All Things are Now Ready


In Jesus’ parable of the Great Banquet, the servant is sent out to gather the invited guests saying, “Come for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17 KJV). Over the years I have heard various pastors invite their members to communion by saying, “Come, for all things are now ready.” It is with those same words that you are invited to partake of the banquet feast of the Lord’s Supper – Every Sunday – “Come, for all things are now ready.”

This summer we have studied the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper in our Sunday morning Bible classes. Since May we have been reading articles on the Lord’s Supper in our congregation’s monthly newsletter – The Flash. We have discussed having Every Sunday Communion in our Worship Committee, on the Church Council and in a Voters meeting. I have had many members talk to me about their excitement at being able to receive the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. All things are now ready.

Let’s review. Why are we offering Holy Communion so often? The answer is simple. The Lord’s Supper is pure Gospel. It is a tool the Holy Spirit uses to forgive our sins, strengthen our faith, celebrate our unity with fellow members and assure us of eternal life in heaven. Jesus never placed any limits on how often we could receive this life-giving food. By offering the Lord’s Supper every Sunday we are not forcing our members to receive it every Sunday. We are simply offering this precious gift of Christ’s love more frequently so that the Holy Spirit can do His work to a greater degree among us.

I really haven’t heard to many people ask me, “Why are we offering Communion every Sunday?” The more frequent question has been, “Why haven’t we been offering Every Sunday Communion before?” That’s exciting! Our members desire the forgiveness, peace, faith and unity that Christ’s body and blood give in His blessed Sacrament!

A very real question that I have struggled with is the addition of time to our worship services. We do not want to cut out anything from our Lutheran liturgy – the lessons from God’s Word, the children’s devotion, the sermon, hymn verses, etc. So, what we are planning on doing is having “traditional” Communion by kneeling at the Communion rail on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. Then will have “continuous” Communion on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Sundays. This will alleviate much of the time that Communion might take. We already do “continuous” Communion for festival services like Christmas Day, the Epiphany Festival and Easter Sunday. It may take a little getting use to.

We will still continue with the great liturgical variety we have come to know and love for our Epiphany worship services. We will be able to utilize Divine Service I, Divine Service II, the Service of Word and Sacrament, Morning Praise, etc.

One of the very cool things that I have especially excited about is that the very first time we get to celebrate Every Sunday Communion is September 9 at our Outdoor Service! How awesome will it be to have 200+ members gathered under the Pritchard Park Pavilion for worship and then come forward to receive Christ’s body and blood on their lips and in their heart?!

The Altar Guild has been working hard to prepare for Every Sunday Communion. The Church Council will have 2 Communion assistants at every worship service. The Worship Committee has discussed special music during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. But, I’m sure, there will be plenty of things we have not thought of. So, if you have compliments, I’m always willing to hear them. If you have any complaints, our Church President is willing to hear those. J

Seriously, this is an exciting time for the history and the future of our congregation! With the celebration of Every Sunday Communion, we are going back to the days of Martin Luther and the Reformers. With the celebration of Every Sunday Communion, we are telling our children and our visitors that we treasure this Sacrament highly. It gives us an opportunity every Sunday to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Come, for all things are now ready!

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