The Disembodied Body: Church in Quarantine

In this era of the present pandemic, filled with masks, quarantine, isolation, and so many other forms of social restrictions, the church has not gone unscathed. This is easily the greatest effect any event has had on the church in North America in the last one hundred years. The church at large across North America has responded in a variety of different ways. Upon the COVID-19 outbreak at the start of this year, the vast majority of churches followed suit and transitioned to services streamed online to preserve the Sunday morning gathering of the body of Christ. Yet how these streaming services were carried out varied dramatically. Some churches preserved their usual Sunday morning liturgy by keeping their traditional order of service. Except now the sanctuaries that had once been filled with the saints, the body of Christ, were instead dotted with lights, cameras, and computers. All this technology was now in place to carry the worship of the service into the homes of the sanctified believers that legally could not be bodily present to the gathering.

Let the lack of bodily presence be highlighted in the reflection on the impact that quarantine restrictions had on the church. The church was left with very few options the moment the ban on gatherings went out, the service, for the most part, simply had to be streamed. Yet, even in that limitation, there was some choice to be made. The service could be live-streamed in real-time or it could be prerecorded and streamed for the congregation at the time the normal service would typically be held. This paper argues that amidst the restrictions of COVID-19 the prerecorded worship service is taking the body of Christ further away from realizing the worship they have in their incarnate savior Jesus Christ. Before moving on, a handful of words need to be defined for the sake of clarity. The first being “Christ”, the second being “worship”, and the third being “church.”

By “Christ” the meaning is none other than who Jesus Christ is found to be in Holy Scripture. The son of God, the second part of the holy trinity, of the same substance of God the Father yet different in person, 2 Cor. 1:2. Historically what has been and should be affirmed about the person of Jesus Christ can all be found very clearly articulated in the Nicene Creed written by the Council of Nicaea in 325. An exert from this concerning the Person of Christ is listed below,

the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.

Every article of this confession in the Nicene Creed communicates something about the person of Jesus Christ that is crucial for our understanding of him. Not a single article of this confession should be sentimentalized or reduced to a metaphor under any circumstances. These truths concerning the person of Jesus Christ are the foundation of Christian faith and the means by which the believer is brought into a saving relationship with God.

As for a definition of “worship.” The most recent definition offered by the Miriam Webster Dictionary defines it in the transient verb as “to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power” and in the noun as “reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power.” While this summarizes accurately what the word has been rendered to mean in today’s culture, it is greatly lacking. A definition of worship that is better suited for this study is written by Dr. J. C. Clark and Dr. M. P. Johnson in their book The Incarnation of God, and is the following,

Worship is our response to the Father's reception of us in Christ; and this response is shaped by and reflective of our participation in Christ’s priesthood, as the only way we can or do worship the Father is in and through Christ, who gathers up the worship of His members, cleanses it, and presents it together with his own.

In this definition, it is clear that worship is not something conjured up by man separate from Christ and community to be offered to God independently. Worship is the reasonable response to the revelation of God. More specifically what is expressed in the above definition is that worship is humanity's response to the love of God the Father that is lavished upon them as He accepts them in His Son as His own son’s and daughters. In essence, worship is inextricably relational.

Another word that must be defined clearly for this paper is “church.” Church today is widely understood to be simply a gathering of religious people that occurs most commonly on Sunday mornings in a specific kind of building. If that were the case, and the church was nothing more than a gathering qualified by certain stipulations such as those listed above, it would and should be shocking that such a social construct could endure for so many years. Especially considering that the church has been around for approximately two thousand years.

The church though, to be what it is and withstand what it has, must be something more than a social construct or even a tradition; its foundation must run deep to hold fast. And it does, if one is willing to realize and confess that the church is the fullness of what the Bible says that it is. And this is that the Church is truly and authentically the actual living body of Jesus Christ. As it reads in Ephesians 1:22-23, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” There is nothing metaphorical about Paul’s words here in his letter the Ephesians. Paul is simply describing what is obvious to him and should be obvious to all believers. That the church is the body (the fullness) of Jesus Christ (Him) and this is an ontological reality. That is to say, the reality of the church is a metaphysical reality regarding the nature of its being. It is of the utmost importance that the ontological reality of the church as the actual body of Christ be understood for one to see how the church finds its worship in the person of Jesus Christ. Especially since that very reality determines the importance that is placed on the nature of the Sunday morning gathering, especially in a time of restricted gatherings.

