I've debated whether or not to step into this conversation but it's a great example of why I came to theology via food studies & the dialogue around it touches on much of what I hoped to convey in #WeWillFeast.

I'm guessing there are lots of you unsure what to think about this! https://twitter.com/fc/status/1248308082238767104

I'm not here to make a theological argument per se but to guide those confused by the visceral reactions here.

Frankly, there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer—what someone deems appropriate is dependent on what their tradition understands is taking place during communion.

There is a wide spectrum of belief about the importance of materiality in communion. It's been at the core of Eucharistic debate since the Reformation (probably before too but I mostly started my research with the reformers).

If you believe that communion is all about "remembering the sacrifice of our Savior", as this tweet claims, then of course it makes sense that any elements would do. There is nothing particular to the elements themselves, it's about the memory.

From both the food studies and the theology side of things, there is a long conversation to be had about whether it's possible to separate a memory from the material elements involved, as well as the value of memories being embedded in the senses and material objects.

But that's not the conversation happening here. The fact is the memorialist view of communion is one that's been around for a few hundred years—and within that view it's difficult to make an argument against the original tweet.

If you believe that communion is more material than that, that God is doing something to you/to the church through the material process of taking communion, then the materials you use matter more, and the context matters more.

This is not to say the Spirit cannot do the same work with other materials or in other contexts—but if your very understanding of communion is built out of a belief in the impact materiality has on us as humans, a change in material elements is much more significant.

There is a WIDE spectrum of conviction within this view. Is the context of online worship okay? Does the sacrament need to be taken in physical community? Does it need to be blessed by a priest? Do the elements need to contain gluten/alcohol, wheat/grapes, any grain/any fruit?

Your answer here, and how viscerally you respond to the original tweet and various other debates about online communion, is likely contingent on how important you understand material context to be.

Finally, if you believe that the Spirit is actually transforming the substance of the elements into the literal body and blood of Jesus, then the material elements AND the context in which it is celebrated are vital matters. Anything else is *not* communion.

I don't want to sound like I'm belittling any of these views (even as I have my own very strong convictions)—They are fundamentally different understandings of what takes place in the Lord's Supper and the relationship between material and spiritual things.

I've spent the past five years studying churches that hold their primary worship service around the table, following Jesus command to eat together in remembrance of him. All of these churches are born out of different understandings of what takes place in the process.

What I found again & again is that an initial conviction about communion pressed a pastor to launch a service in a particular way, and over time the actual holding of the service changed their understanding of communion further.

The material process was continually shaping them.

As I learned to listen to each pastor and congregant on their own terms, I was continually amazed to see that the power of this meal lies not in our belief about what's taking place in and through it but in the Spirit's work *despite* our belief about it.

This is not to say that our beliefs don't matter! They absolutely do! For most church leaders (and many of us lay folk), these convictions come out of deep and prayerful study.

It is right and good that in this strange season we honor the convictions of our own traditions.

But whether we change up the elements based on what we have on hand, or we take communion w/ our families as part of an online service, or we refrain from Eucharist until we are gathered once again in body w/ our church communities—or perhaps we change our mind as this drags on..

I believe that the experience, whether participation in a strange context or abstention for a prolonged period of time, will shape us all.

I hope we allow this hunger, this separation, this longing for communion to shape our understanding of what takes place in the sacrament.