1 Updated Covid-19 Safety Protocol and Guidelines March 9, 2021 From

Updated Covid-19 Safety Protocol and Guidelines March 9, 2021 From Bishop Paul-Gordon Chandler

Please find below updated safety protocol and guidelines. The Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming takes our safety seriously. Much has happened since the last Covid-19 protocol was issued in September 2020. Thankfully, there is a lot of encouragement on the horizon, related to both a significant drop in new cases as well as with increasing numbers of the population being vaccinated.

We will continue to follow the most updated CDC findings. These guidelines are changing weekly, so we will continue to update our guidelines as needed. Of course, counties also differ in their recommended protocol as well.

You will note that these new protocol and guidelines are considerably relaxed from what we previously were following. At the same time, we recognize that each church community is different, and we want to emphasize that each church should do what they feel most comfortable this time, and what they believe is most appropriate for their context. Due to fast-spreading Covid-19 variants that have been detected in Wyoming, we will continue mask-wearing and social distancing at this time.

Foundational Procedures

The updated Covid-19 protocol for our churches entails the following foundational procedures.

1) Face masks are still required in our churches at this time.

2) Social Distancing is still to be practiced (5 feet between persons) in worship.

Worship Services Gathering for in-person worship in our churches should follow the below guidelines: During this phase of continued social-distancing, this means that people that are not members of the same household or in the same “bubble” are to be positioned in the pews/seats 5 feet apart. Seating in the pews/seats can be staggered to allow for each pew/row to be used, but to continue to ensure no one is sitting directly in front of another.  Singing is now permitted with masks on. o Choirs should also observe the same social distancing guidelines.

 All congregants are requested to please continue to wear face masks throughout the entirety of the worship service, with the exception of consuming the Eucharistic bread/wine, when Holy Communion is celebrated, when back in their seats. 1

 Those leading a worship service may do so without a mask if they maintain a 10-foot distance from others in front of them.

 It is still advised that there be minimal physical contact between congregants - such as when the peace is being exchanged.

 For the time being it is recommended that the offering not be collected by passing offering bags/plates, but rather that secure offering collection boxes/plates are made available in order to receive in-present offerings. We also encourage people to make their pledges, tithes and offering contributions by means of electronic bank transfer to the church account.

 For the present phase, when the Eucharist is celebrated, we request that the common cup still not be used. The below options are suggested ways forward for Holy Communion:

1- Only the bread/wafer be offered (which is considered a “full communion”), OR 2- Bread/wafers that are pre-infused with wine be used (as some churches have been doing), OR 3- Small pre-purchased packets with wine and bread be used, which much of the Anglican Communion has already been using (see: https://bit.ly/2N4pWxa), OR

4- See attached addendum for other creative suggestions.

 Those preparing the altar for worship should do so while following safety guidelines, such as wearing masks and sanitizing their hands prior to preparing the altar.

 Those celebrating and those assisting during the celebration of Eucharist should wash their hands and use hand sanitizer immediately before the Eucharistic prayer. It is helpful if this is done in the sight of the people.

 The bread/wafer that the celebrant breaks (touches directly) during the celebration of the Eucharist, is to be consumed only by the celebrant and not made part of the distributed elements. The clergy may remove their masks while celebrating (i.e. Eucharistic Prayer) if they are the recommended distance away from others (i.e. 10 feet from front pew/row), and if the bread (or small cups of bread and wine) that they will be distributing to the people is covered with a cloth while they are consecrating.

 The clergy and Eucharistic ministers are to wear masks during the distribution of Holy Communion to the people.

 When the consecrated piece of bread, wafer, wine-infused wafer, or small cups of bread and wine are distributed, the clergy/Eucharistic ministers should be careful not to touch the hand. If touching accidentally occurs, it is recommended that the person sanitize their hands again.

 Congregants should return to their seats before lifting their masks to consume the bread (and wine, if small cups are used).

 The Presider should consume the consecrated priest host and wine after the congregants receive the sacrament and have returned to their seats.

 The Priest/Deacon/Eucharistic Minister should place any consecrated host on a credence table, to be removed and disposed of in an appropriate manner (not consumed), following the service.

 We encourage everyone to continue live-streaming their worship services, as this is likely a permanent extension of the outreach ministry of our churches.

 Vulnerable Persons that have not been vaccinated may wish to consider waiting to attend in-person worship until after they have been vaccinated.