Perhaps in the 16th or 17th Century, one could have started a conversation about the church realizing her worship in the person of Jesus Christ under the assumption that the ontological reality of the church’s inclusion in the person of Jesus Christ was widely understood and accepted. Yet, regardless of how true or untrue that was then, it surely is not a theological luxury that is afforded today so time will be taken now to draw out how understanding the person of Jesus Christ informs what is believed about salvation and inevitably develops a belief about the church. Essentially what is being outlined is that theology of Christ (Christology) informs theology of salvation (Soteriology) which together cannot help but produce a robust theology of church (Ecclesiology) which will ultimately reveal how the church is in Christ and therefore has her worship only in Him.

Attempting here to establish a worthy Christology, or theology of Christ. This may be a good time to refer back to the words of the Nicene Creed listed above that summarize most accurately and holistically what one can and should believe about Christ. Also important to consider is the confession of The Apostles’ Creed which says of who Christ is declared to be,

I believe in Jesus Christ, his [God’s] only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Christ, as was said earlier, is the second person of the holy trinity, the Son of God according to Scripture, equal to the Father in essence yet distinct in person. Articles beyond measure of importance in understanding the person of Christ are all of those that confess the fullness of both His deity and His humanity, “in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily” Col. 2:9. In His incarnation, there was not even a fraction of humanity that was not assumed into His person. Being the fullness of God and man, Christ is the ultimate prophet and priest by whom in His incarnation, the union of God and man, He brought God to mankind and mankind back to God. This is explicitly affirmed in Hebrews 2:17 which reads, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” To understand who Christ is, the reality of His deity and humanity must be held in a very necessary tension. This tension serves to realize who Jesus Christ is as God’s ultimate revelation of Himself and the savior of the world.

A true theology of Christ should lead to a theology of salvation, a soteriology. This should happen naturally as salvation is the cause for the incarnation of Christ. For what need should God have to become incarnate except to unite himself to mankind? And what purpose might there be in God uniting Himself to mankind in Jesus Christ except to save them? And what must mankind be saved from and saved to? Mankind after the fall was rendered “…dead in their trespasses and sins…” according to Ephesians 2:1, totally enslaved to it, incapable of reconciling themselves to God apart from God. According to the law, completely condemned as it is written in Rom. 2:12. And it is because of this state of mankind that Christ took on the fullness of humanity by way of his vicarious and atoning birth, baptism, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

The life of Christ must be atoning and vicarious by way of our union with Him because apart from Him there is no salvation. Of this Athanasius writes in his theological work on the incarnation of Christ,

The renewal of creation has been brought by the Self-same Word who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word who made it in the beginning.

It is without a doubt that the Word that was present at the beginning of creation was the same one who took on fallen human flash and dwelt perfectly among fallen sinful humanity. All for the purpose of literally and not metaphorically gathering up fallen humanity in Himself so that He might turn them back to God, and in so doing save them. Without question any soteriology would be supremely lacking if not ultimately rooted in the person of Jesus Christ, capitalizing on the fullness of His deity and humanity in tension and acknowledging the union that He established between God and man in His incarnation.

This then can only mean that salvation is a result of being joined to Jesus in His incarnation. Salvation is not a status gained by receiving attributes of Christ that might qualify the disqualified apart from Him. Scripture testifies to this reality of salvation being found in Christ. A prominent passage on this is Hebrews 2:10, “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Christ is the founder of salvation. Salvation is a result of sharing in all that Jesus Christ is, justified, sanctified, Son of God, resurrected, glorified, and preserved. All of these are impossible for fallen flesh to possess if not first joined to Jesus Christ, the redeemer of fallen flesh. If the reality of salvation being possessed via the possession of Jesus Christ by union to Him in his incarnation is not fundamental to one's faith then all other aspects of faith and salvation will soon begin to unravel as well. Especially that of what it means to be the Church, the body of Christ.

In his book, Atonement T. F. Torrance writes the following concerning the reality of the church,

Through union with Jesus Christ the church shares in His life and in all that he has done for mankind. Through His birth its members have a new birth and are made members of the new humanity. Through His obedient life and death their sins are forgiven and they are clothed with a new righteousness. Through His resurrection and triumph over the powers of darkness they are freed from the dominion of evil and are made one body with Him… Thus the church finds its life and being not in itself but in Jesus Christ alone, for not only is He the head of the church but He includes the Church within His own fullness.

Salvation for mankind rooted in their union to the person of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man ultimately defines the reality of the church. As was said previously, soteriology properly founded in a right Christology cannot help but produce a sound ecclesiology. What then can be confidently confessed regarding the church? That the church is the actual body of Christ according to Eph. 1: 22-23. That the church is the bride of Christ, Eph. 5: 32. That the church is holy as Christ is holy as a result of being joined to Him, Eph. 5: 25-27. Simon Chan writes of the reality of the church as the body of Christ in the following way,
“The expression body of Christ is more than a metaphor for some intimate social dynamic between Christ and His church. It is an ontological reality, as Christ is ontologically real.” And the degree of reality to which this is real is absolute.

