July 23, 2021
The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in everlasting life. Amen
- BCP, p. 365
My Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
I have to admit, even on my best days of effort, fasting is not one of my favorite discipline actions, the ones that I lean to and reach for when I need to feel a stronger, closer, more intimate connection to my God. I’ve never quite been able to make the leap from the empty pangs of hunger to the loving, liberating, life-giving God. (I’m usually just cranky!) And so, I am always relieved to make it through the two days of fasting obligation, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday!
However, our Theologian-in-Residence, Dr. Stephen Sprinkle used a phrase that has me wondering about the fast in a different way. He talks about “presence in absence,” God’s great ability to be in all things, including the negative spaces, the “with-us,” even when we are without. God inhabits the holiness of both the positive and the negative spaces, the Cross as well as the Empty Tomb. Even in the raw and bitter emptiness of the tomb, the Marys discover Holy Spirit life, the breath of God, “present in absence.” God really does infuse all things for eschatological (in the end) good!
We started the COVID-19 journey in the darkness of fast, fast from the breath of each other, and fast from our most sacred, sacramental act of the “re-membering” of Jesus Christ, the Eucharistic Feast. After four long months of fast, we were able to return to communion in one kind, the bread, partaking of the full benefit of Jesus Christ’s presence in bread alone, the “doctrine of concomitance,” with the knowledge that Christ’s presence inhabits all aspects of either kind (bread or wine) of the Eucharistic Feast.
As of July, Bishop Sumner has given permission to rectors to decide when we will reinstate the chalice as part of the sacramental act of Eucharist, and I have decided that we will begin our use of wine on Sunday, August 1. There will be several noticeable changes to our communion practice which you will want to note prior to August 1. First, we will no longer offer intinction in any form, either by the Eucharistic Ministers or the person receiving communion. After you receive your host, if you do not wish to receive from the common cup, we will have a tray of individual communion cups with consecrated wine for you to pick up, consume, and replace in the cup tray. For everyone’s peace of mind, no one will be putting their hands or fingers into the chalice any longer.
Please remember that if neither of these options is comfortable for you, receiving communion in one kind (the doctrine of concomitance) continues to be a perfectly valid option to receive communion. As I stated when we moved from worship in the Parish Hall back into the Nave, I believe that we are into the phase of this pandemic when it is each person’s individual and personal responsibility to gauge how much and what kind of risk they are willing to accept in participating in our ongoing communal life of worship.
There may come a point where I need to reassert control over certain aspects and measures such as mask-wearing and social-distancing, but at this point, these decisions rest with each individual and your own comfort level. (Mask-wearing continues to remain mandatory for those who are unvaccinated.)
You should assess and make your decisions based on your situation and circumstance, knowing that our God is present in all things, through all things, and beyond all things.
Thanks be to God!
Fr. Christopher+