Coffee Hours, Fellowship Gatherings and Educational Programs  In-person gatherings for fellowship (coffee/tea time, food, etc.) are permitted when masks are worn. However, if food is served, please ensure appropriate social distancing when the masks are down while eating and drinking.

 Kitchens and or serving areas should comply with current Wyoming Department of Health Guidelines for food service to maintain a safe serving environment.

 Church School programs and educational offerings can resume in-person when masks are worn with appropriate social distancing.

 We encourage everyone to continue to offer educational offerings virtually as well. Baptism  Baptism is allowed as long as the priest wears a mask. Anointing  Anointing with oil is now allowed. Children’s Ministry, Sunday School, Nurseries Nursery, Sunday School and/or children’s ministry operations can be open if proper protocols are maintained following the current Wyoming Department of Health guidelines for pre-schools. Note regarding Screening Screening is no longer required upon entering a church building. No needs to maintain log entries or take someone’s temperature anymore.

Please contact Jessica Reynolds at the diocesan office with any questions. email: [email protected]

NEW IDEAS FOR HOLY COMMUNION during this period of Covid-19

At the present time, when the common cup is still not being used when the Eucharist is being celebrated in our churches, we wanted to share with you some options as suggested ways forward: 1- Only the bread/wafer be offered (which is considered a “full communion”). 2- Bread/wafers that are pre-infused with wine be used (as some churches have been doing). 3- Small pre-purchased packets with wine and bread be used - which much of the Anglican Communion has already been using (see: https://bit.ly/2N4pWxa).

4- Two similar alternatives, albeit slightly different, are being tried in some of our churches. Below are two write-ups from Rev. Megan Nickles in Powell and Rev. Jim Shumard in Casper. - From Rev. Megan Nickles from St. John’s Church in Powell During a webinar on liturgical formation this fall, a fellow participant brought our attention to the action of receiving the bread at communion. When the Eucharistic Minister serves bread, they do not hold up a loaf on a plate and ask that you chew a chunk off. If such a practice did exist, it would be called the Common Loaf. We don’t do this for practical reasons (it’s messy, crumbs everywhere, and it isn’t healthy). Instead we use pre-portioned bread in the form of wafers, or we accept a portion the server has torn from a loaf. Yet we still believe: we are all one body, for we all share in the one bread. This may help with our challenge of releasing the common cup. If a server can communicate with an individual serving of bread and still hold the body together, they can also pour out the wine individually – it is the wine that holds us together as a Eucharistic community, not necessarily the cup itself. At St. John’s we are exploring preparing the table with a lovely, small pitcher instead of a chalice. The wine and water are consecrated in that vessel, along with our loaf of bread. As communicants approach the servers, they will pick up a small communion cup. They receive bread in their hand as usual, and the wine is poured out into the cup so we may both eat and drink in the full feast. Glass communion cups are sold by many church supply companies.

- From Rev. Jim Shmard at St. Mark’s Church in Casper – “Taste and See!” Below is St. Mark’s approach for administering Holy Communion in person and in both kinds until the Covid-19 crisis is over. 1. Clergy will administer the bread from the bottom of the steps to the altar in the center. 2. The people will come forward, receive the bread in their hands and as they head back to their seats, pick up a small empty wine glass off a nearby table (for those who cannot or will not come forward, clergy will be prepared to take the bread to them, and worship leaders or acolytes will follow the clergy to hand them empty wine glasses). 3. The priest will return to the steps and invite the people to hold up their bread as he or she says, “This is the Body of Jesus Christ. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on Him in your heart by faith and with thanksgiving.” 4. All lower their masks and consume the bread and then put their masks back on. 5. The people who have been seated, then move to the outer edges as Worship Leaders and Clergy bring four pitchers of wine, two down the center aisle and one down each outer aisle. 6. The people reach out their glasses and the worship leader/Clergy person also reaches out and pours wine in their glass. 7. The priest returns to the center aisle at the base of the steps and invites everyone to raise their glass and then says, “The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for you preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this as a remembrance that Christ’ Blood was shed for you and be thankful 8. Clergy, Worship leaders and people all drink from their cup. 9. Acolytes, ushers and/or worship leaders go down all the aisles collecting the glasses. 10. We proceed to recite together the General Thanksgiving and conclude the service