It is impossible to receive salvation apart from Christ, outside of Christ, absent of union with Christ. Receiving salvation then in Christ renders the new life impossible to live apart from the reality of being included in Christ, which is what it means to be the church. T. F. Torrance speaking further on the reality of the church,

The church has no independent existence as if it were anything at all or had any life or power of its own, apart from what is unceasingly communicated to it through its union and communion with Christ who dwells in it by the power of the Spirit and fills it with eternal life and love of God himself.

If the church truly has “no independent existence” apart from Christ, this requires a complete reorienting of the meaning of church. Hence why it is so crucial that the meaning of church be properly defined. It should be growing increasingly more clear and hopefully true in understanding that the reality of the church is not simply a gathering that is defined by shared values (preference of worship) or shared variables (such as location and age). It must be grasped at the forefront of the mind that the church is not simply a Sunday morning gathering that occurs once a week.

Rather the reality of the church is far greater as it is an ontological reality of being placed in and living out of Christ that defines the existence of those regenerated in the vicarious and atoning life of Christ. Alexander Schmemann writes in his book For the Life of the World,

“There was no need for Temples built of stone: Christ’s Body, the Church itself, the new people gathered in Him, was the only real temple. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up…” Jn 2:19”

This is not meant to diminish the act of the Sunday morning gathering. Instead, it enhances the importance of the gathering as it is not an end in itself but a realization of a greater end found only in living out the union that the believer has with Jesus Christ. Another valuable exert from Schmemann’s writing is the following,

The purpose of this “coming together” is not simply to add a religious dimension to the natural community, to make it “better” – more responsible, more Christian. The purpose is to fulfill the Church, and that means to make present the One in whom all things are at their end, and all things are at their beginning.

Christ is what institutes the church. He is the reason for the Sunday morning gathering. The incarnate Son of God resurrected and ascended into heaven is the cohesive element that assembles the saints on the first day of the week in worship. It is their response to who He is and the loving relationship they are participants in through His atoning life.

At the holy assembly of the saints, they all participate in the liturgy of the body of Christ. Of this liturgy, Alexander Schmemann writes that the original meaning of the Greek word leitourgia “...meant an action by which a group of people become something corporately which they had not been as a mere collection of individuals – a whole greater than the sum of its parts.” To be the church is to become something more than what one can be independent of communion with others who are found in Christ. To be the church is to be sacramental, to be the visible sign of an invisible reality, union with and within Christ.

So then, in the same way that salvation is found only in being joined to and participating in Christ, being the church is the living out of that reality. Being faithful is merely a participation in the faithfulness of Jesus, as is notable in John 11:25-26. Furthermore, loving God is simply a participation in the ultimate and eternal love that exists between the Father and the Son. Why then should our Sunday morning worship service be the point in living out one's life in Christ where this living becomes an act that is independent of Christ? Why is worship what humans suddenly begin giving to God from their own limited human resources that have already proven to be insufficient in every other way?

Perhaps it is this very disconnect that has resulted in the disembodied worship services that are so prevalent today. Notable is the striving that can be seen in modern efforts to worship apart from the believers, and ultimately the church’s, inclusion in Christ. Worship has been rendered little more than music, a message, and the occasional consumption of the eucharist. As well as a handful of announcements that might interest someone keen on being involved in extracurricular church activities. Isolated to those sterile movements of a worship service that the believer is only loosely obligate to be present to, the importance of the gathering is significantly lacking. In place of the lacking significance, the modern day experience of worship has been enhanced with lights and fog machines to persuade the congregation that the presence of God is there. Worship has become a space for the best musicians in the congregation to practice their skills and flush out their talents upon the congregation. And in some very difficult cases a place for the attendees to be encouraged with a sermon that tends more towards motivational speaking. But the depth of the reality being manifested at this gathering is lost as there is no understanding of the believer's real union with Christ and therefore their real union with one another.

Something else that is vastly underestimated in these kinds of services, and even potentially completely overlooked, is the ontological familial reality of the church, the body of Christ. Joined to Christ and therefore one another which is real and eternal beyond this earth, the nuclear family can no longer be considered the primary reality but rather it is the secondary reality. It is the mirror that points to the family that is found in union with Jesus Christ. The Family that is the church.
Holding words such as ontological, familial, and union in tension while asking the question of what impact a virtual service has on the church a handful of considerations might come to mind. Consider a virtual marriage. Not just for a guest to attend the ceremony virtually, but one where either the bride or groom is only virtually present to the wedding ceremony. Vows could be said over zoom, paperwork could be electronically signed and submitted. But the commitment of marriage made at the ceremony cannot be virtually consummated leaving it incomplete.

