This blog post of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community is written by Director Deanna A. Thompson. She is the author of five books, including The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World (Abingdon, 2016), and in this post continues conversation with Christians across the globe about offering Holy Communion through online worship.

As Christians approach Holy Week and the season of Easter, and the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of receding, more and more congregations are prayerfully and thoughtfully choosing to offer Holy Communion in the context of online communal worship. To increase the likelihood that virtual communion is done well, congregational leaders are offering guidance for how parishioners might prepare their own communion tables at home. Prompted by my previous post on this issue, friend and Pastor Kayko Driedger Hesslein created a short video for her Canadian Lutheran congregation, walking her members through possible preparations for receiving the body and blood of Christ during Maundy Thursday and Easter services. Rev. Driedger Hesslein’s pastoral guidance increases my conviction that it’s possible to do this well.

My recent proposal on the theological possibility and permissibility of virtual communion has elicited many engaging responses. Lutherans who support offering communion as part of online worship are invoking Luther’s understanding of the priesthood of all believers to undergird the practice of members communing at home as part of worship.

In his 1520 treatise addressed to German Nobility, Luther offers an illustration of the power of the priesthood of all: if a group of Christians were in the wilderness without a priest they could appoint one of the group to conduct worship and administer the sacrament. While virtual worship today differs from Luther’s wilderness scenario—we have pastors leading our communal worship and offering the sacrament—Lutheran claims of the priesthood of all can empower us to commune in our living rooms while we’re virtually connected to the larger church at this time of physical separation.

Lutheran claims of the priesthood of all can empower us to commune in our living rooms while we’re virtually connected to the larger church at this time of physical separation.

Even as we can locate support for this practice in Lutheran theology, opting to include communion as part of online worship remains a controversial issue. Perhaps the most common critique of going ahead with this practice centers around the issue of internet access. Critics of my position raise the point that some in our communities do not have access to online worship; therefore, we should not offer a practice that not everyone can participate in. Leaders point to global partners in ministry in parts of the world where internet access is relatively scarce and express the need to stand in solidarity with those partners at this time.

The issue of access is no small matter. Indeed, the Apostle Paul’s vision of the body of Christ (cf. I Cor. 12.22) insists that Christians pay special attention to the weakest members of the body. Especially as access to computers and the internet often breaks down along class, race, age, and geographic lines, we are called to find ways to connect with our siblings in Christ who can’t be virtually connected at this time of pandemic.

Even as virtual connectedness provides an ever-expanding reach, we must not neglect those without internet access. The church needs to find ways to minister to all members of the body of Christ at this time of great need.

We should begin by finding out who in our congregations fall into this category. Last weekend I was part of a “phone tree” (remember them?) for my church. A group of us committed to getting in touch with as many of our members as possible to see what their needs might be at this time of quarantine, and we included a question about internet access. What I learned from these conversations was that in several cases more members of a household were participating in online worship together than typically attend in-person worship. I’m also learning of global partners who are considering Holy Communion in the context of online worship. A pastor from Indonesia wrote this week and asked if he could translate my post on virtual communion for the congregations in his region.

Even as virtual connectedness provides an ever-expanding reach, we must not neglect those without internet access. The church needs to find ways to minister to all members of the body of Christ at this time of great need.

One avenue of ministry for folks without internet access could be to do something similar to the guidance offered by the ELCA for providing the sacrament to those who are ill, confined to home, or imprisoned. Pastors or lay volunteers could contact members by phone and guide them in preparation for communion and just as we’re called to do with those who are ill, we could provide them with access to the sacrament when we’re prohibited from gathering together physically.

While this issue of internet access is a pressing one, it is also important to point out that access to worship and communion is always an issue for the church, regardless of whether we’re worshiping virtually or in person. Most of us likely know of churchgoers for whom transportation is a constant challenge. Some of our congregations provide rides to and from church for everyone who needs one; other congregations have folks who miss worship and the sacrament because they physically can’t get to church.

While this issue of internet access is a pressing one, it is also important to point out that access to worship and communion is always an issue for the church, regardless of whether we’re worshiping virtually or in person.

Even though the ELCA offers guidelines on how to provide the sacrament to those who are sick, many who are ill are rarely or never offered the sacrament when they miss worship. During the worst months of my illness, I wasn’t physically able to get to church and was never offered to have the sacrament brought to me at home. I imagine I’m not alone in that experience. Let’s also consider those who care for ailing parents, a spouse, a child or a friend and physically can’t get to church. I imagine that they, too, don’t always have access to worship or the sacrament.

And what about all those who long to be a part of worship but work during the times the church gathers for services? Medical staff in our local hospitals, gas station attendants, grocery store clerks, restaurants cooks, the list goes on. Maybe I’m out of the loop on this one, but I haven’t heard concerns about access to worship and the sacrament raised on behalf of all those whose work lives make it impossible to be physically present for worship. If the church is really serious about taking on issues of access, it needs to attend to issues far beyond internet access alone.

I hope that once we resume gathering physically for worship we don’t lose sight of how our digital tools make it possible to connect with those who face barriers to being physically gathered.

As increasing numbers of congregations pursue uncharted paths of offering Holy Communion as part of their online worship services, many also insist the practice will be rare, confined to extraordinary times like the one we’re experiencing now. I agree that the ideal way to celebrate the Eucharist is when we’re physically gathered together. At the same time, I hope that once we resume gathering physically for worship we don’t lose sight of how our digital tools make it possible to connect with those who face barriers to being physically gathered.

Thanks to all of you who are engaging in this lively debate about how we might faithfully, joyfully, and compassionately be the body of Christ in this trying time. As Lent gives way to Easter, may you experience the light and hope of Christ’s resurrection, and may it sustain us all until we can physically gather together again.

Dr. Thompson holds the Martin E. Marty Regents Chair in Religion and the Academy at St. Olaf, and speaks and writes widely on the virtual body of Christ, Martin Luther, and faith in the midst of illness. She is the author of several books, including The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World (Abingdon, 2016).