Eucharistic Practice and Sacramental Theology in Pandemic Times

When pandemic-related public health measures necessitated the closure of Canadian places of worship in early 2020, parish leaders entered into a flurry of activity to tend to difficult and immediate pastoral needs, and to reshape the worshipping and gathering life of their communities. For many, the loss of the capacity to celebrate the eucharist struck hard and the grief that ensued was tough.

A growing number of voices began to advocate for permission to adapt Holy Communion for remote or distanced safe practice, and debates sprang up about the nature of words such as real, virtual, presence and communion.

In response to the emerging discourse and in an effort to facilitate conversation, the Faith, Worship, and Ministry committee of General Synod invited submissions of theological reflections on eucharistic practice and sacramental theology. Over forty submissions were received, which have been collected, edited and organized into this resource, for study and discussion.

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Introduction (abridged)

The essays in this collection vary in their approach, voice, focus questions and contexts of origin. All are of a theological nature, though their approaches to the doing of theology differ. All exhibit, in some way, the Anglican ethos that seeks to integrate pastoral, liturgical and theological concerns together.

To facilitate study in a relatively ordered way, the submissions received have been sorted into the following categories:

Spiritual Roots for Stressful Times
Learning in Context: Congregational Life and Mission
Discipleship and Mission
Theological Foundations and Journeys
Reflections from Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Partners
Epilogue: A Theology of Lament and Hope

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The Essays

Spiritual Roots for Stressful Times

In this section, several writers gift us with spiritually-foundational reflections, intended to help feed us with what we need to keep on the faithful path, especially in times when we most need these words of wisdom.
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Learning in Context: Congregational Life and Mission

Essays in this section look at concrete experiences of local communities, as they sought to further nurture discipleship and faithful worship through various communication technologies and other special contexts.
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Discipleship and Mission

The papers in this section reflect a welcome commitment to community life, discipleship and mission. These essays often root their insights about the nature of the eucharist in its inherently communal and faith-forming quality for mission.
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Theological Foundations and Journeys

The essays in this two-part section address matters of doctrine in a way that is slightly more direct than methods chosen by others. In this collection of essays, we distinguish between: reflections which explore the nature of the eucharist within considerations of wider notions of sacramentality; and those which focus the nature of the eucharist in the life and mission of the church.
The Eucharist and Sacramentality: Read the essays »»
On the Eucharist and the Life of the Church: Read the essays »»

Reflections from Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Partners

Early in this process, we reached out to friends in theological and liturgical networks in the Anglican Communion, and to various ecumenical partners.
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Epilogue

This project had its genesis in the early weeks of a pandemic lockdown, when disorientation and sudden strangeness were in the air we breathed. So, too, was an atmospheric grief, which took hold in different ways as we started to realize what it was that we had lost.
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