Several months ago the topic of online church communion came to the surface. We received some interesting feedback and even had the opportunity to speak with Kenny Jahng face-to-face and get his online church centric take on the matter (read more).
I personally have mixed feelings about it. Taking the sacraments is a serious thing, but so is praying and reading scripture and I’ve done that over Skype plenty of times!
But when I saw this Instagram shared by Derek Webb:
[via Instagram]
I think I finally figured out where I stood.
It’s a matter of the heart.
I don’t know how I missed this before. So many things comes down to this and only this.
Online communion — or in this case, drive thru communion — is only a problem if it’s being done out of convenience. If you’re ‘too busy’ or ‘don’t have the time’ to stop for more than five minutes and “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), you’re doing it wrong.
I think 1 Corinthians 11:17-33 should be our guide…
Verses 27-28 are pretty pointed I think:
“Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.”
Jason D. says
True, that it is a matter of the heart… in fact, you can classify everything under that. But even with looking at things that way we still have to ask if the means are allowed. Way to many issues to bring up in a blog comment on why that isn’t good. We ,jokingly, talked about “Drive-Thru Church” on this podcast http://confessingbaptist.com/podcast016/ never thought it would actually happen.
Eric Dye says
Seriously!