WHAT ABOUT ONLINE HOLY COMMUNION “Are we allowed to celebrate Holy Communion online for those who are watching via the live-streaming of our worship services?” This is a question that I have been asked numerous times since I have arrived. There has been much debate and discussion, as well as disagreement, about this topic throughout the Episcopal Church. Some, such as historian, public theologian and writer Diana Butler Bass and Aidan Luke Stoddart, associated with The Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard, strongly advocate for online Holy Communion (see attached documents by both of them). Even the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated the Eucharist via live- streaming, and on Easter Sunday no less. Others, such as Bishop Andy Doyle of the Diocese of Texas do not encourage use of the digital realm for the celebration of the Eucharist. In short, I can only speak from my personal experience. When I was in Qatar, early on during the pandemic, our church was faced with this question. After much prayer and discussion, it was decided that we would offer Holy Communion online, encouraging those participating (not “watching”) via live-streaming, to consume bread and wine among themselves at home. However, we provided some clear guidelines, to ensure that it was being done with reverence, and a sense of the sacred. We encouraged people to prepare well in advance. This entailed setting aside the vessels that would be used for the bread and wine in a set-apart place in their home. We also encouraged everyone, the day before, to bake a special Holy Communion bread for which we provided the recipe (see attached). There was a sense that the baking of this bread each week, the day before worship, became a sacred act in itself. In short, it was a profound experience for our church. We received a great number of people writing in sharing with us how meaningful and transformational it was for them to serve each other, as couples, families, friends, the bread and wine. I fully recognize that it will not necessarily be the right way forward for every church community. Therefore, in answer to the above question, I would just say that online Holy Communion celebrated in this thoughtful and reverential way is allowed if you feel is it something that is right for your respective church community. I am not encouraging or discouraging it, but I feel it is appropriate to allow each church community to decide for themselves what is best for their context. Note: Please see attached if you are interested in this subject. 1- A PDF that includes a blog article by Diana Butler Bass about “virtual communion,” and an interview conversation with Dr. Deanna A. Thompson of St. Olaf College titled “Virtual Communion and Body of Christ.” 2- A Recipe for Holy Communion Bread (that we used in Qatar). I also encourage those interested in this topic to read Diana Butler Bass’s article in Religion News Service: https://religionnews.com/2020/05/15/online-communion-should- be-celebrated-not-shunned-says-diana-butler-bass/

In this time of COVID-19 lockdowns and churches moving to virtual communion, Diana Butler Bass reflects on a conversation she had with Phyllis Tickle.

A decade or so ago, about five years before she passed away, Phyllis Tickle and I were talking about how technology would change the church. She was enthusiastic about the Internet, her imagination opened by the possibilities of virtual reality to form new sorts of community. She had recently joined a church in the online world of Second Life, and told me about her avatar (I had no idea what an avatar was!). I remember how excitedly she spoke about how “virtuality” would expand our sense of “reality,” and how that would, in turn, foster a new reformation in Christianity. This technology would be, she assured me, as radical as the invention of the printing press—and this emerging sense of space and time would be as revolutionary for faith as were the first widely available vernacular Bibles.

“It raises so many theological questions!” she exclaimed. “For instance, if an avatar priest consecrates elements online, is Christ really present? Is the liturgy valid?”

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“No one knows yet,” she said. “Because we haven’t thought about it. But pretty soon, we’re going to be arguing over these things. Maybe not about avatar church. But the first time a priest or bishop offers the Eucharist online, it will be like Luther nailing the 95 Theses on the door.”

Phyllis threw her head back, with the laugh for which she was justly famous—half joy, half a sort of gleeful anticipation of how the future was at hand.

I’ve rehearsed this conversation a hundred times in my mind over the last two months. Since the coronavirus lockdowns. Since real-life churches have moved online. The argument she anticipated has started in earnest: Can Christians celebrate the Eucharist—the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion — through technology? Is the sacrament valid if it happens virtually?

The answers to these questions are intertwined with the diverse theologies of polity and sacraments of different Christian traditions. Indeed, Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples, free churches, and many Methodists have no problem with online communion. Their beliefs about the priesthood of all believers and (generally) memorialist ideas of the Lord’s Supper have made possible online communion with few theological questions. But more liturgical churches—many Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, and Orthodox—have restricted or denied the possibility of online Eucharist. They say that “online community isn’t real community,” that “physical presence” of a congregation is necessary for the sacrament to be valid, that laity cannot be trusted with appropriate reverence of the elements, and that a priest (or duly ordained minister) must consecrate the elements in person. Indeed, some leaders in these churches have forbidden all virtual communion, warning against any form of lay presidency or consecration, instituting forced Eucharistic fasts, substituting “spiritual communion” for partaking bread and wine, or insisting that priests can celebrate the mass privately for the whole of the church.