A further and more accurate example could also be that of a virtual family. Not the kind in a movie or video game, but an actual family that is only connected via video stream conference calls. In this family, everything that is common to the traditional family of today occurs but the difference is that it only occurs virtually through a video call. The nature of this family is comprised entirely of virtual realities; virtual marriage, virtual conception, virtual birth, virtual meals, virtual illness, virtual conversations, virtual death, virtual anything that might take place within the premise of what is presently known to be an average family. How credible does the marriage of the first example mentioned above seem? How legitimate might the virtual family be?

Much like the answers to the questions regarding virtual marriage and family, the validity of the thesis being proposed in his paper truly comes down to the question of how real the reality of the church is? What does it mean if an actual union with Christ is the only means by which He grants the unbeliever salvation? And what if that confession is explicitly true? This then means that Christ also receives the sanctified believers into His body, which is the church, the believer's true family. All of this should truly highlight the importance of the actual gathering and real relationship of the body that is realized at the gathering of the saints for the Sunday morning worship service held under normal circumstances. What then could this mean for the gathering of the body under abnormal circumstances?

Acknowledging now the abnormal circumstance in which the church is now being forced to function let it be known that in this paper the convictions regarding COVID-19 are that it is the church's responsibility to love their neighbor’s, their communities, as themselves. A simple way to live this out is by caring for those who are high risk by doing their part to diminish the spread of the virus. While many members of the body of Christ may not be at risk for COVID-19 they can care for those that are by wearing masks, social distancing, and restricting the size of gatherings according to what the legislations are for their area. In most cases abiding by local legislations regarding the pandemic has resulted in the inability to meet in person leaving churches with only a handful of streaming options, predominantly what has already been mentioned, live-stream and prerecorded.

In the same way that one should question a virtual marriage and affirm what lacks in the loss of physical presence, it should also be a firm conviction that this same loss is present anywhere where believers cannot be physically present to the gathering of the Saints on Sunday morning. To put it in simplified terms, in the event that one is separated from their loved ones it is widely preferred to connect via video calls as opposed to mailing one another photos of themselves. Although this comparison may seem dramatic, it is easily comparable to the difference between actually streaming a service live and simply releasing a pre recorded video at a precise time. The prerecorded service is a dramatically different medium than the real-time live stream especially in an ecclesiology that is adequately Christ-centered.

In several cases, church’s have preferred the prerecorded medium for their services due to its ease and capacity to be streamed flawlessly during the quarantine that was called in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. It is more rewarding from a production-based view to have complete control over the service. Especially as it allows the church to deliver something to the congregants that is more enjoyable with the already present loss of their traditional in-person gathering. But ease, control, perfection, and production should never be determining factors in the nature of a worship service, the gathering of the saints.

None of this is meant to indicate that the Sunday worship service should not be well planned to seek some measure of order and excellence, but simply rather, technical excellence should not drive and determine how the service is held. The worship service should involve both of those things, but they must be oriented towards the only end in which worship is truly found. Time, space, technique, and technology in the worship service should all be a means by which Christ is manifested in the assembly of the Saints, and the Saints are directed to receive Christ in that same place.

Under the weight of the pandemic and the pressure of massive shifts in how church can legally be held, the past 9 months certainly have been filled with challenges and pruning for the church. Evident in many local churches' response to the changes is a church culture that has truly lost touch with the truth of who she is in Christ. Amidst this loss of identity, the manifestation of the reality of the church at the Sunday morning worship service has deviated from what its purpose was instituted to be. The importance of the assembly of the body and the readiness of the bride to receive her groom in the worship service has been slowly yet persistently diminished. In its wake technique and performance have grown into the foundation of the gathering of the church. In many cases, this exchange has been so subtly implemented that it has gone vastly undetected until the pressure of this COVID-19 pandemic began to expose otherwise hidden realities of the church.

What the Church needs today, especially in this time of pandemic and isolation, is to rediscover its identity, that it has its very life and being in its incarnate savior Jesus Christ. That the bodily reality of the church is formational to her existence on earth since it is a real participation in the body of Jesus Christ. This COVID-19 pandemic is a season of necessary disembodiment of the body for the sake of loving high-risk neighbors. At this time the church should be grieving the separation of the body and longing for the day they may once again gather together to receive the groom as His bride. Ultimately manifesting the reality of their unity to one another by their inclusion in the person of Jesus Christ. A very simple way that the church can at this time cling to the importance of their union to Christ and one another as an ontological reality is by live-streaming their service instead of prerecording it to be streamed at a certain time. In this way, they are caring for their at-risk neighbors while still fighting for real time, space, and the limited embodiment available by means that are fitting in this time of quarantine and isolation.