Lord's Supper

Institution
The apostle Paul describes the institution of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 is this manner: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

Private Preparation
Take this time to prepare yourself quietly to receive the holy meal that our Lord and Savior instituted for the strengthening of our faith.

Prayer
Father, we give thanks to you for your rich promises and abiding mercy in Word and sacrament. We entreat your pardon for the defects of this worship service caused by our sins. We beseech you, grant us the gracious assistance of your good Spirit, whereby we are enabled to walk in the strength of your grace, as those who have received such great promises of salvation. Amen.

Self-Examination
If we are to celebrate this holy supper for the strengthening of our faith, we must first examine ourselves.

First, let everyone reflect upon his many sins, transgressions, and iniquities so that he may humble himself before God.

Second, let everyone examine his heart to ensure that he believes the sure promise of God that all of his sins are forgiven him only for the sake of the merits of Jesus Christ and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is freely given him as his own.

Third, let everyone contemplate whether he intends to serve the Lord with gratitude with his entire life and to live in true love and harmony with his brothers and sisters in Christ as well as with his neighbor.

Fourth, let everyone lift up his heart to God for the inestimable benefit of this sacrament, remembering the great necessity of having our comfort and strength renewed by it in the midst of our spiritual pilgrimage and warfare against the world, the devil, and our old man of the flesh.

Fifth, let everyone consider how great the danger to eat and drink in an unworthy manner and, at the same time, how necessary it is that we come to this supper with knowledge of the Word of God, faith, repentance, love, and with hungering and thirsting souls for Christ and all his benefits and treasures.

Admonition
According to the command of Christ and of the Apostle Paul, we admonish all those who know themselves to be guilty of a sin for which they do not wish to repent of and will not repent of, to withhold themselves from this holy and sacred meal, for the scriptures are clear that whoever eats in this fashion eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

Invitation
This admonition is not designed, however, to discourage broken and contrite hearts, as if only those who are without sin may come to the table of the Lord.

For we do not come to this sacred meal to declare that we are perfect and righteous in ourselves. Rather, we come confessing that we seek our life outside of ourselves in Jesus Christ and, in so doing, we acknowledge that we are dead in ourselves and that we are aware of our many sins and shortcomings.

Yet, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are truly repentant for our transgressions and desire to fight against our unbelief and to live according to all the commands of God.

We declare that all who, by the grace of God, repent of their sins will certainly be received by God at the table of his Son, Jesus Christ. They may be fully assured that no sin or weakness that still remains in them against their will shall keep God from accepting them in grace and granting them this heavenly food and drink.

Remembrance of Christ
Christ has commanded us to make use of this means of grace in the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of him. As we prepare to partake, we remember that our Lord was sent by the Father into the world, assumed our flesh and blood, and from the beginning of his life to its end bore for us the wrath of God.

He was bound that we might be set free.

He was innocently condemned to death that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God.

He let his sinless body be nailed to the cross and so took our curse upon himself to fill us with his blessing.

He was forsaken by God that he might nevermore forsake us.

By his death and the shedding of his blood on the cross, he confirmed the new and everlasting covenant of grace when he said, “It is finished.”

Therefore, as often as we eat this bread and drink this wine, we are reminded and assured of Christ’s hearty love towards us. He died on the cross and shed his blood for us that he might feed our hungry and thirsty souls unto eternal life with his crucified, resurrected, and ascended body, as truly as we receive this bread and wine in remembrance of him.

Fellowship
By Christ’s suffering and death, our Lord has obtained for us the Holy Spirit of life and comfort. By the Holy Spirit we are united with Christ and receive all his gifts, treasures, and benefits. The same Spirit unites Christians in brotherly love as members of one body.

Therefore, we all, incorporated into Christ by true faith, are one body and shall show this to one another not merely in words, but in actual deeds of love.

Expectation
Christ has commanded his Church to celebrate the Lord’s Supper until he returns in power and glory. We receive at his table a foretaste of the abundant joy that he promises and look forward to the marriage feast of the Lamb, when he will drink the wine new with us in the Kingdom of his Father.

Therefore, let us rejoice and give him the glory, for the marriage feast of the Lamb is coming!
Lift Up Your Heart to God!

Beloved in Christ, in order that we may now be nourished with Christ, we must not cling with our hearts to the outward symbols of bread and wine, but lift our hearts on high where Christ, our Advocate, is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Let us not doubt that we shall be nourished and refreshed in our souls with his body and blood, through the working of the Holy Spirit, as truly we receive the bread and wine in remembrance of him.

Communion
When he breaks the bread, the minister shall say the following:

“The bread that we break is the communion with the body of Christ. Take, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was broken for the complete forgiveness of all our sins.”

And when he gives the cup:

“The cup of blessing, for which we give thanks is the communion with the blood of Christ. Take, drink from it all of you, remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was poured out for the complete forgiveness of all our sins."

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Merciful God and Father, great God of the covenant of grace, we thank you that in your love and compassion you have given us the Son of your delight, your only-begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, as our Mediator.

We praise you that he is the sacrifice for our sins and our food and drink unto eternal life.
You have bestowed upon us the gift of true faith, through which we may share in the gifts, riches, treasures, and benefits of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Through him you instituted the Lord’s Supper for the strengthening of our faith in our spiritual pilgrimage. We humbly beseech you, faithful God and Father, that by your Holy Spirit this celebration of the holy meal may lead to our daily increase in true faith and fellowship in union with Christ.

In his Name we pray. Amen