Grace, peace and mercy be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As seasons change our focus on many things seems also to change. Time appears to get shorter as daylight hours wane and days grow a bit cooler. The color of leaves change and the newly laid carpet of fallen leaves on the lawn bring both beautiful sights and the chore of raking. As the change of seasons progresses, here in the church we begin looking at a change of the church year and church season as well. The end of November brings Thanksgiving, and the reminder of the thanks we owe to God for the grace bestowed on us here in these United States, yet there is a far more important understanding of thanksgiving we at church need to consider.

Question 285 in "Luther’s Small Catechism" asks: "What are some other names for the Sacrament of the Altar?" Answer: "This sacrament is also called the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Table, Holy Communion, the Breaking of Bread, and the Eucharist." Under the answer given there are five Bible passages listed, one of which is Matthew 26:26: "Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is My body’." There is a note under this that reads, "Eucharist comes from the Greek word for ‘giving thanks’." As Jesus gave thanks for the gifts God gave so too do we give thanks for the gift of our Lord’s Body and Blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.  

We give thanks to God for the faith shared as we commune together. But what of this communing together? A good Lutheran question to ask here is "What does this mean?" In light of the doctrine and practice of close communion how can we talk of communing together?

Professor Jeff Gibbs also wrote, "But this much is clear. Paul did not tolerate doctrinal diversity. His teaching was that of one sent by Christ Himself and his hearers were to accept it as such. Moreover, the Eucharist was the congregation’s sacrament of unity, and divisions were to be dealt with before mutual communing took place. The Biblical evidence leads to this conclusion: unity in apostolic doctrine is appropriate and necessary among those who commune together at the Lord’s Supper."

What this says is that when we commune together it is a communion of faith. Our practice of close communion is a statement of faith. The church is no place for division and as we come to the Lord’s Table we are saying we agree in faith in all doctrines taught at that altar (in that church). Close communion is not a denial of Christianity or of faith on those denied, it is a recognition that there are divisions within church bodies that dictate we can not commune together because we do disagree and we should not kneel, or stand, before God and in communing together say we agree and thus lie before God.

The Eucharist is indeed a giving of thanks to God for His greatest gift in Christ Jesus as we partake of His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. As we celebrate with thanksgiving the gifts He gives we do so in light of our sin and realize that this is but a foretaste of the feast to come in His heavenly and holy kingdom where all of His saints will be joining in a true confession of His grace!

In His Name

Pastor Jim Hennig