Your Summer Travel Guide for Communing at other Churches

The Christian Church has practiced closed Communion from the very beginning. Mt. Zion practices closed Communion. That means that our church communes only those who will take Communion for their spiritual benefit and those who confess the same doctrine that we confess. If we were to commune the unworthy, such as the un-instructed, the un-repentant, those who don’t believe the words of Institution, then we commune them for their spiritual harm and judgment (1 Corinthians 11). And, if we commune those of a different confession of faith, we deny our doctrine and give a wavering witness of the truth to the world.
So, the church has a duty to use great care when determining who is to take Communion with us.
At the same time, individual members of this church have a Christian duty to use great care when determining if they should take Communion at other churches or from pastors of other churches. Sadly, most churches practice some variation of open Communion, which means the responsibility falls on the individual. It is a serious responsibility.
Here are the basic guidelines for determining if you should take Communion:

1. Is this even Communion? In other words, if the church denies that the bread and wine are the body and the blood, then it is not Communion. It is mere bread and wine/grape juice. It is nothing more than an empty ceremony. Obviously, you should not participate.
2. Will I take this Communion for my benefit or not? Basically this means that you shouldn’t take Communion if: A) You are not sorry for your sins or if you plan to continue in some obvious sin, such as drunkenness, living together with a boyfriend or girlfriend, stealing, skipping church, holding a grudge against a fellow Christian, etc. B) You don’t believe it is the body and blood or that it is for the forgiveness of your sin. The catechism says this is the only requirement for a worthy Communion, that you believe the words, “given and shed for you for the remission of sins.” If you believe these words, then you should take Communion. You are worthy and well prepared. There are no other requirements. But if you do not believe these words, then you should not take Communion.

   So, if you are not repentant and believing, then you are not taking Communion for your benefit, and thus you sin against the body and blood and risk eating and drinking to your spiritual harm. Again, see 1 Corinthians 11 for more on this. Every time you commune, this is the first and most important question to ask. But wait, it is not the only question to ask!

3. Will I deny the truth if I take this Communion? This is trickier and more often overlooked. Understand that when you take Communion anywhere you are making a statement. You are confessing that you are in agreement with everything that particular church and pastor teaches or that you at least do not think the differences are important. You join yourself to them. So, for instance, if you take Communion at a church that denies infant baptism, you join yourself to that teaching, and you confess by your actions that infants cannot believe in Jesus or that they can be saved apart from Christ. If you take Communion at a Catholic funeral, you are confessing that salvation is partly by good works and that you submit to the authority of the pope. (Actually, the Catholic Church has denied that Lutherans are even members of the true church so, by communing there, you tacitly deny your own membership in Christ’s church!) If you take Communion at an ELCA church, you are agreeing with women’s and homosexual ordination. The truth is that actions often speak louder than words. Obviously, you cannot make such confessions because they are not good and true. And, what is more, if you come back to Mt. Zion and take Communion, you make yourself a hypocrite. You would have two contrary confessions.
   Here is the long and short of it. By and large, in the United States, the churches at which you should consider taking Communion are churches of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. There might be some churches in other Lutheran church bodies, like the Wisconsin Synod, that are OK, but if you are not comfortable questioning the individual pastor and assessing the doctrine, then it is probably safest to just wait a week and hurry back to Mt. Zion. Taking Communion is never an emergency. Besides, the non-LCMS churches at which you can take Communion may not give you Communion anyway!
   Finally, I need to be quite honest with you. I will not even commune at all LCMS churches. Deeply regrettable, but sadly true. Many LCMS churches are publically practicing open Communion, requiring only that communicants be baptized and believe in the “real presence.” Well, almost every Christian in America has been baptized and can say they believe in some sort of “real presence” at Communion! So, you could very well find yourself being joined with any number of contradictory confessions at such LCMS altars. It should not be this way. But, it is.

I hope this helps when you visit churches this summer, or any time. Remember, you do not have to take Communion. It is not a requirement. You can just listen to the sermon and sing the hymns. If you believe in Jesus, you are forgiven and accepted. Your family might not like it. They might think evil of you or accuse you falsely. But, this is an important part of confessing Christ alone as your Savior. A good little tool to help find solid Lutheran churches is www.lutheranliturgy.org. And finally, if you decide to take Communion at another church, call ahead or arrive no later than 15 minutes early to meet the pastor.

As always, I’m here for any questions,

Pastor Melius