There's no church, but it's still Easter and Christians are celebrating

(CNN)This Easter Sunday, the Rev. Tim Kesicki, the head of the Jesuit order in North America, will officiate a Mass around his family's dining room table.

The service will include just Kesicki, his sister and parents at their home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But it won't necessarily be a quiet Mass.

"During the homily, it is not uncommon for my mom to offer comments," Kesicki said, laughing. "It's very welcome, of course."

Kesicki, who lives in Washington, DC, has celebrated Mass with his family before, a perk of being an ordained Catholic priest.

But for many Christians, Easter this year will be dramatically different: a home-bound, shelter-in-place holy day. No Easter parades, no egg hunts at church, no church at all. As there's been all Lent, there's a solemness in the air. It doesn't escape many Christians that they're celebrating Jesus' resurrection at a time of rampant sickness and death.

More than 1.5 million people around the world have been infected by the novel coronavirus, and over 100,000 have died, according Johns Hopkins University. The collateral damage can seem nearly as stunning. More than 16 million Americans were out of jobs in just the last three weeks.

The pandemic has emptied St. Peter's Square of pilgrims, silenced the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and shuttered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the site of the first Easter two millennia ago.

Sanctuaries across the world, normally filled with Easter lilies and families wearing spring pastels and holiday hats, sit vacant this Sunday.

Government officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, have urged Americans not to attend services larger than 10 people. Outside of few loud outliers, most Christians seem to be complying, according to polls.

"There have certainly been lots of examples when religious people have looked askance at certain kinds of science," said Elaine Ecklund, a sociologist at Rice University. "But this is not one of those times."

So instead of packed churches this Sunday, there will be livestreams. Lots of livestreams.

"We are all televangelists now," joked Ed Stetzer, an evangelical expert on church growth and a pastor at The Moody Church in Chicago.

Some pastors, such as televangelist Joel Osteen, have planned elaborate affairs with celebrities like Mariah Carey and Tyler Perry.

But most Easter services this year will be more bare: just a preacher, a near-empty church and an online congregation.