WHAT YOUR EATING AND DRINKING AT THIS ALTAR CONFESSES



Our Lord speaks. We listen. The stance of faith is open to receive all

that the Lord gives in His Word. Of the Sacrament of the Altar, our

Lord says: "Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. This

do in remembrance of me....This is my blood of the new testament,

which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you

drink it, in remembrance of me" (see St.Matthew 26:26-28; St.Mark

14:22-24; St.Luke 22:l9-20; I Corinthians ll:23-24). Jesus' words make

the Sacrament what it is. Without his words there is no Sacrament.



We may bring no contradiction of Christ and His words into this Holy

Communion of His body and blood. Here we enter into the very Holy of

Holies of the New Testament-Jesus' very body and blood. Here the body

and blood born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate,

risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven is put into our

mouths. This is the most intimate union of the believer with the

Lord. Eating and drinking Jesus' body and blood is a proclamation of

faith. The Lord's Apostle writes "For as often as you eat this bread

and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (I

Corinthians ll:26). It is the prayer of the same Apostle that

Christians "with one mind and mouth glorify the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ (Romans l5:6). We may not come together in the

Lord's Supper with differing minds and mouths.



In keeping with our Lord's words and gifts and in conformity with the

apostolic practice of the church catholic, the Lutheran

Church-Missouri Synod practices closed communion. Out of reverence for

the Lord's body and blood and out of sincere love that seeks to guard

the spiritual well-being of all who would commune, we invite to the

altar those who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit, have been taught the Lord's words, and are currently

joined to an altar where Christ's words have free course, undiminished

by human error or novelty.



The church has no mandate from the Lord to make things up as she goes

along. Even as the Apostle Paul writes "I received from the Lord that

which I also delivered to you "(I Corinthians ll:23), so the church

can hand on only that which she has been given. We have been given the

Sacrament of our Lord's body and blood. How we are to receive and use

this gift to our spiritual good, we know from the Lord's Word:

"Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in

an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the

Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so eat and drink of that

cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks

judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord's body" (I Corinthians

ll:27-29). In keeping with these apostolic instructions, the Large

Catechism declares "For we do not intend to admit to the sacrament and

administer it to those who do not know what they seek or why they

come" ( Tappert, The Book of Concord, p.447).



Those who are to be admitted to the Lord's Supper are first to be

baptized and instructed in the way of the "all things" which our Lord

gives His church (see St.Matthew 28:l9-20) so that they know what it

is that they receive in the Sacrament (the true body and blood of the

Lord) and how they are to receive it (repentance and faith). This

happens through catechesis (teaching), the fulfillment of this

catechesis is celebrated in Confirmation where the catechumen pledges

"to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer

all, even death, rather than fall away from it" (Lutheran Worship,

p.206). If one departs from this confession and Church, he may no

longer eat and drink at this altar.



While we may not presume to judge the faith of another, the Scriptures

do call us to judge between varying confessions of the faith (see

Romans l6:l7). In practicing closed communion, we are not entering

into a judgement concerning the saving faith of individual members of

other churches. We rejoice over all those who have saving faith in

Jesus Christ. Fellowship at the altar is not established by faith in

the heart but by sharing in a common confession of faith anchored in

"the Gospel preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and

that the sacraments administered in accordance with the divine Word"(

Augsburg Confession VII,2-3; Tappert, The Book of Concord,

p.32).Without agreement in "doctrine and all its articles" (Formula of

Concord X,6; Tappert, The Book of Concord, p.616) there is no

fellowship, no oneness in the "holy things" of Word and Sacrament.



We are painfully aware of the barriers that outwardly divide Christ's

people and we pray week after week in the Divine Service "For the

well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all." It is a

cause of great sadness that all Christians are not yet united in God's

Word and therefore are unable to receive Christ's body and blood

together. Where there is no unity in the Word, there can be no unity

in the Sacrament.



As a called and ordained servant of the Word, the pastor is the

"steward of the mysteries of God" (I Corinthians 4:l-2) in the midst

of the congregation. The pastor exercises this stewardship by giving

out Jesus' body and blood in accordance with His words. The Lord's

Supper is good medicine. It is the medicine that carries forgiveness

of sins, life, and salvation. Good medicine provides healing when it

is taken according to the directives of the physician. If good

medicine used apart from the instructions of the physician, the

results can be hazardous. The same applies to the Lord's Supper. We

sincerely want all people to receive the Lord's body and blood with

us, but we want them to receive this potent gift in accord with the

words of our Lord. As a steward of the mysteries of God, our pastor

stands ready to assist you in preparing to come to the Lord's Table

with us by teaching you His Word.



- The Rev. John T. Pless

  University Lutheran Chapel

  Minneapolis, MN

  Eastertide l993