Oddly enough, much of the argument against online communion has taken place online. Self-identified “traditionalists” have ridiculed and attacked those who see this moment as a time when churches might experiment with liturgies, including offering bread and wine virtually. On Twitter, I posted about my conversation with Phyllis Tickle, suggesting that online liturgy was not, in effect, very different than the sorts of liturgical innovations of the Reformation, and that this moment of virtual church was a perfect time to imagine church anew—to open ourselves a future where technology reshapes Christian practice as much as it was reshaped 500 years ago.

I’ve worried that in withholding communion, the church has been, in effect, hoarding the bread and wine, restraining the healing beauty of Eucharist when hungry people most need to feast. A forced fast is no fast—it is an expression of institutional power over and against God’s people in a time of emergency. And I can’t help but think the lack of theological imagination at this moment will give people already wary of church another reason to consign Christianity to historical irrelevance. The pandemic, however, has been a sort of Pandora’s box for churches and technology, letting loose the theological questions Phyllis Tickle once predicted with the fierce urgency of suffering and death. The lid is open and can’t be shut. Sadly, some denominations seem incapable of seeing this as gift and possibility, preferring instead to give into controlling impulses and fear.

Despite overall institutional reluctance to engage these questions, some clergy have been hoping their denominations would provide for online Eucharistic celebration—and have been worried and even cowed by pressure coming from those who insist that God cannot use “virtuality” as a vehicle for the sacraments. While online argument might be expected, a chilling episode moved from social media to an “in real life” space. After Easter, a bishop in the Episcopal Church gave permission for his diocese to celebrate virtual Eucharist in an attempt to meet pastoral needs and address some of these issues. He appears to have been pressed by the denomination—the same denomination of which Phyllis Tickle had been a member—to rescind the option he had given to congregations in his care.

Over the last weeks, I've been agitating for better, more creative theological thinking about the Eucharist, virtual community, and new forms of liturgical celebration—all of this in line with two decades of my own research and writing. The questions that were once speculative have arrived, and religious groups are going to have to face them with courage and creativity. The pandemic has forced the issue: God’s presence is uncontained by time and space. We are in need of the healing beauty of bread and wine, to sit at the table that exists at the hinge of time, the first feast of the Age-That-is-to- Come. All of this already exists in virtual time—the virtual reality that is the cosmic presence of God. The last thing we need right now—in a time of food shortages, lockdown, isolation, and separation—is the church shutting the people out of the banquet, unable to recognize that we live in the virtual reign of Christ. Virtuality isn’t just technology; it is theology.

A clerical-friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) shares my concerns for the bread and wine to be freed into the world, however that happens in this time of crisis. On a day after a particularly strained Twitter argument, my friend wrote this poem and sent it to me. The words capture the sense of urgency and power of Eucharist far better than my halting prose. Sometimes when the church can’t hear even the most loving critique, my hope is that it can still hear poetry.

* * * *

An Order for Communing in a Pandemic by Anonymous

She took a loaf of bread, broke it and gave it, half to the hungry, the poor, the millions whose gap-toothed pantries are emptying, dwindling sand racing through the widening neck of an hourglass and she felt the weight of a sacrament pressing into her soul as the body and blood of Christ spilled out of doors, into streets, into homes, flowing as freely, as slick and messy, as uncontrolled, as it did from his own tortured body, as if God really could be present everywhere and in everything.

Church Anew has closely followed the conversation around sharing communion through digital media. Following this blog post, Diana Butler Bass was interviewed by Religious News Service for their article, “Online Communion should be celebrated, not shunned, says Diana Butler Bass.”

Church Anew’s first blog post on virtual communion featured an interview with Deanna A. Thompson, Director of the St. Olaf Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community. St. Olaf published Deanna’s first and second blog posts engaging conversation with Christians across the globe around about Holy Communion during online worship.

