Can Communion be celebrated online?

The short answer is no. 

However, the fact that online communion is being practiced by a small number of communities and debated in the United Methodist Church is a curious point of discussion.

The origin of this is an article on the Huffington Post that I recently read that talks about the rise of online religious communities and the growing phenomenon of online worship.  If you are interested in reading the article, it is here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/online-communion-methodist-debate_n_4084854.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Let me start by taking time to explain my own bias: I believe strongly in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the elements become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the moment of the Epiclesis.  I am also not a Methodist,  but this phenomenon of online Communion is also happening outside the United Methodist Church, and so I think it is possible to address the issue as it is starting to enter into the wider Christian community.  This discussion therefore has implication for others as well, particularly in discussions about ecumenism and communion between denominations.

The celebration of Holy Communion is one of the oldest Christian rites.  It is first instituted by Jesus Christ, and then further elaborated and explained by St. Paul and the other Apostolic Fathers.  As time goes on, the Liturgical forms that center around the celebration of the Holy Communion, of the Holy Eucharist, take shape and develop, and the theology of the Sacrament is further clarified.  Setting aside the differences of theology behind what happens at the Eucharist in the different Christian Traditions, one of the consistent elements and themes that occurs throughout history is that the celebration of Holy Communion is connected to the gathering of the Christian community.

The word communion is derived from the Latin word commūniō, which essentially means “with gifts.”  The world also can be used to describe a joining together of some sort.  It is also related to words such as common, communicate, communal, and community.  In the celebration of the Holy Communion, we as the community brings forth our common gifts, not just bread and wine, but our very selves to become the Body and Blood of Christ.  Regardless of how one approaches the theology of the Eucharist itself, what is present is the communal body gathered as the Body of Christ.  That is what makes communion possible; it is the Body of Christ celebrating and consuming the Body of Christ.  The boundary between God and us comes down and we are joined with God in this Sacramental act.

When I was an undergrad student, one of the things that really just rubbed me the wrong way was how a few of my peers believed that there really was not a church they liked, so they would just go on their laptop and listen to a few praise songs and listen to a particular pastor’s sermon.  This is troubling in many ways.  Setting aside that there were at least ten churches in the town where my university was (including Roman Catholic, Episcopal, mainline Protestant, and evangelical parishes), it represents a growing isolation that we face more and more of in society.  This is counterpointed in the idea that I, as an individual, should go to church only if I am personally fed by it.  These two points continue to reinforce each other.  In the intersection of these two points, a church turns into a message board, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a YouTube video.  These things become very specific in their target audience and form countless little niches for each particular expression of thought across cyberspace.  

If we look at Christianity in the United States, where for much of the history the general narrative seems to focus on the individual (whether it is individual salvation, individual experience, or individual revelation), the need for community and communal acts might be considered secondary, or even tertiary in the face of this, and thus it reinforces this pattern even more.  We get inundated with media, and we specify our media to fit our individual needs and interests because what replaces community is entertainment.  Online communities can easily become insular, and isolated.  Opinions can get re-entrenched in this atmosphere because reactions to posts oftentimes are a text-based message that cannot convey an honest reaction, particularly if someone says something hurtful.  Our society pushes us more and more because we increasingly have busier schedules.  Whether it is work, school, or our additional activities, the ability to just have even a spontaneous cup of coffee with a friend is no longer possible because we have to schedule it two weeks out.  Online interactions become an easy way to maintain community when we do not have the ability to do so (I write this recognizing that as a grad-student I am often intensely busy.  I also recognize and I am saddened that in our society many simply do not have time to be others because they work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet.  Leisure and community, instead of being a right, are treated as a privilege of those who can afford it, and this is wrong).

It is no wonder then that in this environment that discussions about the possibility of online Communion can occur.  We are cheapening our communal acts because community itself is breaking down.

What makes Communion real is not just the Eucharistic prayer being said over the elements, it needs the gathering of the Body of Christ.  Even if it is happening over a live stream on the Internet, I cannot put some bread and wine in front of my laptop and have it become the Body and Blood of Christ.  Community is real because of the physical presence of people being with one another.  We are members of a community, and when members of a Christian community re-member, they remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In short, when we remember, we remember.  We cannot truly remember if we are not truly in contact with one another.  This is not to say we exclude those who cannot physically be there, indeed another ancient practice of Christianity is for deacons to bring the consecrated elements to those who are ill or otherwise could not be there.  But even then, there is a physical remembrance occurring in the presence of Christ.  The Incarnation, and the consumption of Christ’s Body and Blood reminds is that physicality and matter matters, it is not all, as it were, up in the cloud.

We must remember that the Body of Christ is first and foremost a community gathered.  As people become busier and busier with life, whether by choice or need, we need to maintain our focus as community whether it is through gently reminding people about the need for communal action, through fighting for higher wages for workers so people can actually escape and have time for leisure and community, or providing some sort of assistance so people can join in the Communion of the community.  We also need to remember that even though the Internet can be a great medium for discussion and communication, we must remember that technology is not a substitute for the Christian community because we cannot truly remember if we are not there to remember.