Kyle K. Schiefelbein-Guerero is the Steck-Miller Assistant Professor of Worship and Liturgy at United Lutheran Seminary. He earned his PhD in liturgical studies and systematic theology from the Graduate Theological Union. Currently, he serves as co-editor of the journal Teaching Theology & Religion and as convener of the Lutheran caucus of the North American Academy of Liturgy. He is a founding member of the Global Network for Digital Theology and an international network member of Churches Online in Times of Corona.

This book explores the church's engagement with worship and theology as a result of the pandemic, especially as it relates to digital worship and the means of grace. Organized around the four-fold pattern of Sunday worship-Gathering, Word, Meal, Sending-this collection of essays provides source material for both theological discernment and practical implementation. Topics include preparing and theologizing worship no matter the modality, engaging the questions of embodiment as related to the incarnation of Christ, and looking at the theology of church in a digital age. Renowned scholars in the field explore how online worship provides for the visibility of the gospel, how to lament and pray in the midst of pandemic and future crises, and how the mission of the church through its worship can continue regardless of physical restrictions. This timely collection appeals to researchers, professionals, and practitioners in the field.

PART I: GATHERING

Chapter 1: Worship in the Face of Corona: Ritual, Place, People, and Polymodality

Kyle K. Schiefelbein-Guerrero

Chapter 2: Physicality and Relatedness when God's People Gather

Kristin Johnston Largen

Chapter 3: "In All Times and Places": The Transcendence and Immanence of the Holy Spirit in a Diasporic Body of Christ

Kayko Driedger Hesslein

PART II: WORD

Chapter 4: Seeing God in Christ, Being Seen as the Body of Christ, Seeing Others as God's Beloved: A Lutheran Reflection on the Church Post-COVID-19

Vincent Evener

Chapter 5: Re-imagining Preaching in a Post-Pandemic Era

Karyn L. Wiseman

Chapter 6: Worship in the African American Tradition during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Quintin L. Robertson

Chapter 7: One Virus after Another: Composing the Weekly Intercessions

Gail Ramshaw

PART III: MEAL

Chapter 8: Holy Communion under Quarantine

Timothy J. Wengert

Chapter 9: Toward a More Accessible Body of Christ

Deanna A. Thompson

Chapter 10: Real Presence and Absent Bodies: Sacramental Practice Today

Dirk G. Lange

PART IV: SENDING

Chapter 11: Church May Be Digital, But Is the Clergy's Call?

Lisa Cressman

Chapter 12: One Body, One Spirit, One Hope: We Are Part of this, Together... Intercultural Connectedness as a Church after Corona

Sivin Kit