Both Diana Butler Bass and Deanna A. Thompson participated in a May, 19, 2020 video conversation, “Being the Church in This Time of Pandemic,” which also features Joshua Case, an Episcopal priest in North Carolina, and Kelvin Holdsworth, an Episcopal Provost and Rector from Glasgow, Scotland. This is posted on Church Anew with express permission from the authors.

Virtual Communion and Body of Christ: A Conversation with Dr. Deanna A. Thompson

Dr. Deanna A. Thompson, author of The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World and Director of The Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community at St. Olaf College, wrote her first post on the issue of whether or not to offer Holy Communion in the context of online worship on March 26, 2020. Viewed over 8,500 times in less than a week, Deanna’s second post responded to comments from a variety of perspectives as we continue to discern what it means to be the virtual body of Christ in a pandemic. This week Deanna talked to Pastor David Lillejord, Church Anew Executive Board Member, in her first personal interview about this topic.

Pastor Lillejord: How did the issue of communion during online worship become an important one for you? Dr. Thompson: I used to be really skeptical about digital technology. I didn't own a cell phone and I was really proud of that fact. And my kids didn't own cell phones. I didn't participate in social media and felt really self-righteous about that too, because I really did not see being virtually connected as offering anything value added. And then eleven years ago, I got diagnosed with stage IV cancer, which kind of came out of the blue. And as my world became really small, I went from being very involved in my work, and my kids’ schools and in our church, and that whole world kind of went away. I had to resign from my full and wonderful life. What I started to realize is one of the few ways I could be connected to other people was through digital technology. That experience really transformed my understanding about how we can use digital technology to help us better live into the call of being the body of Christ for one another.

But the issue of having communion as part of virtual or online worship was an issue that once I started writing and speaking about the virtual body of Christ, everyone wanted me to weigh in on. I didn't quite get around to it. I knew it would be controversial and it didn't seem so pressing. When we had all these in-person options of communion, why share the sacrament virtually? But then with the pandemic, it suddenly became much more pressing. And while church leaders were encouraging people to fast or refrain from the practice, I started noticing how more and more congregations were actually venturing into this area. And I didn’t see anyone weighing in on what it means to do this theologically. I thought it would be important to try and think through some of the issues given this was a situation facing many congregations right now.

Pastor Lillejord: And how is your health now?

Dr. Thompson: I am in my third remission, and I'm doing about as well as humanly possible with incurable cancer. It could change at any point, but so far it’s been in remission for about six years. So it feels good. Thanks for asking.

Pastor Lillejord: So why do you think communion in virtual worship is such a controversial issue?

Dr. Thompson: I think the challenge for people is that many see virtual connectedness or being connected via digital technology as diametrically opposed to being related to each other in person. A lot of people don't want to use the term virtual, you know, it means “almost” or “barely,” so it doesn't really enhance the sense that this is meaningful or real. A lot of people see virtual interaction, virtual worship as disembodied because it's mediated through a screen. I think there's a sense that worshiping online, taking communion in the context of virtual worship doesn’t involve the body. A really important challenge though, and this comes from my kind of conversion experience of being quarantined by cancer, is that there's not an either/or when we're involved in virtual worship. Actually our bodies are involved. I have a friend who told me that she found herself on her knees in her living room in the middle of her church’s worship service. She was moved to get down on her knees and pray, which she doesn't do when she's there in person. One person said he cries through every hymn that we sing virtually. In other words, people are experiencing worship in embodied ways. It's not an either/or.

I think sometimes, too, we romanticize in-person interactions. I think all of us have been with people who are physically sitting next to us but are not really present with us. Right? Their minds are somewhere else. They could just be emotionally distant, preoccupied. And one of the things that happened when I was really sick was that virtual interaction became one of the main ways I communicated with others. And in some ways, virtual communication often allowed a kind of intimacy that wasn't there in in-person interactions.

I think part of what we need to say is not all in-person interactions are inherently good and positive and not all virtual interactions are inherently subpar. All of our communication is mediated in some way. Our ways of being in touch and interacting with each other are complex and don't fit neatly into these virtual versus embodied realities. So what I'm trying to do is help people nuance their understanding of the relationship between virtual and embodied interactions and not see them as diametrically opposed.

Pastor Lillejord: So it's not just a theological thing? In fact, many of the things you listed were kind of cultural about what you learned when you had cancer and had to communicate in quarantine virtually, and now many more of us are getting to learn them for the first time through the pandemic.

