On a recent Sunday morning at Grace Church in Ridgewood, the service closely resembled how the congregation worshiped before the pandemic.
Senior pastor Aaron Syvertsen preached a sermon, as usual. And members sang Christmas hymns in the church decorated with garland and light-adorned trees.
But one thing was different: Instead of passing around two plates with Holy Communion wafers and grape juice, the worshippers at the non-denominational church were given pre-filled, sealed individual cups.
The church began purchasing the pre-filled, single-serve plastic Communion cups in 2020 after returning to in-person worshipping after COVID restrictions began lifting.
In years past, the church only celebrated Communion on the first Sunday of each month. Now, it’s a weekly practice. Previous concerns about receiving Communion every week — that it would lose its meaning, or become too ritualistic — quickly disappeared, the pastor said.
“Since we had those several months of going virtual, and not being able to do Communion in person, there really was a spiritual hunger to come back and to do it,” Syvertsen said.
As worshipers return to the pews in larger numbers this year to celebrate the Christmas season, many are finding the Communion practices have significantly changed in their churches.
Some churches have returned to pre-COVID traditions of sharing sacred Communion wine from a shared cup. But, other churches — including many Catholic churches in New Jersey — have not brought back Communion wine to their services as concerns continue about how to distribute it without contributing to spreading COVID and other illnesses.
Some denominations have also embraced the use of individual, pre-filled and disposable cups as a way to distribute Communion wafers and wine or grape juice safely.
Holy Communion, which is also called the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper, is a crucial part of worship for many in the Christian faith. It usually includes bread and wine — or wafers and grape juice in some churches — that is consecrated and shared, as the Bible says Jesus did at the Last Supper.
The specifics of what happens to the bread and wine, and exactly what Communion means, can differ depending on the denomination. And, as COVID restrictions continue to lift, many churches have split on when and how to incorporate previous Communion traditions back into their services.
Turning to single-serve cups
The use of pre-filled Communion cups has exploded in popularity in recent years, distributors says.
The small cups are usually sealed in plastic. In one version, a partly clear film is on top, covering a round wafer. Beneath the wafer is a foil top, which covers the grape juice.
Another version has single-serve plastic cups designed to look like mini chalices.
“It’s unexpected how strong demand has remained for the pre-filled cup, to the point that we’re trying to increase the amount of capacity we have,” said Brian Brown, the director of Lifeway Worship, which distributes the Nashville-based company’s Fellowship Cup.
Some churches say they are using the pre-filled cups because they are more sanitary and reduce concerns about spreading COVID.
But, for some churches, the pre-filled cups cut down on the time it takes to prepare Communion and are viewed as a more convenient and efficient option.
“We expected more churches to return to traditional methods,” Brown said, “but that has not materialized in the way we thought it would.”
Lifeway Worship also sells other Communion products, including boxes of individual gluten-free wafers, and is working on a gluten-free version of the pre-filled cups, Brown said.
The use of the pre-filled Communion cups is an added cost for some churches and has raised some environmental concerns about throwing out large amounts of plastic each week.
At Grace Church in Ridgewood, Syvertsen said the cost of Communion roughly increased from about $10 to $15 per month to about $200 per month once the church started purchasing pre-filled cups and began celebrating Communion weekly.
The environmental impact is also a concern. If Grace Church makes the switch to pre-packaged Communion permanent, church officials said they hope to look into ways to be more mindful of the waste.
Grace Church in Ridgewood uses Fellowship Cups, sealed prefilled cups and soft wafers, for their communion during church service Sunday, December 18, 2022.Jeff Rhode | For NJ Advance Medi
Chicago-based Blessed Communion, founded by Israel Idonije in 2009, is adding new equipment next year after recent growth in sales of its Communion cup.
Idonije, the company’s CEO and a former NFL defensive end, estimates business has at least doubled since COVID. But he declined to provide specific numbers.
He believes the switch to pre-filled Communion cups will be permanent for a large number of churches.
“It’s hard to go back to pouring hundreds of little cups,” he said, “when you can have such a simple solution.”
Daniel Belko, the director of marketing at Concordia Supply, said his company sells two types of Communion cups to more than 40,000 churches.
“Every time people see it for the first time, and actually use it, they love it and just feel like it’s more elegant and a better Communion experience,” Belko said. He estimated at least 80% of churches that buy directly from the company plan to continue using the pre-filled cups.
For some churches, the pre-filled cups are an increased, but worthwhile, financial expense.
