It is instructive that the core practices of Christian faith cannot be converted to virtuality.
A human cannot be baptized virtually, and the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper) is predicated on an assembly of the body of Christ.
A human cannot be baptized virtually, and the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper) is predicated on an assembly of the body of Christ.
Even what the New Testament describes as preaching, teaching, fellowship, the reading of Scripture, and prayer are not meant to be done in isolation from the personal presence of the community of disciples.
When we happen to be or have to be alone or at home, Christians trust that we do not pray without the communion of saints, nor do we read Scripture apart from the trans-historical community that gives us the scriptures and teaches us how to consume them in communion.
Listening to a sermon outside of a gathered community that practices faith together is a different exercise and experience than hearing the Word in communion.
It is part of the genius of these practices that they resist individuality, and virtuality, and are in the long discipline of following Christ less effective, less integrated into our habits and lives, when done at a distance from physical interaction with others.
Even monastics have communities of monastics.
This is not an argument against physical distancing during the present crisis, and not an argument to return to gathering for the Eucharist before it is safe for public health, but it is, as I have written elsewhere...
This is not an argument against physical distancing during the present crisis, and not an argument to return to gathering for the Eucharist before it is safe for public health, but it is, as I have written elsewhere...
...a reminder that Christian trust and practice is social and communal, about being present to one another around a table, about our communion in prayer with the dead in Christ (who are not dead), a communion that also resists private and isolated readings of the Bible.
