This is the fifth installment in a series on the sections of our weekly worship service. (See the June – September Pastor’s Corner for the previous installments.) My intention for this series is to help you better understand not only what we do in our worship service, but also why we do it.

            I finished last time with the Eucharistic Prayer, but I did not say much about the prayer itself. So a few words about that before I move on to the distribution. In the earliest church it seems that the presider improvised a prayer of thanksgiving on the spot. One writing from the second century says that the presider prays this prayer “according to his ability,” which indicates that some were better at this than others! By the fourth century a standard pattern had evolved, which began with remembering with thanksgiving all of God’s saving deeds throughout history. It continued with the words of institution, specifically remembering the last supper and Jesus words there. These words are taken from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. This is then followed, historically, by offering the bread and wine as a sacrifice to God, a calling down of the Holy Spirit into the elements, intercession on behalf of those who will receive the sacrament, and finally a doxology praising the triune God.

            At the Reformation, Luther removed most of the Eucharistic prayer, leaving only the words of institution. These were no longer said as a prayer, but as a proclamation to the assembly. Luther did this because he rejected the idea that Holy Communion is a sacrifice we offer to God, and the medieval Eucharistic prayer was full of sacrifice language. Luther insisted that, on the contrary, Holy Communion is something that God does for us. In modern times, beginning in the 1950s, Lutherans have restored the Eucharistic prayer to the liturgy, but without any reference to sacrifice. The only hint of sacrifice in our prayers these days is mention of us offering our thanks and praise to God. (See Psalm 116.) The words of institution have been returned to their earlier place within the Eucharistic prayer, addressed to God as the culmination of God’s saving deeds that we give thanks for. There continues to be an option in the ELW (as in the LBW) for only using the words of institution instead of the Eucharistic Prayer. We exercise this option at Grace during the Sundays in Lent.

            The Eucharistic prayer is followed immediately by the Lord’s Prayer, and then by an invitation to the table. (“The gifts of God for the people of God.”) You will have noticed that the distribution of Communion is done in two different ways at Grace. The early service uses continuous communion while the late services uses “tables,” where those who commune come up to the altar rail. Neither way is better, or more correct, though the “tables” practice has a long history in the Lutheran church. What is important is that the sacrament is offered “in both kinds,” and that the words, “the body/blood of Christ for you” are said to each person. What is meant by “both kinds” is that both the bread and wine are distributed to all who commune. This may seem unnecessary to mention, until you realize that at the time of the Reformation the normal practice in the western church was to give lay people only the bread. And if you have ever attended a service at a Roman Catholic church, you may have seen that this practice still continues in some parishes, even though the 2^nd Vatican Council in the 1960s encouraged distribution in both kinds. This is one of the reforms that Luther advocated, following the lead of the 15^th century Czech reformer, Jan Hus.

            Most important for Luther, though, were the words, “the body/blood of Christ,” and “for you.” Let me explain. One of the key historical differences between Lutherans and other Protestant groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation has been in their respective understandings of the nature of Holy Communion. Most Protestants have understood the bread and wine to be merely symbols of Christ’s body and blood, and believe the main thing we’re doing in Communion to be remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. Luther, however, insisted that the bread and wine in this sacrament are truly (literally!) the body and blood of Christ. This is something Luther did not want to change. What he objected to in the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, which was only 300 years old in Luther’s day, was its dependence upon ancient pagan philosophy in its explanation of how the bread and wine were Christ’s body and blood. Luther thought they tried to say too much. He preferred to say that Christ’s body and blood were present “in, with, and under” the elements of bread and wine. But, importantly, truly present! This makes Holy Communion, for Lutherans, a significant and very personal instance of the gospel promises. To each person is proclaimed the good news that Christ is here for you – unconditionally, “believe it or not,”¹ for you and for your salvation, to forgive you, reconcile you with God, and give you life that really is life. And because we do this in community, we hear those same words said to the people next to us, or in front of and behind us in the case of continuous Communion. We are in this together.

            Where will such marvelous good news lead us? Stay tuned next month for a consideration of the Sending portion of the liturgy.

+ Pastor Chris Repp

            I am going to interrupt my regularly scheduled articles on the liturgy this month in order to talk about stewardship. It’s that time of year again when the council and the finance committee are working to prepare the budget for the coming year. Stewardship is a topic we’ve been neglecting at Grace for a while now, so I think I need to take this opportunity to help get us back on track.

            This October marks the end of my third year as the pastor of Grace. I am at a place now where I finally feel that the transition period is over and that we have settled in together as pastor and congregation. I am no longer the new kid on the block. I’ve gotten to know many of you very well, even as I realize that there are still some of you I need to know better. I expect that that will happen, if my previous experience in Carbondale is any indication. We have been fully staffed for a year and a half now. For this first time since I’ve been with you, all of our staff at the beginning of this program year are veterans. And I think we make a pretty good team!

            On top of that our congregation continues to be served in many and various ways by a dedicated cadre of folks in many different areas. I continue to be thankful for those of you who have taken on significant responsibilities in this congregation. You know who you are. And if you’re not one of them at the moment, for whatever reason, I want you to at least be aware of just how many people give so generously of their time and talents behind the scenes at Grace, to say nothing of their financial contributions, and that they seem genuinely happy to do so. I can say now with confidence about you what you have been telling me since before I came, that Grace is a vital, engaged, and dedicated community of faith where the gospel of Jesus Christ is shared and lived out on a daily basis.

            What is also true is that Grace is not what it once was in terms of membership and worship attendance. And that puts us squarely in a trend that is affecting churches across denominational lines. Fewer people attend church now than in the past, and there is a trend even among those who do attend to do so less frequently. Pollsters tell us there are various contributing factors to this trend. One is that people are generally more affluent and able to travel more. That takes them out of town more that previous generations. Another factor is the growth of youth sports and other activities being scheduled on Sunday mornings or over entire weekends. Still other factors are a growing alienation from institutions of all kinds, together with a rising do-it-yourself mentality that leads some to seek to shape their own spiritual lives apart from traditional corporate religion.

            Whatever the reasons, the bottom line at Grace is that membership and worship attendance has been steadily declining over the past decade, and that has some clear implications for our financial bottom line. Our budget has outpaced our income since I have been your pastor. We managed to stay in the black for the first year only because we were not fully staffed, but for the past two years we have had to dip significantly into our reserves. We have done so in the hope that once we made it through the pastoral transition we might be able to turn things around. But this is not a sustainable model. “Something’s gotta give,” as they say.

            I have been told that Grace has been through times like this in the past and that when the need was made known, the people of Grace have responded. So it’s time once again to draw attention to our need, to remind ourselves of all that we value in this community of faith, and to trust that a faithful way forward may be found. As I finish this column, I’ve got the first verse of one of our hymns in my head reminding me that we are not the first to face challenges in the church, nor will be the last, and that God is with us on this journey.
The church of Christ, in ev’ry age, beset by change, but Spirit-led,
must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead.
May the God of resurrection and new life continue to lead us by the Holy Spirit and sustain us in grace.

+ Pastor Repp