Rethinking Sacramentology in the post-Covid 19 era:

Contestations around the virtual Eucharist.

Abstract

Never in the history of the Christian faith, has there been a universal occurrence in the form of a pandemic capable of preventing all Christians throughout the world from celebrating the Easter mystery in the traditional way as has been experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years, the Easter festivities have been used to celebrate the epitome of hope under the most desperate situations signifying the triumph of life over death. The abolishment of the 2020 Easter gatherings all over the world by the respective governments and churches, including Sunday/sabbath services and the Eucharistic celebration put to question the traditional personal contact characteristic of sacramental celebrations especially the sacrament of the Eucharist. This article interrogates the call by all Churches to suspend 2020 communal Easter celebrations in preference for live-streaming broadcastings. It interprets the April 2020 Easter experience as an invitation to reflect on new ways of theologizing sacraments in the post-COVID-19 eras without substituting the fundamental tenets that characterize the sacrament of the Eucharist. The article seeks to demonstrate that live streaming of the
Eucharist celebration cannot be equated to the real-time community celebration of the eucharist.