What most unites us as churches at present is abstinence from gathering for worship: services are forbidden in many places. The celebration of Holy Communion is suspended. The Corona pandemic forces us to behave in a way that fundamentally contradicts us as churches. We are no longer allowed to invite people to worship but must close the doors to the people. We are no longer allowed to gather together but must keep our distance from each other.
In such a situation, the question arises how we can pass on the Gospel, which we perhaps especially need right now, and especially how we can celebrate the communion in the Body of Christ given to us in the Lord’s Supper when we are denied any form of physical communion.
Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange has formulated some thoughts on this in a blog. We find them so important and stimulating that we would like to link to them here. After all, could it not really be, as Dirk Lange put it, that we are invited in this time of pandemic “into the spiritual discipline of trust, waiting, vigilance, hope, and a deep desire to be united in community”?
The blog can be found at https://www.lutheranworld.org/blog/digital-worship-and-sacramental-life-time-pandemic.