Instead, there were honking car horns.

She was midway through a trial run of sorts for her congregation, First United Methodist Church Jupiter-Tequesta. The Jupiter church was among the Palm Beach County houses of worship experimenting Sunday with new ways of uniting their members amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Indiantown Road church’s take, at least for this Sunday: a drive-in service.

Think of the classic American drive-in movie theater and you’re onto the format. Cars fanned out across the parking lot. A hyper-local FM frequency cued up on the radio dial. At least one family even brought their own concessions, McDonald’s breakfast.

Gray led the service, which attracted a crowd spread out across more than 50 cars and clocked in under 30 minutes, while standing on the bed of a white pickup truck.

The drive-in idea came together this week, said Andy Cyr, a member of the church’s board of trustees whose daughters sat in the back of the family pickup truck during the service. A FM radio transmitter bought on Amazon for about $125 made it possible.

Gray was encouraged by the service Sunday, but said it’s tough to say how exactly the church will proceed from here. Last weekend, she substituted her church’s regular service with a videotaped message.

“Things are changing so rapidly that we are literally taking it day by day and week by week,” she said.

Houses of worship across Palm Beach County and the nation are facing similar questions. Some are moving services online or over the phone. The Diocese of Palm Beach announced this week that it is suspending public gatherings of Mass.

On Indiantown Road just east of U.S. 1, Gray kept the service light and attendees seemed to be in a buoyant mood Sunday morning.

Some waved at each other and talked from their cars. Gray joked that, just like in the sanctuary, not many people wanted to sit in the front row. During her sermon, she snuck in a lighthearted jab at those hoarding supermarket items.

“I encourage you to be light-bearers,” Gray told her congregation. “To not hoard toilet paper, but to share it with your neighbors.”

There still were solemn reminders of the pandemic.

Gray prayed for patients, health-care workers and others directly affected by the coronavirus. The Bible reading was Psalm 46, which calls God “a very present help in trouble.” Congregants mouthed the words to the Lord’s Prayer from behind closed windows.

“We ask that you would give us all strength,” Gray prayed from atop the pickup truck. “That you would allow those scientists to be able to create medications and vaccines to help stop this virus.”

Amid “all this doomsday talk” swirling around the virus, people are seeking reasons for optimism and hope, attendee Jon Charles said. Getting the congregation safely together under these circumstances provides that, he said.

“It’s just nice to be able to get all these people together,” Charles said. “It’s just tradition for them.”

Cyr agreed that re-establishing old habits, even if it means sitting behind your car window instead of next to someone in the pews, is important.

“There is a way to connect to God and not be in a closed environment. ... A lot of people are scared right now.”

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Coronavirus Florida: Jupiter church holds drive-in Sunday service in parking lot

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