The Lord’s Supper: Christ’s Life-Giving Gift, “Often” Received

This is our pastor’s newsletter article for October, 2011.  The picture is also of our pastor praying the Proper Preface, which is part of the liturgy for the Sacrament of the Supper.

Recently during Sunday School, someone asked this question: “Why don’t we have communion every Sunday since that’s been the Church’s practice from the beginning?”  Wow, that question caught me “with my pants down.”  For it showed how I, as your pastor, have allowed us to practice the faith in a way different from the Church since the beginning.

So, here goes.  I’ll try to explain how we got to where we are and if we should change our current practice on the Lord’s Supper.

 

Should we even want to have the Lord’s Supper every Sunday?

A: Since the beginning of the New-Testament Church, Christians have never viewed the Lord’s Supper as an optional extra or something less significant than the other means of grace (Sermon, Absolution, and Holy Baptism).  The Supper is the center of our Lord’s New Covenant, where we receive His life-giving mercy.  And since we always need our Lord’s forgiveness and strength, we always need the Lord’s Supper in the same way that we need preaching and absolution.

 

What do the Scriptures say on this?

A: When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He gave the command, “Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25).  Jesus connects the Lord’s Supper to His remembrance, that is, the Gospel’s proclamation.  And if we’re supposed to remember Jesus every week when we gather as His people, then having the Lord’s Supper is simply an obvious conclusion toward that end.

Acts 2:42 tells us the first Christians “devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  For the first Christians, being spiritually fed in the Lord’s Supper was as much a part of their lives as being physically fed in their everyday meals.

That being said, the Bible does not “command” us to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week.  Neither does Scripture specifically command preaching to be in every service.  But Christ did tell His Church (through the Apostles) to celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:14-19) as He did to preach the Gospel (Luke 24:47).  The natural conclusion is to receive the Lord’s Supper every week, just as we hear the preached Word and receive the other gifts of God.

 

What do the Lutheran Confessions have say on this since that’s supposed to guide us as a Lutheran congregation?

A: Our Apology [Defense] of the Augsburg Confession: “We do not abolish the Mass [the Divine Service with the Lord’s Supper], but religiously keep and defend it.  Masses are celebrated among us every Lord’s Day and on the other festivals” (AP XXIV, para 1).

The norm for the Lutheran Church is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at least once a week.

 

I wasn’t born yesterday.  This has never been the practice of any congregation to which I have belonged.

A: The history behind infrequent reception of the Lord’s Supper has many origins.  In America, as our country expanded, congregations would have the Lord’s Supper only when they could get a pastor, according to the Lutheran understanding of Scripture and our Confessions.  Also, we are only a couple-of-hundred years past the beginning of a movement called “Pietism,” which downplayed the Sacraments’ importance and called attention to subjective “feelings.”  These two reasons (plus some others) have made the infrequent reception of the Lord’s Supper as normal for many of us.

 

Does our Synod have anything to say on this?  

A: The 1995 Convention of the LC-MS passed the following resolution, which other conventions have reaffirmed:

Whereas, the opportunity to receive the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day was a reality cherished by Luther and set forth clearly with high esteem by our Lutheran Confessions (Article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession and of the Apology); and

Whereas, our synod’s 1983 CTCR document on the Lord’s Supper (p.28) and our Synod’s 1986 [1991] translation of Luther’s Catechism both remind us that the Scriptures place the Lord’s Supper at the center of worship (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20,23), and not as an appendage or an occasional extra; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in convention encourages its pastors and congregations to study the scriptural, confessional, and historical witness to every Sunday communion with a view toward recovering the opportunity for receiving the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day.

 

But having the Lord’s Supper makes the service longer.

A: Here, we are dealing with the holy things of God.  What God wants to give us and what we spiritually need, even if we don’t always “feel” it, should be more valuable to us than having to “endure” a longer service.

 

But it seems so “Roman Catholic.”

A: The Roman Catholic Church has many practices and beliefs that are correct.  They believe in the Trinity.  They baptize babies.  The recognize Jesus as fully God and Man.  Here, the Roman Catholic Church still happens to preserve the historic and proper practice.  Here, we should be praising them for being right (and also Lutheran in practice!).

 

But won’t having the Lord’s Supper that often make it less special?

A: The Lord’s Supper is special because it is our Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.  That makes it valuable no matter how someone “feels.”  The issue is not with the value of the Lord’s Supper but our need to learn to value it properly.

 

Will we be voting on this as a congregation?

A: No.  As a Lutheran, LC-MS congregation, we subscribe to the Lutheran Confessions, which state weekly communion is to be our normal practice.  Even more, our church constitution says, “The Voters Assembly, however, shall not be empowered to decide anything contrary to the Lutheran Church (Article III) and any such decision shall be null and void.”

Based on our constitution, we can only approve to have weekly communion.  If we were to choose another practice, our own constitution would make that decision “null and void.”  So, why vote on something that we are supposed to be doing anyway?

 

So, will we be putting these Lutheran beliefs into practice?

A: Eventually, yes.  However, this depends on your response and the readiness of the congregation.  The board of Elders and I will not be heavy-handed on this.  We want you to view and receive the Lord’s Supper as a gift from God, which is what it is.  We do not want you to see it as something you “have to” do, but something you “get to” receive.