Holy Communion is celebrated each Sunday at Trinity in the glad confidence that our Lord, as His Words say, gives not only bread and wine, but also His true Body and Blood for us to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord invites to His table those who believe He is really present, repent of all sin, and set aside any refusal for forgive as He forgives us. When we receive Holy Communion, we publicly declare our agreement with the teachings of the church from which we receive it. Accordingly, if you are not yet a member of this congregation, a sister congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (or a Lutheran church body in full fellowship with the LCMS,) or if you have not previously spoken to Pastor about Holy Communion, we would ask that you please refrain from coming forward to receive Communion until you have first spoken with Pastor.

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(The following is excerpted from a "Ask the Pastor" column in the April 2004 Trinitarian, Trinity's newsletter.)
 
"I'm offended!  What do you mean I can't come to Communion?"  Even if not asked me directly, that's a sentiment which likely often has been in the minds of visitors to our church.  The statement in the front of every week's bulletin does say, after all, "If you are not a member of ... the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, or have never spoken to Pastor Maton about Holy Communion, please refrain from coming forward for Communion until you have first spoken with him."  To many, that Communion policy sounds exclusionary, unloving and, for that matter, down right mean. 

 So why do we do this?  Well, for a few reasons.  First, the church has been doing it for almost 2000 years.  The practice known as "Closed Communion," or Communing only with those with whom you are in doctrinal agreement, has been practiced from day one in the church.  It is still the practice of the great majority of Christian churches (including the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches).  On top of that, "Closed Communion" is the stated practice of our own church body.  The Missouri Synod in convention has repeatedly reaffirmed the practice of Closed Communion and the doctrine behind it.  As a pastor LC-MS, I have voluntarily agreed to uphold the doctrine and practices of our church body.  No LC-MS pastor, myself included, can with integrity, knowingly act and teach contrary to what he has voluntarily agreed.

 And if those two reasons don't settle the matter for you ...  Good for you!  They are pretty lousy as far as arguments go.  You are right to protest that the "we've always done it that way" –  while an argument not to be simply ignored, is also not an argument sufficient to justify an action.  After all, lots of Christians practiced slavery for a long time.  Likewise, the "LC-MS says so" hardly closes the deal.  God's word, not man's, must always be the last word (as far as that goes, it ought to be the fist too).
 All of which is brings us to the ultimate reasons, we, along with our Synod and the great majority of Christian's throughout the world, practice Closed Communion – because we care about the Spiritual well-being of those who commune at our altar and because we take the truth of God's word very seriously.

 First (at the risk of sounding cliche), because we care.  Practicing Closed Communion is the "loving" thing to do.  To the charge of being unloving, ask yourself this: is it truly loving to let someone miss out on the greatest, most precious gifts God gives to His church?  Hopefully you answered with a resounding "No!"  In regard to communion, what could be more unloving than allowing someone to come to the Lord's Table week after week without knowing just what God offers there?  When week after week, Jesus offers his very body and blood for life and salvation, what could be more unloving than to let someone from, for example, the local non-denominational church come to the Lord's Table thinking all they get is bread, wine, and a pious way to remember what Jesus did long ago.  To say "Come one and all," without prior instruction and examination, would not truly include anyone.  Rather, it would  in fact exclude all who are uninstructed from receiving the fullness of what God wants to give.  (Not to mention the bit about "eating and drinking damnation on oneself" in 1 Cor. 11!)   Granted, immersed in our culture's "how dare you tell me I'm wrong" kind of thinking, some folks will inevitably be offended.  To that all I can say is that there are worse things than ruffling a few feathers.  For starters, things like persisting in false doctrine and letting people miss out on the bread of life offered in the Lord's Supper.

       To the second and related point about taking God's word seriously, we must not forget the Lord's Supper is more than about just individuals.   Scripture makes very clear the nature of the Lord's Supper as the sacrament of Christian unity.  In coming to the Lord's Table,  we not only to receive our Lord's Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.  We also publicly profess our unity with those with whom we commune and our agreement with the teachings of the churches where we commune.  It simply would not be honest for a Lutheran to kneel down next to a Baptist who denies the power of baptism to create new life or next to a Roman Catholic who insists human tradition stands on par with the written Word of God.  It is certainly our Lord's will that we "be one."  But his desire is not for a "can't we all just get along" kind unity.  Our Lord desires a unity in the truth.  It is a sad fact that there is disunity in the Church and that all God's children cannot yet kneel down at the same altar.  That said, the best way to ensure we never reach unity in the truth, is to pretend we already have it.

 I could go on for pages on this.  It's such a touchy issue, especially when families and close friends from different churches are brought into the picture.  So if this blurb has raised more questions for you than it has answered, that's okay.  The last word on this practice of Closed Communion has not been said, especially in regard to how to implement it in a consistent Gospel-centered manner.  As always, I look forward to hearing your prayerful input.