I grew up in a church that observed the Lord’s Supper once every three months. If the timing works out, I suppose it’s conceivable that a church taking communion quarterly might not have to decide how or whether to observe it in quarantine as a congregation—provided the group restrictions don’t last longer than three months.
The church I pastor observes the Lord’s Supper monthly, so we do have to address this question, as do the many Baptist churches who observe the Table weekly.
Any discussion of how to handle the Lord’s Supper in a time of quarantine is bound to evoke feelings. Feelings are involved in the Lord’s Supper, and rightly so! Jesus’ suffering on our behalf, the bonds we share in faith under His blood, and the joy of our eventual union with Him in glory—those truths, those realities cannot be pondered without deep feeling. And to deepen those emotions of love, acceptance, unity, and peace with a gracious God as a church family, the Lord gave us a commemorative meal to enjoy together.
But that’s the key word isn’t it? Together.
Pastors and churches are having to figure out how to do “together,” what being “together” means and doesn’t mean, and what “together” can and cannot look like under the Coronavirus quarantine. But as pastors, though feelings and emotions are rightly involved in and invoked by the Lord’s Supper, our aim must always be to point the Lord’s people to His word for guidance in understanding this and other facets of being and doing church. So, before I go on, I want to be careful to say that if a church’s leaders have settled on an approach to the Lord’s Supper during the COVID-19 quarantine that differs from mine, there’s room for grace and humility on this question amongst brothers united in gospel mission. The goal should be intra-church unanimity amongst a congregation’s leaders not necessarily inter-church uniformity amongst all congregations in a network like Cleveland Hope. Thus, what I offer here is not a directive but rather my perspective for pastors and churches who perhaps have not yet worked through this question.
That being said, my position is that it would be wise and helpful for pastors or leadership teams to wait until their congregations are able to gather again as a whole body in the same room to observe the Lord's Supper. Here's why this is my position:
1) Bible Precedent. The fact that every instance of the Lord's Supper referenced in the NT was in the context of a gathered, diverse body of believers should not be set aside just because we have the capability of seeing and hearing one another digitally. The physical, tactile nature of the bread and juice representing Jesus' broken body and shed blood being shared by believers around a common table is crucial to symbolizing the centrality of Jesus and the intimacy and unity we're to have as His followers.
In Exodus the Passover was celebrated in homes; but rather than a case for fathers conducting the Lord's supper with their families under quarantine, I see this as a picture pointing toward local churches assembling in the New Testament to acknowledge together God's ‘passing over’ our collective sin by the blood of the Lamb of God. "It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it" (Exod. 12:46-7). There were many houses among Israel, but within each “one house” multiple layers of families & kinfolk (even circumcised servants, etc.) gathered to eat one and only one lamb. This was being done throughout the Israelite community.
Then there’s that amazing description of Pentecost and the early believers “devoting themselves to…the breaking of bread…” and “…day by day … breaking bread in their homes…” (Acts 2:42, 46). Whether one, both, or neither of those refers to the Lord’s Supper is hard to tell. They ate together and fellowshiped; they cared and shared; they preached and prayed; they rejoiced. It seems likely “breaking bread” in that context would’ve in some way been tied to Jesus’ upper room example and command given just a few weeks earlier. But is it to be normative for us today in our present quarantined predicament? I think not. The early Jerusalem church met in houses, but these were big, multi-family, multi-cultural gatherings happening daily, overseen by apostle-elders. Those scattered gatherings around Jerusalem also look like scattered local gatherings of believers around the world today known as local churches. We can’t gather that way right now. Besides, while that may have been normal for those explosive growth days after Pentecost, even within the New Testament era things calmed down and settled into more ordinary patterns of church fellowship and worship. Sunday meetings became typical. For example, Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5) to use part of a typical Sunday gathering to excommunicate an immoral brother. Later (ch. 11) he chides them for sullying the gathering (specifically the Lord’s Supper) by self-indulgent and demeaning behavior: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” The context suggests that “without discerning the body” isn’t a reference to Jesus’ literal body but disregard for His representative body in the diverse assembly of believers (rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, etc.) demonstrated in some members impatiently taking the Lord’s Supper before all members were present.
2) The Value of Gathering. We can’t rightly “discern” the body of Christ represented in the bread and cup without being in the actual company of the other redeemed members of His body with whom we are covenanted. No relationship of any importance can ever be fully satisfied remotely. Our relationship with God is founded on the promise of one day being physically, literally, bodily in the presence of our King, Jesus. Without that hope, we would all look for something else to satisfy that deepest longing. The world offers all sorts of alternatives: porn, sporting events, concerts, 'hooking up,' etc. We are social creatures who deeply want to be physically present with other people--God made us that way. The digital world just can't replace in-person contact with other believers with whom we share the hope of that eventual ultimate in-person union with Christ. The writer of Hebrews says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is fatihful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (10:23-5). I don’t believe churches are “neglecting to meet” in our present circumstance; it’s more of a necessary and temporary cessation of meeting. However, just because we’ve switched to virtual meetings for now does not mean all the elements of our actual, in-person church meetings, especially the Lord’s Supper, should (or can) be conducted virtually.
I use technology. We all do. You’re reading this on a computer or phone screen. We can listen to our favorite preachers and podcasters whenever and wherever we want. Some would say that they’ve even formed “online churches.” I disagree. Churches may use websites and apps as tools for organizing information or event planning, etc., but I do not believe that any truly born-again believer in Jesus can ever be satisfied with an online-only experience of church.
3) Joy and yearning. There is a longing too deep for words within us to unite, to hold hands, to hug, to hear voices sharing the same lyrics in the same oxygen, and to smell one another (yes, I said that). Don’t you miss that these days (okay maybe not the smelling part)? The Lord’s Supper should be something we yearn to resume once we are able to assemble together again on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Supper helps define what we mean by the term "local church." Bridge Church at Perry is a local church; Mt. Pleasant Baptist is a local church; Gateway Church Downtown, and your church—these are local churches that meet consistently in local locations at consistent times on a consistent day of the week. Our present quarantine situation is interrupting that consistency. We can continue praying for each other, hearing God's word preached, and even singing (sort of), but none of this should be considered ordinary. Just as it bothers us when we see people routinely skipping or missing our Sunday gatherings, it should also bother all of us to have to miss our “together time” during this quarantine. But being bothered isn’t always a bad thing! Let me encourage you, pastor, to not waste this interruption in your church’s ordinary gathering! Allow yourself and lead your church members to grieve over that aching absence of communion. Let that yearning compel intensified prayer for God’s mercy in ending the Coronavirus suffering and in enabling a return to our public assemblings.
To me, offering the Lord's Supper outside of the regular, in-person, Lord's Day meeting of a church risks cheapening (not enhancing) it's value as one of Jesus' two public (local church) ordinances. He gave the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and baptism to help believers form a shared identity as locally gathered, locally-defined, unified expressions of His body.
My greatest concern in offering the Lord’s Supper in contexts outside of the in-person, regularly gathered local church meeting is that we might inadvertently devalue that very gathering. In an age when we are already very socially isolated (Christians too!) by devices which sell us on the notion of a virtual connection, the Coronavirus pandemic poses a question: How much will we really miss one another and our bond in Christ? We are not really together online. Convenience and ease are not Christian values, and thus are unacceptable substitues for genuine Christian community.
Picture this: in a few weeks (or months), what will be your lasting memory of that first Sunday re-united with your church family? I am looking forward to that earthly reunion with great anticipation and part of it will be the renewed sharing of the Lord’s Supper together as we long together for our eternal union with Jesus!