Updated Guidance on Worship: November 10
Today, the governor of California announced that San Diego County has met “purple tier” requirements for the second week in a row, meaning that spread of COVID is “widespread.” This is the most restrictive classification, and San Diego joins our other three counties in that risk level. 

This change means that under the governor’s requirements, indoor worship is not permitted in any of our counties until the risk level decreases and the counties return to a lower-risk tier. You may still live-stream or record worship from indoors, provided 10 or fewer people are present in person and the recording session is not open to the public. Outdoor worship is still permitted, following all of our other guidelines. 

I know this causes significant disappointment, especially as Advent approaches. Let us put our hope in the God who is always present with us, and who gives us hope in the most difficult of times. Jesus is still with us, bringing light and love into this world. 

In Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook
Communion Offered in Non-Traditional Ways

Dear Friends,

A few of you have asked me for permission to offer communion in non-traditional ways for people who are not able to attend in-person worship, or where you are not able to offer in-person worship. As I have said previously, I do not want to advance our diocesan eucharistic theology beyond the positions of the whole church, and therefore I have not authorized innovations like “virtual communion.” In any offering of the Eucharist, our church’s theology assumes three things:

  • The offering of communion is done within the context of a community of faith worshiping together. Communion is not an individual experience, but quite literally a communal one.

  • As our Lord Jesus was incarnated in creation physically, and not just as an idea or a concept, the sharing of the Body of Christ must always include an incarnational element, where the people of God share together in the Body of Christ, and are nourished and strengthened to be the Body of Christ in the world.

  • Consecrated elements are not to be consumed in a way that separates those material elements from the worship of the whole church. The bread and wine of the Eucharist are not tokens that can be divided from the community of faith. Both the bread and wine of communion and the whole people of God are the Body of Christ. The entire service of Word and Table constitutes a communion service, and therefore we do not offer pre-consecrated elements to be consumed individually, separate from the church’s worship. Even a eucharistic visitor who visits someone at home and brings communion is extending the worship of the church community to include a person who for good reason was unable to attend in-person worship.

By these principles, eucharistic elements are NOT consecrated at a distance over the internet (i.e., I will not authorize “virtual communion”). Similarly, eucharistic elements are NOT to be mailed or sent by other means of delivery that do not include an in-person, incarnational component. Those boundaries are clear.

Having said that, after consultation with the Presiding Bishop and others, I WILL permit certain non-traditional ways of offering communion in the present circumstances of the pandemic.

  • I have already authorized licensed eucharistic visitors to offer “distanced handoffs” at the front door of a home. See the liturgy we have provided for these visits at the end of this letter (Option 1, below).

  •  Such distanced handoffs may lead to an individual or family consuming communion directly after the eucharistic visitor delivers them in person to a home. Alternatively, the individual or family may create an altar, reverently reserve the elements for a short period of time (say, overnight), and consume them while participating in an online eucharistic liturgy.

  •  Some of you have asked whether “drive-through” communion will be allowed. The answer is that it will NOT be allowed if it is a simple handoff of elements, even if the elements include a paper with prayers to be prayed individually. This method removes the consumption of elements too far from the worship of the church. However, I WILL allow elements to be offered to people in cars in the following examples:

1. You may offer a parking lot Eucharist where people hear the service through FM transmitters (or other methods) and then receive communion as it is delivered to their cars.

2. You may offer an online Eucharistic service in which people participate, and then they may drive immediately to the church to receive elements that were consecrated during the service they just completed.

3. You may record a Eucharistic service, consecrate elements, and pass them out to people in cars in the expectation that the elements will be consumed later, as they participate in the recorded service online. Here is how such a method might work: On Saturday morning, you record the eucharistic service. Directly afterwards, during a designated period of time, people drive to the church, where clergy and/or licensed eucharistic visitors hand them the elements, praying with them the short liturgy linked at the end of this letter. The people take the consecrated elements home and reserve them overnight on a reverent altar they have set aside for this purpose. They consume the elements in the context of participating in the online Eucharist on Sunday morning.

In limited cases where a person cannot participate in an online Eucharist due to lack of internet access, but is healthy enough to drive to the church, you may pass elements to them in cars and share with them the eucharistic visitor liturgy, in the expectation that they will consume those elements right away. However, the preferred method for such eucharistic visitor liturgies is still a visit to the home.

Of course, public health guidelines for masking, distancing, and handwashing apply to any of these methods of sharing communion.

If you choose to adopt any one of these methods, or if you have other ideas you would like to try, please call me first to talk through your plans. Please know that I am grateful for your dedication and your desire to nourish your people through Word and Sacrament.

In Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook
Eucharistic Visitor Liturgies and Prayers

A full description of different Eucharistic Visitor Liturgies and Prayers is found here. It describes several options:

Option 1: There is no live stream of a service. Perhaps the person(s) receiving communion are unable to participate in online worship, or the congregation is not able to provide online worship, or the internet is down. This option’s liturgy is the most complete, with the EV offering the Collect of the Day, readings from scripture, a short word about the sermon and a confession of sin. It can be found here.

Option 2: The home group is together and participates virtually in a Eucharistic service being held at their church. It can be found here.

Option 3: The home group is together and participates in a non-Eucharistic service being held at their church. It can be found here.

Distribution of Bread to Individuals and Families Arriving in Automobiles

These options have been expanded upon to permit the distribution of consecrated bread to individuals and families who arrive in their automobiles.

It is essential (and non-negotiable) that the bread is consecrated as part of a Eucharistic service. Eucharistic visitors are then sent out with the following words:

[Names of persons], in the name of this congregation, I send you forth bearing these holy gifts, that those to who you go [names may be inserted here, depends on the number] may share with us in the communion of Christ’s body and blood. We who are many are one body, because we all share one bread, one cup.

The Eucharistic Visitor or clergyperson delivering the consecrated bread to automobiles will say the following prayers with those receiving the bread:

Eucharistic Visitor: The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
Response: And also with you.

Eucharistic Visitor: [Names of persons], in the name of [congregation], I share with you these holy gifts from the Eucharistic table. We who are many are one body, because we all share one bread, one cup.
Response: Thanks be to God.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
Eucharistic Visitor Liturgies and Prayers

The liturgies and prayers presented here are intended to connect home worship groups with the Eucharistic table in their congregations. Several options are presented:

Option 1: There is no live stream of a service. Perhaps the person(s) receiving communion are unable to participate in online worship, or the congregation is not able to provide online worship, or the internet is down (it is 2020, after all). This option’s liturgy is the most complete, with the EV offering the Collect of the Day, readings from scripture, a short word about the sermon and a confession of sin.

Option 2: The home group is together at a “watch party” for a Eucharistic service being held at their church.

Option 3: The home group is together at a “watch party” for a non-Eucharistic service being held at their church.
 
The Sending Out
All options must begin with the bread being consecrated as part of a Eucharistic service. The EVs are to be sent out by their congregations with the following words:
 
[Names of persons], in the name of this congregation, I send you forth bearing these holy gifts, that those to who you go [names may be inserted here, depends on the number] may share with us in the communion of Christ’s body and blood. We who are many are one body, because we all share one bread, one cup.
 
The Distributing of Bread to Multiple Homes
If a single EV is responsible for delivering consecrated bread to more than their own home group, the following prayer should be used when giving the bread to the home group leader:
 
[Names of persons], in the name of [congregation], I share with you these holy gifts from the Eucharistic table. We who are many are one body, because we all share one bread, one cup.
Response: Thanks be to God.
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
2083 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., San Diego, CA 92107