After thought, prayer, reading, and input from some of you, we’ve decided that those of us present to lead online worship Sunday mornings will no longer take Communion until that time when we can take it together again in (hopefully) the near future. I won’t go into all the reasoning here, but our hope, and my prayer as I send this, is a greater unity. God be with us and keep us. If you’d like a deeper background read on Communion in this moment in the Reformed world, you can go here.
Thank you for your patience as we’ve wrestled through issues like this one. For myself, I’ve struggled with feeling like I’m supposed to know what to do at each new juncture or decision point in what is an unprecedented moment. I often find — on the most difficult issues — that both sides of the debate have merit. I’m taking some comfort from email threads among pastors, recognizing that other grizzled veterans like me are wrestling through the same questions and finding a lot more grey than black and white.
In moments like this, there will inevitably be some matters or courses of action that seem very clear to you, and yet seem complicated and unclear to someone else. You may both be thinking and acting in good faith, yet you still don’t see eye to eye. It’s for this moment that Paul wrote, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4.1-3). Let’s work together for that.
We will continue to face difficult decisions in the weeks and months ahead. We will need your prayers and patience again… and again. Based on where things stand at the moment, our first worship services together (capped at 50 people) will begin on June 22 [Phase 3] — about 40 days away. There are many, many questions to answer, from how many services will will try to hold beginning then, to how to arrange seating for those services, how to serve Communion, whether to have additional Communion services at other times during the week, and so on… and on. We will have to define, for each action, what exactly it is we’re trying to achieve and how to achieve it. Please be praying for that.
Today, though, you should relish the sun and the full-flourishing of Spring! What a weekend. What a reminder — as the Lord ordained Passover for Spring, and the Resurrection for Spring — that he brings life on the earth from the death of Winter, and life to our souls from the death of sin. God be with you all.