Online Communion, Christian Community, and Receptive Ecumenism: A Holy Week Ethnography during COVID-19

Abstract

A significant liturgical controversy of the COVID-19 pandemic is whether Christians should celebrate communion online. Much of the discussion of online communion has been based on theological and theoretical claims, rather than concrete observations and experiences, and much of this reflection has been directed toward specific denominational contexts. In contrast, this ethnographic study centers on participant observation of twelve worship services that included communion, or would ordinarily have included communion, that occurred between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday of April 2020 in Free Church, mainline Protestant, Anglican, and Roman Catholic settings. It takes the approach of receptive ecumenism and asks what gifts Christians from various traditions can receive from one another in relation to online communion both during and beyond times of crisis. Rather than making a case for or against celebrating communion online, it explores the ways in which community is demonstrated and effected in online communion practices.