When the pandemic began in March of 2020, we all had to learn how to adapt and gain new skills in order to maintain a degree of normalcy in our lives, including how we worshiped. Churches across the world moved to limited or virtual worship, including the church that St. Olaf alum Lawrence Aggerbeck ‘67 and his wife Martine attend in Paris. Lawrence connected with the St. Olaf IT Department, St. Olaf Pastor Matt Marohl, and Deanna Thompson, director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values and Community about streaming services and virtual communion. Working with Deanna and Interfaith Fellow Keerthana Babu ‘23, Lawrence and Martine translated Deanna’s article “Christ is Really Present, Even in Holy Communion via Online Worship” into French for publication in a French theological journal. Keerthana recently interviewed Lawrence and Martine about their experience and wrote up their story for the blog.

I recently spoke with St. Olaf alum Lawrence Aggerbeck ‘67 and his wife Martine Aggerbeck about their effort to raise awareness of the practice of virtual communion within their French Lutheran church congregation. Due to the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020 and the ensuing lockdown in France, Lawrence and Martine’s church congregation was not able to meet in person for several months. When the lockdown ended, their church congregation was faced with strict attendance limitations which barred half of the members from attending in-person services. 

Lawrence and Martine told me about the new challenges their church faced during the social gathering restrictions and the switch to Zoom services. Inspired by Boe Chapel’s streamed services, Lawrence reached out to the St. Olaf IT department to inquire about the new technology and learn how to replicate it at his own church. Though faced with a much more limited budget, Lawrence and fellow church members were able to figure out how to livestream church services and place a projection screen at the back of the pews to ensure that virtual attendees were included in the service as those who physically attended. 

Lawrence and Martine told me about the new challenges their church faced during the social gathering restrictions and the switch to Zoom services… Lawrence and fellow church members were able to figure out how to livestream church services and place a projection screen at the back of the pews to ensure that virtual attendees were included in the service as those who physically attended. 

Congregants had to socially distance, wear masks, and were no longer able to participate in congregational singing, nor were they allowed to drink communion wine out of a common cup. Lawrence and Martine tried to push for individual communion cups as they had seen Boe Chapel offer but were met with resistance. Initially their church decided to offer only communion wafers instead of wine but ultimately also adopted the use of individual communion cups. However, only physical attendees were able to receive communion and virtual attendees had to miss out on receiving communion due to theological concerns about the legitimacy of virtual communion. 

At that time, most Lutheran churches in the Paris region did not offer virtual communion. When Lawrence and Martine discovered that several American Lutheran churches were offering virtual communion, they began to do more research on the topic of virtual communion in the hope of providing credible arguments which would convince their church leadership to change their minds. Lawrence had been following conversations in the United States about the topic of virtual communion and had been reading the writings of Lutheran Center Director Deanna Thompson, such as her influential book The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World.

In September 2020, when Lawrence saw how Boe Chapel had begun to offer virtual communion, he wrote to St. Olaf College Pastor Matthew Marohl, asking him to explain how he justified offering communion to people who were not physically present at services. Pastor Matt argued that though there may be theological reasons to not offer virtual communion, there are more reasons from the pastoral side for offering it. He explained that having online communion available is important for meeting St. Olaf students’ needs. Lawrence agreed with Pastor Matt, explaining to me that “theological dogma should complement or help to meet the needs of people.” If to share Christ’s love during a time of pandemic is to offer virtual communion, then doing so would be in accordance with the bold, progressive spirit of Lutheranism. 

If to share Christ’s love during a time of pandemic is to offer virtual communion, then doing so would be in accordance with the bold, progressive spirit of Lutheranism. 

In their research, Lawrence and Martine also came across the article “Christ is Really Present, Even in Holy Communion via Online Worship” written by Lutheran Center director Deanna A. Thompson. Lawrence and Martine asked Deanna if they could translate her article into French and publish it in a French theological journal in order to gain wider support for virtual communion within the French Lutheran community. I joined the effort a few months ago when Deanna asked me to help review the French translation of her article, giving me an opportunity to combine my fluency in French with my academic background as a religion major.  

The Paris region Lutheran bishop is strongly opposed to online communion due to the belief that communion must only be given in community. Lawrence believes that communion is possible virtually as God is active everywhere. While Lawrence and Martine know of one French Lutheran pastor in Paris who has offered virtual communion to her church, they want to enact changes within their own church and, ultimately, in their synod. So they are working to raise awareness of and support for virtual communion in France. Lawrence and Martine hope that publishing a French translation of Deanna Thompson’s article will not only convince their own church to consider virtual communion, but also lead to a larger conversation about virtual communion in the French Lutheran Church. 

Lawrence and Martine hope that publishing a French translation of Deanna Thompson’s article will not only convince their own church to consider virtual communion, but also lead to a larger conversation about virtual communion in the French Lutheran Church. 

Lawrence explained that the world is “undergoing the fourth revolution in communication” and that “the Church has not adapted well to the internet revolution because it does not understand the potential usefulness of communication via the internet.” Today the Church has the opportunity to minister to more people than ever before possible thanks to the innovation in social media and communication technology. According to Lawrence and Martine, one way the church can shine brightly through this technology is to offer communion virtually, especially in a time of pandemic that brings feelings of social and spiritual isolation to many church communities when they have not been able to gather in person. 

[O]ne way the church can shine brightly through this technology is to offer communion virtually, especially in a time of pandemic that brings feelings of social and spiritual isolation to many church communities when they have not been able to gather in person. 

Through this rewarding experience of working on the French translation of the article and interviewing Lawrence and Martine, I not only was able to develop my linguistic skills and broaden my theological knowledge, but I also was able to witness first-hand the lifelong interconnectedness of the St. Olaf community, discover a real-world application of my religion major, and learn about the continued importance of theology to our modern world. 

Keerthana is a senior Greek and Religion major. Some of her interests include comparative theology, French culture, hard rock/heavy metal music, and painting. Keerthana is the President of the student organization “Langues de Feu: A French Bible Study” and also serves as the VP of Spiritual Life & Growth on the Student Congregation Council.