Why Anglicans Can't Just Live-Stream





The earliest years of my spiritual formation were spent at a Quaker Church.  The Southwest Meeting of the Friends was not a silent contemplative service, as is practiced in the traditional Quaker communities, but, as was tradition to George Fox, there were no sacraments.  My father, who went to the arms of Jesus in 1998, and was a Christian evangelist, boasted of being “dry-cleaned.”  Yet, though he was never baptized because he was a Quaker, he had me and my brothers baptized at young ages in a covenantal form at a Presbyterian church.


Now as an Anglican (Episcopalian), I am voraciously hungry for the sacrament of Lord’s supper. In Anglicanism, this practice is called “The Eucharist” or “The Great Thanksgiving.”  This comes from the Greek word “Eurcharisteo,” meaning “Thanksgiving."  So, when Jesus breaks the bread and gives thanks, he is giving “Eucharisteo” before the meal.  Think about that meaning…..when we put our hands out for the bread each Sunday, we are like baby birds so grateful for the nourishment of our parents.  When we drink the wine, it is bitter on our tongues before it turns sweet, then burns and warms going down.  It fills us - body, mind, and spirit.


For the Anglican, this experience of gratitude and thanks is felt, tasted and nourishing to the depth of world-weary souls.  This is not a practice of worthiness, it is a practice of approaching a delicious complete meal after a long day of labor and burdens from which I'm blind-exhausted.  This is the place I am reminded I am accepted by Jesus as his own, sealed by the Holy Spirit and delighted in by the Father.  I can hobble or crawl up to the table, weighed down by the sin, work, and failures of the week and lay them all there, lift my hands, open my mouth, and be filled.  This is the place of gratitude and joy at the most visceral level!



The Anglican service has two parts: The Word and the Sacraments.  Every. Single. Sunday.  Streaming in my jammies from the couch, I am only receiving the Word.  In my early years, I was taught that’s all I needed: the songs and the sermon.  But it felt so incomplete and my soul was anxious and I never knew why.  I couldn’t figure out what was missing!  The answer is, I was missing the other half of the service:  The Eucharist.  The Great Thanksgiving!  The response of my heart! 

How do I respond to God’s word and the preached word?  With great thanksgiving!  It is the altar call!  It is the "Yes, I believe!  Help my unbelief!"  It is my lifeline until next Sunday. It is the meal that the apostle Paul reprimanded the Corinthians for because they were abusing it and not being THANKFUL for the nourishment, and they were not sharing it with all believers.   

It is the only response to the amazing unprecedented 
Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord;
who died my death to give me freedom and joy; 
who carries my burdens; 
who exchanges my load for his easy yoke.



Why is live-streaming church so heart-breaking to an Anglican? It provides only half nourishment.  Therefore, after our Facebook Live-streaming service, my husband, Father Rob, as rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit, is offering sanitary, CDC compliant, pre-intincted drive-through Eucharist each Sunday until our social distancing time period ends.  This is as important as the occasional but necessary trip to the grocery store.  All baptized believers are welcome to join us.  No one is allowed out of their cars, and those 65 and older are advised to stay home.  

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Psalm 81:10 



Soli Deo Gloria

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