Dr. Thompson: I think you're right and I wouldn't have believed it had I not had cancer. I would not have guessed that sometimes virtual interaction could be superior to in-person interaction. So I do feel like having had this experience before, or really having to depend on virtual interaction as my one of my primary ways of being in touch, helped me realize the virtual Body of Christ is alive and well and offers healing and care and compassion and support. It's helped me blow up that sense that one is inherently superior to the other.

Pastor Lillejord: What are some cautions for churches who are offering or considering communion, the online version?

Dr. Thompson: There's been a lot of cautioning against it. I think some of the things they're saying make a lot of sense. It is important to reassure people that if they don't get to partake in communion their faith is not at risk. The practice of weekly communion has become more and more popular in the Lutheran Church, so it's assumed that communion is pretty central to being a worshipping Christian. And so I do think there is likely a sense from a number of people who worry about what they are missing out on. To emphasize that the Word comes to us through the reading of scripture, that it comes to us in absolution, that it comes to us through preaching, that it comes to us through the blessing is all really important. The Word of God comes to us and we're not being denied that Word if we don't have access to communion.

One of the biggest issues that has been lifted up is the issue of access. I think that's a really important issue. And the issue of who has access to the internet is a big one. We've got economic disparities that are really significant. I know some of our partner synods globally are really challenged right now by not being able to physically gather and not having the option of gathering virtually. I think that we want to take that seriously.

I think there are ways for us as congregations to find out who in our congregation does not have access and consider how might we offer them access to the sacraments. I think there are ways to get creative about that.

At the same time, I do think that this issue of access is way bigger than internet access. There are a lot of people who can't get to worship when it's in person. Many churches have provisions for bringing people the sacrament when they can’t get to church. But these visits don’t always happen. I was never brought the sacrament when I was sick, I imagine I'm not alone. I think that many people who are really sick, many people who care for people who are sick, many people who work during the times when worship is offered regularly miss out on worship and the sacrament. I think we actually have quite a significant access issue regarding in-person worship, maybe even bigger than the access issue of the internet.

One of the things I’m concerned about is when churches start having in-person worship again is that the most vulnerable among us are not going to be there, right? They're not going to risk that. And so when you've got, I don't know, 30% of your congregation 20% of your congregation coming to in person worship. What is the church going to do?

Pastor Lillejord: This issue of access is going to be with us for a while. I think it always has been with us, or maybe we are paying more attention to it now. It's going be an issue going forward for quite some time. Turning to another issue, what are we learning about the office of the pastor during the pandemic?

Dr. Thompson: One of the things that I started to notice about the way the body of Christ operates virtually beyond the confines of the local church is how many people share in the role of ministry. That's something that I’ve always known, but when I got sick, I saw a new level of shared ministry. Lutherans talk about the priesthood of all believers, the way in which all of us are called to be ministers. I really saw that happening when I was sick, and I see it happening now. All the people who are part of congregations who are really tech savvy, who’ve jumped in to make online worship happen and run smoothly; those who offer musical offering for worship, taping things in their houses, mixing different voices and instruments together. We’re sharing the ministry of contacting people in the congregation to check in on how they are doing. For a lot of churches, of course, shared ministry is not new. But I feel like I'm seeing a shared sense of ministry in a way that, to me is much more visible than when we're not in a pandemic. And I think it’s increased visibility helps us live into that vision that all of us are part of the body of Christ, and every part of the body has a function, and they're all important. So it's really pushing us to live into that polity that we have in the Lutheran Church and in many Protestant communities.

Pastor Lillejord: How will virtual communion affect our understanding of church and worship going forward?

Dr. Thompson: One of the things that I've heard people talk about is the concern that if you open the floodgates and do communion at home, people aren't going to see the need for the church anymore. People will think that they don't need to come to church because they can do worship and communion at home in their pajamas. When I talk to pastors, I'm hearing that attendance for online worship is two or three times larger compared to in-person attendance from this time last year.

We had our first virtual coffee hour after church and there were over 100 people. We don't usually get 100 people for a coffee hour for our in-person gatherings. So what does this tell us? What are we learning about what people need and what nourishes their faith? As we move someday out of this pandemic I hope we don’t go back to exactly how things were before but we learn from the ways that the church is now meeting people's needs virtually. A lot of churches have had to pivot and it's been hard and they're longing for the day this experiment is over. And I can relate to that. At the same time, I really hope that we're paying attention to what we're learning.

