Holy Communion in Holy Week 2020

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Holy Week is quickly approaching, especially the services of Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. On Maundy Thursday, we celebrate Christ’s gift to us of Holy Communion, as seen in the Last Supper. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the firstborn to new life, whose new birth we share through baptism.

In these days in particular, we yearn to be gathered together with Christ. In the church, this has traditionally and historically taken place in Holy Communion. We come together as one body, and receive the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine consecrated by the pastor. We taste the bread, and hear “the body of Christ given for you,” and we taste the wine or juice, and hear “the blood of Christ shed for you.” In this, we receive an affirmation that our sins are forgiven, we experience being united in the body of Christ, and we are comforted for the days ahead.

In normal circumstances, the practice of the Lutheran Church is that we do not commune outside of the church body. Church visitors who bring Communion to shut-ins do so as representatives of the church, bringing the consecrated elements with them. They are acting as extensions of the church, on behalf of the church, for members of the church who cannot be there on Sunday. In normal circumstances, we do not hold Communion at home by ourselves on Sundays when we can’t get to church. Instead, we “fast” from Communion until someone can visit us bringing Communion from the congregation, or we find a way to get to church.

These are not normal circumstances. 

We are experiencing an absence from Communion that may last for months, not simply weeks, and we are experiencing a global trauma that is driving us to desperately seek Christ for strength for the present and the future.

We are also experiencing the workings of the Holy Spirit through the advances of technology. We are gathering in virtual community on Sunday mornings, and Morning and Night Prayer, and worshiping and praying together in very real ways. We are discovering that the Holy Spirit, who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth,” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Third Article) is doing this through the Holy Spirit. We are experiencing that God is not restricted by our physical isolation, but is using online tools to meet us where we are. We are learning that “where two or three are gathered,” Christ truly is present, even when the gathering is online.

For all these reasons, I have decided that there is strong theological support for us to celebrate Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. While it is historically unprecedented, our theology allows us to move forward. We believe that God is with us at all times (especially those who are suffering), we believe that Christ is not held back by any physical distancing (just as he appeared to the disciples behind locked doors after his resurrection), and we believe that the Holy Spirit moves where it wills and gathers the whole church together (through any means available). When we say that we are gathered with “the saints of every time and every place,” we believe that God makes it truly so, and that we are gathered with our ancestors in faith who have died years ago, with our unborn descendants who will one day worship as we do, and with all those now alive, across the globe, who are joined in the spirit, including online.

Therefore, our Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday services will include Holy Communion. I will preside over Communion at church, and each of you are invited to prepare your own table, with bread and wine or juice from your own pantry, at home. For more details, you can watch this video - https://youtu.be/iHdlGELCiKU. Because we will be gathered together in worship by Zoom, we will not be communing alone, but together, as one Body. Apart, but together.

Of course, if you would prefer to wait until we are physically gathered, please know that you are free to do that. For some people, there is no substitute for physical presence, and fasting from Communion for the next while increases their appreciation and gratitude for these gifts from Christ. You may worship with us, and refrain from communion at home, and still hear the words and find strength in them. You are more than blessed if you would prefer this option.

Online Communion is not the regular practice of the church, and will not be the new normal when this time of isolation has passed. We will continue to yearn to be together in the same physical space, and to hear the chorus of voices singing and praying together, to shake one another’s hands in peace, and to come before the rail side-by-side. That time will come, however long it might take, but until then, we trust in God working among us in new ways, and we receive God’s comfort where it is offered.

May the peace that passes all understanding be with you all,

Pastor Kayko

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The Rev Kayko Driedger Hesslein, PhD

Advent Lutheran Church, Calgary AB

Fifth Week of Lent, 2020