.

Our state and national leaders have ordered all but essential workers to stay home to protect the community and us from transmitting the virus to one another.

The food pantry volunteers risk their lives to help others. They live the message of caring for their neighbors.

Also at risk are our health care workers who remain on their posts. In Italy, we have seen reports of 3,300 doctors dying of the virus. This week, Newsweek reported that a 60-year-old emergency room doctor at a New York City hospital died from the illness. Nurses in NYC and Florida have also died.

So, as we stay home and busy ourselves doing chores we have long avoided, others, including grocery clerks, cops, gas station clerks and others risk their lives to help us survive.

But the news is not all bad.

On Palm Sunday, the Washington Post reported an auto body repair worker standing in a grocery store check out line noticed another customer couldn’t afford the items she had selected. So, he paid for her groceries and those of 30 other customers. The cash register tape showed the bill was $2,523.32.

Happy Easter.

Be well.