In Camden County, Rev. Chris Heckert of Haddonfield United Methodist said his church’s switch to pre-filled cups has resulted in a 100% cost increase. In previous years, members would sponsor communion by purchasing bread, cutting it up and placing it on the altar, he said.
Now, the church is absorbing the cost of Communion by purchasing the pre-filled cups. But, the “preparation is a million times easier,” he said.
Heckert, who has celiac disease and uses gluten-free bread in his church, said it was sometimes difficult to find the right bread for Communion.
But now, only one loaf of bread is bought and placed up front with the filled chalice for consecration, he said. The change has also made the process more efficient because members no longer come to the front of the church to receive Communion. Instead, the pre-filled cups are passed out.
“I actually like this better, not just because of the time element, but because it actually feels like we’re all united in the experience,” Heckert said, noting the church can receive Communion at the same time.
There is a small downside. “It is not the most tasty thing that I’ve had,” he said. “You definitely take a hit in the taste factor, but the purpose is to commune with God and with one another.”
Aaron Syvertsen, Senior Pastor at Grace Church in Ridgewood holds a Fellowship Cup, a sealed prefilled cup and soft wafer, for their Communion at the church service.Jeff Rhode | For NJ Advance Medi
At St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Montclair, the pre-filled cups are primarily used for safety reasons, said Lillie Johnson Edwards, the chair of the church’s leadership board.
The church tried using the cups several years ago, before COVID, for health reasons, but decided it wasn’t worth the added expense, she said.
“Now, it is necessary to use it,” Edwards said. “There is no discussion of cost when we’re talking about the safety of the congregation.”
The cups are placed in snack-sized plastic bags for disposal after they’re used, so any remaining drops of juice won’t stain the pews.
Any permanent changes to Communion would be at the pastor’s discretion, Edwards said.
Reconsidering the wine chalice
Many Catholic churches in New Jersey have not used wine in Holy Communion since the start of the pandemic.
Only bread is currently distributed in Catholic parishes in at least four of the five dioceses in New Jersey — the Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Paterson, Metuchen and Trenton. The Diocese of Camden did not respond to a request for comment on its Holy Communion policy.
The Body of Christ, or the bread, is still administered in the traditional way, with parishioners approaching the priest, deacon or minister, to receive it, said Rayanne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton. But, the Blood of Christ, or the wine, is not distributed.
The wine was previously distributed by drinking from a common chalice, or cup.
“It is likely that the Eucharistic Bread alone will be distributed for the foreseeable future in order to remain sensitive to public health concerns,” said Jai Agnish, a spokesman for the Diocese of Paterson.
The Catholic church teaches that the fullness of the presence of Christ is received in either the bread or the wine, so removal of the wine does not create a theological issue, diocese officials said.
“The congregation is not deprived of anything essential by not receiving the Precious Blood,” said Anthony Kearns, a spokesman for the Diocese of Metuchen.
For Episcopalians, Communion practices can vary from church to church, said Steve Welsh, a spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.
Some Episcopal churches have not returned to using the chalice for Communion, he said. But, others offer two chalices: one for drinking the wine, and one for intinction, or the act of dipping the bread in the wine.
“It’s important to understand that the Episcopal Church is not monolithic, so you’re going to find varieties at different churches that you go to,” he said.
Intinction was generally a discouraged practice before the pandemic, said Nina Nicholson, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. At her church, if someone wants a wafer dipped into the Communion wine, the priest will do it before handing it over, she said.
“The nature of this pandemic has just been that we try to adapt when we have to adapt,” Nicholson said.
For some churches, Communion might never return to pre-pandemic practices.
“Let’s just say I’m not in a hurry to go back,” said Heckert, of Haddonfield United Methodist.
It’s unclear if and when Communion will be fully restored for the Catholic churches in the state.
Since the pandemic started, the Archdiocese of Newark, which includes parishes in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties, has not offered consecrated wine to parishioners during Communion, said Maria Margiotta, a spokeswoman.
“The Archdiocese of Newark is looking into the best way to return this in the near future,” she said.
At Grace Church in Ridgewood, there are no immediate plans to bring back the previous way of receiving Communion, said Syvertsen, the senior pastor.
But, celebrating Communion every week has become more important for church members, especially as the world begins emerging from the COVID pandemic and faces other challenges.
Receiving Communion is a “pretty crucial and beautiful reminder for us to retain that hope in what seems to be an increasingly hopeless situation in the world around us,” he added.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
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