Dear Editor,
How I shared the longing expressed by David Robertson for shared communion in person, (Comment/November 2020) especially for those of us who meet in borrowed buildings, which have not yet enabled us to gather. How glad I was to be reminded of this precious sign and seal – and how saddened and confused to read his conclusion that ‘it is not something that can be celebrated online … cyber communion is no more possible than a cyber meal’.
Now for the second time in lockdown, en has presented the case that virtual sharing of the Lord’s Supper by believers is not possible (See May 2020 ‘The Lord’s Supper in lockdown – No’.)
This view however is by no means universally shared – evidenced by the many gospel churches that have offered a collective – if distanced – opportunity to obey the Lord’s command ‘to remember’, whilst confined to our homes.
Readers like myself who have engaged in worship, prayer, Bible teaching and yes, communion online for the past seven months should be able to draw comfort from the knowledge that ‘virtual’ Lord’s table may not be ideal, but it can still be valid. Exceptional circumstances allow for exceptions – Numbers 9 gives a helpful example here, when some of the children of Israel could celebrate the Passover one whole month later than the Lord had instructed, with His blessing!
I do hope you will allow your readers the liberty of considering this alternative point of view in our current very exceptional circumstances, especially as England has moved into a further period when church buildings must close to collective worship.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Gray Liverpool
