Moving Communion Online: What would Calvin say?
Item
Title
Moving Communion Online: What would Calvin say?
Description
Months before the COVID-19 virus spread, forcing us to move our worship services online, our congregation made the decision to schedule communion for March 29th, the week before Palm Sunday. As we planned worship for that week, we struggled with whether / how to celebrate communion online. There were practical questions as well as theological questions to address.
Our Constitution (Part II. Book of Order) is clear that communion is to be celebrated in the gathered congregation, or at least immediately following worship as part of a pastoral call to members who cannot be present in the worship service itself. As Christians in the Reformed Tradition, we ultimate found that our theology of the sacrament of communion (informed by our theological forebear, the 16th century reformer John Calvin) and what we understand to happen in communion, made it feasible for us to proceed to celebrate communion online.
The experience was remarkable. We found that the spiritual connection to the Communion of Saints (as Calvin described those of every time and place who call on Christ's name) was palpable, and a gift for us all, especially at a time when we were not permitted to connect with Christ and one another in the same physical space.
Our Constitution (Part II. Book of Order) is clear that communion is to be celebrated in the gathered congregation, or at least immediately following worship as part of a pastoral call to members who cannot be present in the worship service itself. As Christians in the Reformed Tradition, we ultimate found that our theology of the sacrament of communion (informed by our theological forebear, the 16th century reformer John Calvin) and what we understand to happen in communion, made it feasible for us to proceed to celebrate communion online.
The experience was remarkable. We found that the spiritual connection to the Communion of Saints (as Calvin described those of every time and place who call on Christ's name) was palpable, and a gift for us all, especially at a time when we were not permitted to connect with Christ and one another in the same physical space.
Date Created
March 29, 2020
Community
Silver Spring Presbyterian Church
Denomination
Presbyterian - PC(USA)
State
Pennsylvania
Place
Mechanicsburg
Source
Creator
Silver Spring Presbyterian Church
Subject
Presbyterian - PC(USA)
Music
Online Worship
Religious Holidays
Celebration
Community
COVID
This item was submitted on April 28, 2020 by Rev. Don Wahlig using the form “Tell us about your religious community's response” on the site “Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive”: https://pandemicreligion.org/s/contributions
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