Receiving Holy Eucharist in July

In 1985, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church made provisions for members of the church to distribute communion following a Sunday service to people who couldn’t be there in person. Specifically, the Book of Common Prayer says, ‘In this way, those who are unable to participate regularly in the worship of the eucharistic assembly may nevertheless experience their relation to the community and also join their personal faith and witness to that of their community.” I wonder...could pandemic have been in the realm of possibility for the editors of the prayer book? I am grateful that the Church has a structure that will allow us to experience community with each other, regardless of what’s happening around us. 

I know many of you are longing to be in the Nave. You are hungering for worship with your Saint Stephen’s family. It’s been more than three months now. I, too, miss those points of personal connection and joy. Imagine with me: how meaningful would it be to break bread with your brothers and sisters in Christ through a weekly visit, sitting on your porch or in the living room? What would it feel like to share a meal in the very way Jesus did with his disciples, on the evening before he was crucified...not in a church, but someone’s home? Can you imagine how life-giving it would be for our Saint Stephen’s community to be empowered to do this very work? Beginning the first Sunday of July, if you are comfortable with a visit from another person, you can share in Holy Eucharist at your home. Signing up is simple, so if you would like to receive communion at your home at any point in July, please follow this link. 

We also need people to be trained as Eucharistic Visitors. Eucharistic Visitors will take consecrated bread and wine to one household, and then to their own family (if applicable). We will offer two live options for training: Wednesday night, June 24 at 5:30pm, and Wednesday morning, July 1 at 9am, both via Zoom. The trainings will be recorded, and we will allow people to be trained by watching the recordings and having a follow up conversation with clergy, too. If you are interested in serving as a Eucharistic Visitor, please follow this link.    

The mantra that guides our in-home communion offering is: “All may, some should, and none must.” We want you to be comfortable with your choice for broadened engagement in Saint Stephen’s community during COVID-19. The Task Force for how we reengage with ministry has provided some guidelines for how to do this in a responsible way. We will provide a simple health screening questionnaire and if, at any point, a Eucharistic Visitor or household being visited does not feel well, the visit will be rescheduled for a later date. Eucharistic Visitors and families will be asked to wear masks, and communion will be distributed while physically distant from each other. The Eucharistic Visitors will be trained how to do this in a responsible way. I will continue as the clergy contact for this program, so that any feedback you want to pass along, I am here for you. 

While we are in a time of uncertainty in many ways, I also choose to see this as a season of innovation. What a gift it will be to have a congregation trained and equipped to share communion in this way! The connections we sustain through this experiment will far out-live the novel Coronavirus of 2020. Whether you choose to sign up as a recipient, a Eucharistic Visitor, or decide to wait for a while, I ask that each of you pray for our parish. I ask that you pray for God’s joy and binding love to feed and overwhelm Saint Stephen’s, so that we continue to be moved to show God’s love to others in need.  

With God's blessings and my love,

The Reverend Katherine Harper

Associate Rector for Pastoral Care and Liturgy