Why would a Lutheran Church want to celebrate Holy Communion at every Sunday worship service?

In my Maundy Thursday sermon I preached about Communion: “Why do we need this meal? Why do we need it tonight? And tomorrow night? And the next? And again on Easter morning? Why do we desire to have the Lord’s Supper so often that this fall we are planning on offering communion every Sunday?”

There are a growing number of our members who are asking to have Communion every worship service. Here are some of the things I have heard recently. From people taking our Bible Inquirer’s Class to join Epiphany: “If we say we have the real thing in the Lord’s Supper, then why don’t we take it as often as possible?” From a homebound member: “When I worked three weekends a month, it may have been months before I was at church on a Communion Sunday.” From a member leaving church just last week: “Do we have Communion next Sunday?” I said: “No, it’s the fifth Sunday of the month. But soon we’ll have it every Sunday.” “That’ll be good,” he replied.

We already celebrate the Lord’s Supper in all of our Festival Services – Epiphany, Holy Week, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. We would not have Communion, though, for our midweek Advent or Lenten services, since those are more devotional in nature.

There are plenty of reasons why we are considering having Communion every Sunday. We will explore those reasons over the next few months in a series of articles in our Flash newsletter. We will also have a Bible study on the Lord’ Supper on Sunday mornings during the summer.

Some of the first questions people might ask are: “Why should we do it? Do other WELS churches do this? Hasn’t the Lutheran Church always been offering Holy Communion only once or twice a month?”

The answer to the last question is a resounding, NO!  The Lutheran Church is a sacramental Church. We believe Baptism and Holy Communion have real power from God to give forgiveness, new life and salvation.

Therefore, the historic practice of the Lutheran Church has been to offer the Lord’s Supper every week.

Our Lutheran Confessions prove this. The Lutheran Confessions were written between 1530-1580. They show that the Lutheran faith comes entirely from the Scriptures. These writings declare, “We do not abolish [the Lord’s Supper] but religiously keep it and defend it. In our church [Communion] is celebrated every Sunday and on other festivals.” From its beginning the Lutheran church celebrated the Lord’s Supper at least weekly. Sometimes daily.

That leads us to ask, “What happened? When did things change?” The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) happened. During this war several European nations fought each other. They fought most of the war in Germany, the heartland of Lutheranism. Invading Roman Catholic forces, along with other Protestant forces targeted Lutherans. They destroyed churches and killed or exiled pastors. Without leadership the Lutheran Church struggled. Many Lutheran congregations fell apart. Many Lutherans went months or even years without going to church or receiving the Lord’s Supper.

In the 1700’s another event challenged the proper practice of the Lord’s Supper in the Lutheran Church. This was Pietism. Pietism started out well. Pietism tried to rekindle faith by emphasizing Bible study, powerful preaching, and more noticeable Christian living. Unfortunately, Pietism looked inward at our own spiritual abilities to accomplish this. It forgot to look outward at Christ’s power in the gospel. Pietism first made the argument that if you took the Lord’s Supper every week, you would take it for granted. While that may happen, it will only happen if you focus too much on yourself. Keeping the focus on Christ — His promise, His command and His blessings — will guard us from abusing the Sacrament.

At the same Pietism came, Rationalism also flourished. Rationalism only accepted what makes sense to human reason. This idea infiltrated the whole Church but especially Lutheranism. Rationalism could not explain Holy Communion. That led rationalist churches to neglect the Sacrament.   

Most German Lutheran immigrants came to America150-250 years ago. Most of these Lutherans came with these anti-Sacramental influences. Until recently, Lutherans in America never celebrated Communion every Sunday. In recent years, the Lutheran Church, in general, has turned its attention to its historic practice of offering the Lord’s Supper weekly.

We would not be alone in offering the Lord’s Supper weekly. It is a growing movement among WELS churches to return to the historic practice of weekly Holy Communion. For example, Bethany Lutheran Church in Kenosha and St. John’s in Oak Creek, practice every Sunday Communion. Though, other nearby WELS congregations see that it is right for them to remain at twice a month for receiving Holy Communion. That is the wonderful thing about Christian freedom!

Of course, Jesus never commanded that a Christian had to take the Lord’s Supper once a week. Yet, offering Communion weekly does agree with His command to “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). The King James Version which many of us grew up using translated this verse: “This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” So if our congregation chose to offer Holy Communion at every weekend worship service, it would be more than just returning to the historic Lutheran practice. It would be an excellent way of carrying out our Savior’s invitation to receive His true body and blood for our forgiveness and salvation as often as it is offered.

Also, offering every Sunday Communion does not mean that everyone has to take Communion every worship service. For whatever reason, you may choose to take the Lord’s Supper less frequently. However, we do want to offer it to those who do desire Christ’s body and blood on a weekly basis. Again, that is the wonderful thing about Christian freedom!

After thorough study and discussion of this doctrine and practice, the pastor and Church Council are planning on offering every Sunday Communion starting in September. That gives us plenty of time to ask questions, offer answers, and as always – search the Scriptures for the truth, examine our Lutheran Confessions for explanation and study history for implementation.

#1 in the series on Every Sunday Communion