Communing in Covid

Like many other churches, we had our first virtual communion service this past Sunday, with the sacrament officiated by our Interim Moderator. I preached on John 15 - Jesus being the vine and His followers the branches.

It was strange because we’re so used to abiding and communing together in the same space at the same time. We’re used to all eating and drinking the same blessed elements. Our worship committee thought that if people took part at the same time that perhaps we would feel more linked together. And yet, despite the strangeness this wasn’t completely brand new. We used to have a VHS video ministry and the videos of services taken to nursing homes and facilitated by elders, including communion. This was just a way of celebrating the sacrament in these extraordinary times.

Sunday afternoon I communed in a different way by attending a Black Lives Matter protest where I live. It felt important to be there, to witness to racism and to stand in solidarity. Held in a park that took up a city block there were a couple of hundred people gathered in socially distanced clumps. Police circulated letting us know that a water truck, masks and hand sanitizer were available. 90% of the crowd was under 50, including many children with signs eager to be there.

One protester with a cardboard sign reading “Defund Police” came up to an auxiliary police officer berating her for not wearing her mask and reminding her that “you work for us - we pay for you, remember that, thank you”. That and an anti-protest individual who was yelled at by the crowd to go home before being whisked away by police to cheers were the only less than completely peaceful things I witnessed. There was a sense of solidarity, of being together while safely apart, and sharing a common desire for social justice.

I’m left considering the contrast of these two experiences - communing virtually with a church audience of primarily seniors and a public gathering in a park on a beautiful day seeking to live out the gospel (although most of the protesters probably wouldn’t see it that way). Of course I can’t know how many in that crowd were churchgoers, but I’m guessing that many weren’t. They just cared about human rights and gave up an afternoon to support others.

I’m reminded that the church should be at the intersecting points of society and social justice. We should be there with our banners and available to those who need us. Just one example is that it’s Pride month and, while this is a divisive issue in my denomination, there is growing participation by Christians in Pride events. This year these will be predominantly online, but nonetheless clergy and others are showing in creative ways their love of Jesus and neighbour through solidarity with the sexual and gender minority community.

Even in our time of cocooning from Covid-19 as the church (and for some the restrictions on public worship are soon coming to an end) we need to stop the temptation of shutting ourselves off from the issues that surround us in the name of keeping ourselves free from harm. We can still participate safely and get our hands dirty in the difficult realities that harm our neighbours and indirectly harm us. In so doing, we show our relevance and our care of those outside the people already in our pews. We may even draw in some of the 50 and under crowd who see us living out the gospel, just like the believers in Acts.

In this time of upheaval and change in society, when we are forced to consider how we will move forward in a world still impacted by climate change, deadly viruses, social injustice, corruption and obsession with the economy, the church should have things to say. The church should be listening carefully for the Word of God speaking into the opportunities presented right now. The church should be a trusted source of care and comfort and compassion. The church should be willing to risk itself for the sake of others. The church should be like Peter sharing Joel’s words about new visions and dreams brought by the Spirit.

Will we share these words, as Peter did, with the children of the faithful who are dis-connected, with those who are far off? Will we challenge them to seek something better, more stable, more life-giving?

May we recognize that God is calling all people to God’s self and our role in that as Christ’s body.