Thread by @RonRienstra

I've had a handful of folks ask me for advice via email/text how to handle communion in light of this whole COVID-19 crisis. As I persistently tell my students, I'm *not* the liturgy police. And I am certainly no medical expert, but I am on sabbatical...

...which means that I've had the time to learn a lot about epidemiology (*not* my research topic, btw) from smart people lately. (Happy to share sources if you're curious—just DM me).

So here's the thing: I'm convinced that the circumstances are dire. We have to act NOW.

Some folks say the church should keep doing what it's always done. One person I talked to this morning suggested that the clergy's call is to offer the Word of God —Preaching +Eucharist, indifferent to the context. I think this is profoundly gnostic. The church is not an ATM.

Friends have been asking specifically about communion protocols, but here's what I'm thinking/telling them more broadly (buckle up):

- If your church is larger than 100 people, stop having "whole congregation" gatherings right now. This week.

- Instead, encourage small group (<20) gatherings (i.e. house church) on Sunday mornings. Deploy your elders and whatever small group networks you have, and create what you need to make sure everyone has a place they can go.

- If you need to, remind folks that this is pretty much what the church WAS at its very beginning: small house churches. Returning to this model isn't abandonment of anything; it's a ressourcement. And it's temporary.

- Have the pastor/staff write a liturgy that literate people can follow and send it out on email. Heavy on prayer & scripture, light on sermonizing. This will be easier for more "liturgical" churches than others; but it's a good stretch for everyone (

- Some churches may be tempted in the direction of inviting everyone to just go online to a "live-streamed" sermon from a central location or something like that as a substitute for church, but I think the ecclesiology of that decision is problematic.

The church at worship is not primarily about a sermon, or offering some type of "religious goods and services." (Including musical ones). No, it's the gathering of the God's people to renew the covenant of grace with our triune God and rehearse the story of salvation. 8/16

BTW, this calculation works in the other direction too. Some folks (even on Twitter!) say the church should just keep doing what it's always done. A person I talked to this morning suggested that priests are called to offer the Eucharist, indifferent to the context.

A gathering of 15 is just as legit as a gathering of 500, albeit more poorly resourced. (A friend suggested a hybrid small-group + online gathering, which intrigues me, but I haven't thought it through yet.)

- So maybe have the pastor write and send out a homily or bible-study/discussion that an elder or someone else in the household will lead/read to the small congregation. 10/16

It could be a creative challenge - like a letter from Paul to the church in Corinth, but this time it's a letter from *your pastor's name here* to the church in *your household's neighborhood here.*

- Do communion if you usually do. (And if you don't, and don't know why, please contact me and let me try to persuade you that this should be the norm in every Christian congregation every week).

- In a small gathering, don't worry about common cup/loaf issues, just pass the Purell instead of the peace beforehand and afterwards.
- Let each household supply its own musicians. To those that *don't* have any, send any volunteers you can muster. 13/16

- Think of this as an opportunity for creativity and experimentation. I think of it as a preview of what the church of refugia will need to do.

(If that phrase/term is unfamiliar to you, let me invite you to consider this blogpost [blog.reformedjournal.com/2019/05/11/ref…], and this podcast [debrarienstra.com/refugia-podcas…]). Also, look forward to some upcoming books by Deb and me about it (#sabbatical).

- This may be a great way to get everyday church members to think about what they most love and appreciate about weekly worship and what they could do without -- what helps them meet God, helps them BE the body of Christ in their work-a-day ministries, and what doesn't.

I know that this is a massive challenge for congregations for whom "participation" in worship is not a primary value. But my sense is that "participation" in worship is pretty much the ballgame. If the congregation isn't actively participating, it's not worship.

So could this be a path to renewal for the whole church? A "forced" path to ownership?

Wow. The numeration of these tweets was spectacularly wrong. Sorry about that. I'd like to blame it on Twitter, but more likely I'm just a dope.

UPDATE: Don't use common cup. Dixie cups or something similar.