Q: Why would the church desire to have celebrate the Lord's Supper in the Divine Service each Sunday?

A: Since in the Lord's Supper we receive our Lord Jesus' very body and blood for the forgiveness of sins it is a great gift to us and is central to the Divine Service. The holy Christian church through out the ages has identified the Lord's Day (Sunday) with the Lord's Supper. As such the Lord's Supper was never viewed as an occasional extra or as somehow not as important as the other means of grace (Word, Absolution, Holy Baptism). In the Supper the Church, the Bride of Christ, sees herself clearly as the Body of Christ, being "one flesh" with Christ Jesus -- a great mystery indeed (Ephesians 5). The Supper is our Lord's last will and testament where we receive His life-giving mercy.

Also, since each day and each week we are in need of the Lord's forgiveness and strength, we are therefore in need of the Lord's Supper much in every way. Today, our increasingly less and less Christianly influenced culture threatens our faith daily, along with the help of Satan and our own sinful desires (old Adam). In the Christian Questions and Answers in the Small Catechism Luther writes the following, admonishing us to frequently receive the gift of Communion:
"What should admonish and incite a Christian to receive the sacrament frequently? In respect to God, both the command and the promise of Christ the Lord should move him, and in respect to himself, the trouble that lies heavy on him, on account of which such command, encouragement, and promise are given."

Q: As Lutherans, what do we officially teach in our confessional writings regarding the frequency of the Lord's Supper's celebration?

A: For example, in the Apology [Defense] of the Augsburg Confession (Article XXIV,1), it is said of the Mass, meaning the Divine Service of Holy Communion:
"In the beginning we must make the preliminary statement that we do not abolish the Mass, but religiously maintain and defend it. For among us masses are performed every Lord's Day and on the other festivals, in which the sacrament is offered to those who wish to use it, after they have been examined and absolved. And the usual public ceremonies are observed, such as the series of lessons, of prayers, vestments, and other like things."

Q: As specifically Missouri Synod Lutherans, has anything been said addressing this subject?

A: Yes, the 1995 Convention of the LCMS passed the following resolution:

To Encourage Every Sunday Communion
RESOLUTION 2-08A
Overture 2-51 (CW, pp.149-150)
Whereas, the opportunity to receive the Lord's Supper each Lord's Day was a reality cherished by Luther and set forth clearly with high esteem by our Lutheran Confessions (Article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession and of the Apology); and
Whereas, our synod's 1983 CTCR document on the Lord's Supper (p.28) and our Synod's 1986 [1991] translation of Luther's Catechism both remind us that the Scriptures place the Lord's Supper at the center of worship (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20,23), and not as an appendage or an occasional extra; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in convention encourage its pastors and congregations to study the scriptural, confessional, and historical witness to every Sunday communion with a view toward recovering the opportunity for receiving the Lord's Supper each Lord's Day.
Action: Adopted.

Q: Would this mean that every communicant must receive the Sacrament every Sunday?

A: No, on the contrary this would only mean that the sacrament is available each week. We make no laws about how often the Sacrament is to be received. Such laws would be wrong and unconfessional, although Luther does say in the preface to the Catechism that if a Christian doesn't commune at least 3 or 4 times a year it is doubtful that person is a Christian.

Q: Will weekly Communion cause the Sacrament to mean less?

A: On the contrary, the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper will indicate and confess our high esteem and desire for the gift of our Lord's body and blood and the forgiveness of sins which is received in this gift. The Lord's Supper is a central way our faith is sustained in Christ. The Lord's Supper is no less important than the other gospel gifts by which our faith is sustained. We have weekly sermons, pray the Lord's Prayer regularly, confess the Creed, and so forth. The meaning of the Lord's Supper does not come from us, but from Christ and His Word. Contrite sinners cannot have too much of the Gospel.

Q: Isn't weekly Communion a Roman Catholic or "high church" practice? How can Lutherans have weekly Communion and still be "good" Lutherans?

A: It is true that Roman Catholics have Holy Communion available to them (at least) each Sunday, in fact some have it daily. However, many others celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly as well. For most of Christian history the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper was the universal practice of the Church, and was regarded as a minimum. They saw a balance in both Word and Sacrament in the Divine Service.

Weekly Communion is not a UNIQUELY Roman Catholic practice. This is important to note. The weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper is not where we disagree with Rome. The propitiatory sacrifice of Christ's body and blood in the Mass is the chief point of contention between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. There are also other issues where Rome holds to errors that divide us on the Lord's Supper.

The true test of what is genuinely Lutheran is not what we knew when we grew up or what our confirmation pastor told us or even what our home congregation does, but the real measure is the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. We pledge ourselves to the Scriptures and the Confessions. We also can have great guidance from church history and the writings of those orthodox Christians who have gone before us. Clearly, as seen above, our Confessions clearly teach the weekly availability of the Lord's Supper (as well as festival days). It actually is very Lutheran to make the Lord's Supper available each Sunday. It is something that we lost for quite some time and are gradually recovering. Perhaps you can help in this recovery as well?