Pastor Lillejord: What has the overall reaction been to you and your thoughts on the issue of virtual communion? Dr. Thompson: I've received a lot of really positive feedback. I heard from someone in Indonesia who wanted to translate my writing about it into local languages so that worshipping Christians there could learn how I was thinking about this. I've had a lot of people get in touch with me and be really supportive. There are a number of folks who are religion scholars and theologians who really disagree with the approach I'm taking. And some of the disagreement has to do with the conviction that on-line communion is a disembodied kind of experience. That real presence can't happen because it's virtual. That it's not truly the gathering of the body of Christ because it’s being mediated by digital technology.

And so there definitely are theological objections but also then there's been by some friends and colleagues, objections to me weighing in on this because the Presiding Bishop encouraged fasting from the sacrament. For some people it's been unfortunate that I would publicly want to disagree with that.

The thing that really pushed me into the conversation was actually hearing from a Lutheran Bishop who said, despite what the Presiding Bishop has said, half the congregations in his synod were going ahead with online communion. And at that point, I consider myself a theologian of the church, and this is a topic that I've thought a lot about, and it seemed to me that someone should lay out the theological rationale for virtual communion and how to do it well.

I find that most people who aren't professional theologians don't really have a problem with it. I've had a number of people ask me why others would oppose it. They see us worshiping online and do not understand why people would support worship but not communion being offered at this time of great anxiety and challenge.

Pastor Lillejord: Well, I want to personally thank you for addressing it. Thank you for the wisdom, but also for your personal story. I think the church always has to engage in these discussions and not always agree with one another. This includes discussions about worshipping in person and/or online—before, during, and after this pandemic.

Dr. Thompson: Yes, and this is where many of us have been thinking in an either/or kind of way. Either church is fully in person and that's the way it's meant to be or it's virtual, and we’re being co-opted by market forces and settling for a poor substitute of the real thing. The experience of being terribly ill made me realize that digital technology is a tool that we can use well to help us better be the body of Christ. Or we can ignore it or use it poorly. And I think that we should have some robust discussions about that rather than just assume it's a poor substitute for the real thing. So, yeah, I'm hoping that we're being kind of forced into a conversation that could have been going on for the last 10-15 years.

I hope we will continue the conversation about what it looks like to be the virtual body of Christ faithfully in a time of pandemic. And this is where I think Luther at his best was thinking about caring for and meeting the needs of those who are suffering around him. He writes about the deadly plague because he cares about people who are dying and he wants church leaders and government leaders to respond to that. This is where the image of the body of Christ from First Corinthians comes in. The members of the body who are suffering deserve the most attention. So for me the call of the gospel is to help others know that when you're suffering you're not alone, God is with you and that being the body of Christ together is to be with people in that suffering and hopefully to alleviate some of it. And it seems to me that allowing people to participate in something like communion can bring great comfort and sustenance for their faith right now. Church Anew continues to follow the conversation around sharing communion through digital media.

We were honored to have Diana Butler Bass write about this topic in a separate Church Anew blog post, “On Hoarding Eucharist in a Hungry World.”

Following her Church Anew post, Diana Butler Bass was interviewed by Religious News Service for their article, “Online Communion should be celebrated, not shunned, says Diana Butler Bass.”

Holy Communion Bread Recipe

4 cups whole-wheat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt Honeyed water: 1/4 cup oil (any kind for cooking) 1/4 cup honey 1/2 cup milk 3/4 cup warm water

Mix the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Pour in the honeyed water and then stir.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently and thoroughly so the baking powder is all mixed in. Then divide the dough into 3 parts – or whatever configuration you choose. Roll out the dough to desired thickness (1/2 inch works well).

Before putting in the oven, cut a cross into the surface of the dough using a serrated knife. You may use the flat side of a knife to smooth the outer edge of the loaf by patting it down. Place breads on a lightly greased pan and put into a 400-deg F oven for 15-20 minutes. (I usually make 3 small rounds about 5 inches wide [cooking 15 minutes] and formed by cutting around a small upside down bowl to make it an exact circle. The rest I shape into a ball and then roll it out into a large round loaf and cook it for 30 minutes to serve as a simple meal of soup, bread and cheese.)

Let the bread cool for about an hour. Then wrap individual pieces in plastic wrap and place in a ziploc bag if not eating the same day. Freeze extra loaves if desired.