The Rev. Mark Surburg has written a helpful overview of celebrating the sacrament of the altar every Sunday: viewed in light of scripture, tradition, the Lutheran confessions, and contemporary American Lutheran practice.
You can read it here.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The orthodox Brandenburg (Lutheran) Communion snapshot provided by Rev. Surburg, one will note, prominently documents a resort to the very dominical "This do" common Cup, by all involved.
ReplyDeleteSo what's happened in the interim?
Let's be honest. Other usages inside the Lutheran communio are driven by a protestant fear of the real presence of bacteria; and far less by a fear of God, and the appreciation of God's healing and saving Presence among His people at the Altar. Yet in nearly 2000 years (and counting), no epidemic has ever been unleashed by the choice of chalice (except maybe the crushin' Prussion Union). The existing over-bearing and over-mandating government, in our post-Christian America, would eagerly be at our throats, you can be sure, if danger abounded.
It isn't the case.
Still...
"Yes indeedy, Lord, we'll peek at the Brazen serpent with trusting hearts in what You've commanded to do; but give us a slight breather, so as to inject this venom-antidote, conveniently plastic-packaged in the individualized syringes, first."
Our "Lutheran" behavior speaks to our heart’s true faith; which faith appears to rest squarely in the hermetically sealed and that which is towered like Babel's architecture ... otherwise, in the absence of such devices to steel our courage, many of the Lutherans would be Eucharestic tee-totalers..
But I understand. “Primum non nocere.” I do get it. But there is far less harm in imbibing the Chalice's Contents (upper case "C" fully intended), than breathing the air in the nave with all its sniffling, snuffling and coughing.
So to be consistent, maybe we should insist on the congregational donning of 3-M surgical masks, because the Lutheran Church is Pneumatical.
Your (unworthy) servant,
Herr Doktor