Sacraments in the Cloud
COVD-19 and the need to physically distance ourselves from one another has jolted the routines and structure of our homes and communities. Schools are closed for the foreseeable future. All “non-essential” businesses have been closed. In some areas, if you are deemed an “essential" employee” you are to be provided documentation proving your essentialness. Grocery store shelves have been picked over multiple times by well-meaning people who are frightened of what could happen should the COVID-19 pandemic take an even greater turn for the worse.
In my line of work, the local church, a crisis is beginning to emerge. In our Methodist tradition, the first Sunday of the month is typically reserved by most churches as “communion Sunday.” The sermon is shorter (yay!) to allow the community the time needed to gather around Christ’s table of grace, and I know from experience, there are people in our communities who only attend church that first Sunday of the month.
Well, we are quickly approaching the first Sunday in April - the first first Sunday of the month during the COVID-19 pandemic. Churches of all stripes have been scrambling to determine how they will share the Eucharistic meal with one another when they cannot be physically present with one another.
Before I continue, I want to be honest from the beginning - I am not in favor of online communion. I will do my best below to outline the argument for both positions but if I appear to be prejudice it is because I am.
While many United Methodist Bishops have already spoken in favor of or against, I present to you two cases to be made for and against online communion.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
This double-epiclesis requires both the historic physical elements (bread and wine/grape juice) as Christ instituted them but also the physical gathering of the people of God. The physicality or tangible nature of our faith, that God called a tangible people to be his own, came in the person of Jesus Christ, died, and was resurrected physically, is extended to the sacraments, which themselves must also be physical and within a gathered physical community.
On the authority of clergy:
The authority given to celebrate the sacraments, and in particular communion, does not mean that clergy are somehow able to celebrate communion without the gathering of others, and in particular the laity. Nor, in the case of “virtual” communion, does this mean that clergy voices are somehow able to transcend space and time to consecrate elements wherever their voice is heard. If that were so, it would be a very strange form of clericalism.
If not now, when?
As to Holy Communion, now is the time to wait. That we are yearning for Communion is a sign that we have been shaped by the gospel and we will celebrate it with joy when we finally meet together again.
What is the real issue?
Like Wesley, we are also living in a transitional time with important consequences for what it means to be a church and for what the role of a church should be when it comes to tending to the spirituality of people. Ecclesiology is a fluid concept that is shaped by communal practices of members of a faith community in a changing context. These members bring cultural, social, political, and economic diversity into the faith community; therefore, the church is never either-or but inclusive of human experience that reflects the signs of the time. This is why human 2 experience is a critical source of doing theology, just as Scripture, tradition, and reason are essential as sources.
New theology in a new ecclesiology?
The rise of a new theological subject, Cyber Disciples definitely presents an opportunity of theological imagination to ways how Christians worship, practice their faith, and exercise evangelism. The eschatological church always presents the hope of building a living church understanding that it is not yet fully realized but surely exists among the people. The risen Jesus is eschatological hope personalized, and this opens up the possibility of a continuation of the realization of the Holy Spirit upon all people, including Cyber Disciples.
What are the practicalities (2/5, see Dr. Park’s paper for further practicalities)?
“An ordained elder or a person authorized under the provisions of the Book of Discipline” 22 should bless the elements for the sacrament with individually packed portable elements. Once they are blessed, these should be mailed to individuals who have requested them.
“An ordained elder or a person authorized under the provisions of the Book of Discipline “ should use a video web conferencing tool (WebEx, GoTo Meeting, Google Hangout, etc.) to serve the sacrament over the Internet. The same liturgy should be used for the Great Thanksgiving in The United Methodist Church Hymnal, and members should take the communion elements that are already blessed in unity following the instruction of the clergy. The presiding of “an ordained elder or a person authorized under the provisions of the Book of Discipline” is important to uphold the order of elder’s priestly ministry of serving sacrament.
Dr. Park did not write her paper with COVID-19 in the foreground, this paper was written for the new ministry field that is the online space, where people gather at home around a screen instead of in pews, folding chairs, or local community hubs.
The space we find ourselves in is temporary. COVID-19 will not last forever and I find it interesting the urgency with which people are taking to the need for communion. In a recent sermon, Rev. Fleming Rutledge said, “Poor Christians during the time of the coronavirus, unable to celebrate the Eucharist. They’ll have to make do with *only* the Word of God.”
We have the real presence of Christ with us, always. I shared my bias at the beginning of this post and I’ll add one more bias now: perhaps the season of Lent and physical distancing is a time of fasting from the Eucharist. I know that sounds weird, odd, and completely contrary to what my Wesleyan heritage tells me. Dr. Park wrote, “Wesley was adamant about having frequent communion, four or five times a week: Wesley understood that it is Jesus’ command (‘Do this in remembrance of me’—Luke 22:19 KJV), so ‘it is the duty of every Christian to receive the Lord’s Supper as often as he [or she] can.’”
Dr. Kendal Soulen said to me that in communion, the meal itself, we are connected to the history of the people of God, whose life with God is often centered around meals - manna and the Passover meal.
I understand the urgency with which many are moving to online sacraments, I also understand (because I am in this camp) of why people, clergy and laity, are holding off and using this time as a period of fasting.
So what do you think? Are we ready for online communion? When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, will you continue the practice? What will be your theological argument for doing so and then not continuing the practice? Are we prepared for the unforeseen consequences or our decisions?
***UPDATE***
The Bishop of the Virginia Annual Conference, Rev. Sharma Lewis, has just announced guidance for clergy in my neck of the woods. You can more here.
Additional Resources
This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion
Comfort Food: Feast of Love Liturgy by Marcia McFee
A Liturgy for When We Cannot Meet by the Order of St. Luke