Introduction
With the current restrictions on meeting together due to coronavirus, we are having to adapt many aspects of our normal church practice. Thank you for all the encouragement that you have been offering our staff team, telling us how helpful the streamed services have been. It is a blessing to hear the impact coming from our hard work.
The present restrictions also impact how we can celebrate Holy Communion together given that we are scattered and not gathered and ministering using digital means. We have received some guidance from the diocese and I want to honour that direction. I have also been reading, praying, and thinking very deliberately about this matter myself. This letter is an attempt to outline an Anglican understanding of Holy Communion and how we intend to proceed this Easter Sunday and in subsequent weeks.
An Anglican Understanding of Holy Communion
As we celebrate communion together we are remembering what Christ has done for us in his death and resurrection and also feeding on Christ spiritually. This is summed up well in the invitation to communion in the prayer book:
Come let us take this holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in remembrance that he died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
That we feed spiritually, in our hearts, and by faith is made very clear in Article 28 of the Anglican 39 Articles:
The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.
So the key moment in communion is the moment of reception, that is, when the participant receives bread and wine, putting their faith in Jesus’ saving work, turning away from sin and turning to Christ to feed on him spiritually.
Furthermore, The Book of Common Prayer (1662) takes consideration of situations which are outside normal practice in the service of ’The Communion of the Sick’ (please excuse the gender-exclusive language):
But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, … or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood: the Curate shall instruct him that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the Cross for him, and shed his Blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks, therefore; he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul’s health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth.
So in Anglican understanding, all Holy Communion is spiritual Holy Communion and, in extreme circumstances, people can even feed on Christ while not eating anything.
Our plans for this Sunday
With the above in mind, we will be celebrating Holy Communion as part of our streaming service this coming Easter Sunday. The group of us streaming the service will take communion together and we invite people If you wish to consume bread and wine (or grape juice) of your own as we partake of communion to do so in your own homes. We will introduce this with the words:
Remember that Christ died for you,
and feed on him in your heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
Some people may not wish to consume bread and wine (or grape juice) at this moment in the service for a range of reasons. That is absolutely fine. The above exhortation to remember Christ’s death for you and to feed on him in your heart by faith still applies. Remember that you can feed on Christ without consuming the bread and wine. The important thing is that together we turn our hearts to Jesus, turn away from the things that lead us from him, and receive his spiritual nourishment for the days and weeks ahead.
Conclusion
My attempt in all this is to continue to love and pastor our church family in the midst of unprecedented changes. The approach outlined has been undertaken with prayer, with a desire to properly honour our denominational leaders, and a desire to nurture and encourage faith in us all. I am happy to discuss our approach with anyone who wants to explore this further and look forward to gathering together digitally this weekend as we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection!
Your servant in Christ
Tim Johnson
Senior Minister