Yesterday was a wonderful day at Messiah Lutheran Church here in Kenosha! We had five of our young members, grades 2-5, who received First Communion. Here’s a couple pictures:
I’ll try and write about it more, but it was a great day and worth much rejoicing!
-LL
This past month has really convinced me of the benefit of pastoral examinations of catechumens. I’ve always avoided it in a formal setting, because I don’t want to contribute to the “pass the test and graduate” mindset. However, exercising pastoral care by teaching children to confess the faith is a great and mighty gift, and a wonderful tool that I believe we have lost over the past couple generations.
In about ten days or so we will be having the first communion for five of our young catechumens, ranging from grades 2-5. As a part of this practice, I am using the wonderful rite out of the Pastoral Care Companion for examination. Basically what I’m doing is I meet with the child, their parents and an elder at the family’s home (typically). Then we go through the examination, which at it’s heart has the Commandments, the Creed and the Our Father, as well as essentially Luther’s Christian Questions and Answers.
What a great thing! Five times this month I’ve had the privilege of hearing these young people confess the faith once delivered to the saints. I can’t believe I’ve been ordained for thirteen years and have never really sat down and done these examinations.
What was I thinking?
I can hardly express what a blessing these confessions have been. It has served as a great opportunity to hear what actually sinks in, and what doesn’t. I’ll try and write more about this tomorrow, but it is a great gift to Christ’s Church. God be praised.
-LL
From the Messiah Messenger, April 2009
By Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn
Our congregation is in the process of separating first communion from confirmation, so that while they may be done at the same time, they are not necessarily going to be done at the same time. This move is the result of several years of study on my part as your pastor, and on the part of the elders, as we have wrestled with how to best serve the people whom God has entrusted to our care in this place. In order to further our conversation, I believe it would be helpful
Why are we separating first communion and confirmation? I have wrestled with this question for many years, and I would distill the reasons down to the following basic points:
1. We receive Christ’s Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins, and we should want to give it to our children as soon as possible.
This is the simplest and most important point. The Scriptures teach us that we receive Holy Communion for the forgiveness of sins (Words of Institution). The catechism teaches that “in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words.” Our hymnody repeatedly affirms this as well, with such lines as “Lord may thy body and thy blood, be for my soul the highest good,” and “Thy blood, O Lord, one drop has pow’r to win Forgiveness for our world and all its sin,” and “This food can death destroy,” and many more.
If this is the case, as a Church we should want to commune our children as soon as we are able to do so, because of the many blessings which God gives through the Sacrament of the Altar. It is not a reward at the end of a lot of work, like a graduation present. Rather, it is a gift to be received in faith, and a testimony of God’s love toward us in Jesus Christ.
2. The biblical requirement for receiving the Sacrament of the Altar is faith.
Our catechism question puts it this way:
Who receives this sacrament worthily?
?Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training. But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe.
This is a part of the basis for our understanding that receiving the Lord’s Supper isn’t simply a matter of maturity, rational development, age, service in the church, who your parents are, or some other criterion. The question is faith, and the confession of faith. Since we can’t read someone’s heart, we can only read their lips (verbal confession) and their feet (how their confession shapes what they do). If someone confesses the Christian faith as it has been given to us in the Scriptures, comes to the Divine Service to receive the gifts, speaks and acts as a Christian, then we should commune them.
This is also, by the way, why we practice closed communion. We only admit those individuals to the Altar who confess the faith as it has been given to us in His Word and confessed by this congregation. If someone confesses the faith differently by being a member of a different church body, we aren’t saying they aren’t a Christian. We are saying that because their confession is different, we can’t commune together at this time.
So when it comes to our own children, who are catechized here at church and/or at our school, at our Sunday school, and who attend the Divine Service here with their families, there is no question really that they are Christians, and furthermore that they confess the faith as we do.
3. The notion that in order to receive Holy Communion requires massive amounts of head knowledge and catechism memorization goes against the rest of our actual practice.
We don’t require adult confirmands to have massive amounts of memorized materials. We don’t require current members to continue to demonstrate a level of understanding beyond what we confess together Sunday morning. In fact, I would go so far as to say that children often have a clearer grasp of the Christian faith than adults, because they don’t have as many rationalistic or emotional baggage to bog them down. Jesus actually holds up children as the model of faith (Mark 10:13-16).
Certainly teaching the faith is important. We are all lifelong learners of God’s Word, and learning God’s Word goes right along with Holy Baptism (Matthew 28:16-20). But it is very difficult to argue from the Scriptures that having massive amounts memorized should be a prerequisite for receiving the Sacrament. It is good. It is helpful. We should all continually learn the Scriptures and the Catechism by heart. But this is not a prerequisite.
4. Having a period of formal instruction for children at a later age (5-8 grade range) is good and useful, but cannot be used as an argument for withholding Holy Communion from them at that time.
One of the reasons that I have urged separating first communion from confirmation is simply because I want to have a formal period of instruction with children when they are in the middle school years. I simply don’t think that we should use that period of instruction as a gateway or barrier to receiving the Sacrament of the Altar. By separating first communion and confirmation, we are able to offer this period of instruction to our children, but also give them the Sacrament at an earlier age. Otherwise, my fear is that we simply move confirmation younger and younger, and the opportunity for that later instruction will be harder to realize.
5. The possibility of abuse exists whether we separate confirmation and first communion or not.
There are always going to be individuals who are going to try and beat the system. There will always be people who want to do the absolute least amount of work possible in order to get their children confirmed. Some people are only going to respond to the Law. If I as the pastor require them to attend church while their child is in instruction, then they will. If I don’t require it, they won’t come. Or, they will only come a few times a year.
So how do we as a congregation respond to this? We respond by praying, by encouraging, and by working as responsibly and as carefully as we can to deliver the Gospel in as many ways as God has given us to do it. It makes no sense to me as a pastor to penalize one child because another child’s parents might not want their child to receive the Gospel.
Practically speaking, what I envision is that down the road, we will generally have first communion around first to third grade, and confirmation between fifth and eighth grade. However, I think it will take us some time to get to that point. There will be several years of transition, and different families are going to want to handle this differently. This is fine and good, as we work through this together as a church.
These are a few more thoughts on our ongoing conversation here. I hope it is helpful, and I would continue to encourage you to come to bible class, where we are discussing this at some length.
In Christ,
Pastor Peperkorn
You will find attached here a PDF file with the bible study I am using currently for teaching about confirmation and first communion in my congregation. I would welcome any of your thoughts on the subject, as this is an important one for the Lutheran Church.
[The following is a proposal that I have been making to our board of elders regarding the practice of confirmation and first communion here at Messiah. I would welcome your comments and suggestions. -LL]
By Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn
December 18, 2008
That Messiah Lutheran Church admit children to Holy Communion when the pastor, the child, the parents and at least one elder all concur that the child is prepared to receive Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion. “Preparation” shall include but not be limited to a clear confession of faith in the Gospel by means of reciting by heart the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, by being examined and absolved by the pastor (Individual Confession and Absolution), and by verbally expressing their desire to receive Christ’s Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins.
That Messiah Lutheran Church confirm those children in the Christian Faith who can recite by heart the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther with Explanation, who have been examined and absolved, and who are able to confess the faith and answer the questions placed upon confirmands in the Rite of Confirmation found in the Lutheran Service Book.
The reason for this proposed practice is simple: It is of great benefit for all Christians to receive Christ’s Body and Blood, and that we should be about giving our children Jesus as much as possible, and as soon as possible.
The challenges for this proposed policy are several:
1) By separating confirmation and first communion, we run the risk of denigrating the importance of the rite of confirmation.
2) This practice, while gaining acceptance in the LCMS as a whole, is not universally accepted, and does require explanation.
3) Because this is based on the confession of faith of the individual and not an arbitrary age, it makes the practice appear random, when in fact this is more consistent with our understanding of worthiness of receiving the Sacrament.
6 Confirmation and extreme unction are rites received from the Fathers that not even the Church requires as necessary to salvation, because they do not have God’s command. Therefore, it is useful to distinguish these rites from the former, which have God’s direct command and a clear promise of grace.
Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions, Edited by Paul Timothy McCain (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 185.
38 We cheerfully maintain the old traditions made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and peace. We interpret them in a more moderate way and reject the opinion that holds they justify. 39 Our enemies falsely accuse us of setting aside good ordinances and Church discipline. We can truly declare that the public form of the churches is more fitting with us than with the adversaries. 40 If anyone will consider it in the right way, we conform to the canons more closely than the adversaries. Among the adversaries, unwilling celebrants, and those hired for pay, and very frequently only for pay, celebrate the Masses. They sing psalms, not that they may learn or pray, but for the sake of the service (as though this work were a service) or, at least, for the sake of reward. Among us many use the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day. They do so after they have been first instructed, examined, and absolved. The children sing psalms in order that they may learn. The people also sing so that they may either learn or pray. 41 Among the adversaries there is no catechizing of the children whatever, about which even the canons give commands. Among us the pastors and ministers of the churches are encouraged publicly to instruct and hear the youth. This ceremony produces the best fruit. 42 Among the adversaries, in many regions, no sermons are delivered during the entire year, except during Lent. Yet the chief service of God is to preach the Gospel. When the adversaries do preach, they speak of human traditions, of the worship of saints and similar trifles, which the people justly hate. Therefore, they are immediately deserted in the beginning, after the reading of the Gospel text. A few better ones begin now to speak of good works; but about the righteousness of faith, faith in Christ, and the comfort of consciences, they say nothing. Indeed, this most wholesome part of the Gospel they rail at with their reproaches. 43 On the contrary, in our churches all the sermons are filled with such topics as these: repentance; the fear of God; faith in Christ, the righteousness of faith, the comfort of consciences by faith; the exercises of faith; prayer, what its nature should be, and that we should be fully confident that it is powerful, that it is heard; the cross; the authority of officials and all civil ordinances; the distinction between the kingdom of Christ, or the spiritual kingdom, and political affairs; marriage; the education and instruction of children; chastity; all the offices of love. 44 From this condition of the churches it may be determined that we earnestly keep Church discipline, godly ceremonies, and good Church customs.
Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions, Edited by Paul Timothy McCain (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 193.
My friend, the Rev. David Petersen, just made an excellent post on first communion and confirmation. Check it out here.
I find that my views on life, the ministry and everything are generally echoed in Rev. Petersen’s words. This tension he describes is a real one. Every time I pass my 7 year old daughter (or the 4 year old for that matter) I feel guilty for not communing her. She knows the catechism. She’s confessed her sins and been absolved. There is no theological reason to withhold the Sacrament from her, and a whole lot of reasons to give it to her.
At the same time, there is real benefit at having a period of formal theological instruction when they are older. Tying the two together, however, is problematic.
I’ve changed my mind on this over the years. Now I agree with Petersen, again. I guess that’s good.
-Lutheran Logomaniac
