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Why do some churches not serve Holy Communion regularly? Thread on the Lutherans.com Forums
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I found it interesting that when I interviewed for the church in which I serve, almost half the questions I was asked was in regards to Holy Communion.
What I soon found out was what a controversy the celebration of Holy Communion had been in this church. This churches tradition for more than a generation was to celebrate Holy Communion once monthly. An interim prior to my call moved for and implemented (by immediate action) weekly Holy Communion. This was fairly abrupt and was not well received by many given it's forcefulness.
I then accepted the call to serve as pastor, and while I would like to share in weekly communion, made a quick compromise to uphold some level of more frequent communion - such that we have it every other Sunday and all festival Sundays.
I have since, over the years, shared in several teaching moments about the sharing of Holy Communion. I found out that all the resistance to more frequent communion centered around one of these three factors (which I will note were not theological, but more practical or tradition related):
1. "We've always had communion once a month - why change?"
2. Communion makes our services longer.
3. Celebrating Holy Communion more frequently makes it less "special."
While number 1 is a common Lutheran response to many things (including communion and beyond), the other two led me to share these two thoughts:
So what if celebrating Holy Communion makes our services longer (and it admittedly usually does)? We celebrate Holy Communion by Jesus command - "Take and eat - Take and drink - Do this in remembrance of me." I very bluntly asked one Sunday - "What important things on Sundays are we planning that are more important than giving God our finest worship and being led by his command?" God gave us the sabbath, and honestly, if we cannot dedicate the proper time to his worship, then our focus may need reconsideration. Why would we want to compromise the presence of Christ, in with and under, and especially in the name of something like time (itself a gift of God).
And regarding our making Holy Communion more special by having it less often - how about that. I found myself wondering how we could possibly make Holy Communion any more or less special than it already is. God, by Christ's command and presence makes it special every time. I found myself asking people this in reply:
"So then, if we can all agree that breathing is special and good (and a gift from God), why then don't we make it more special by doing it less often - say like take 10 minutes between breaths. Just imagine then how special breathing could become!"
While I feel I have given in to the spirit of compromise with communion every other week, my hope is that the day will soon be coming when we will celebrate together communion weekly - and I see myself as one called to help my congregation faithfully move in that direction. I may not get to see that day for myself as pastor here, but I feel that faithful time coming one day soon to come.
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Dec 13, 2011 - 12:31 pm
pastorandrew 
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Part of this is cultural - part of it is theological. Is it TOO catholic to have communion every week? From a Luther theological standpoint, no. We could have it, anytime. Why not? I agree with the comment that said, "why not touch and taste the word as well as hear it?" But there is a cultural piece to this puzzle too - for many years, in many places, communties defined themselves by what they are not as much as what they are - so if you are ina context that is heavily Roman Catholic and you dear Lutherans want to stake your calim to be different, than having communion every week is TOO catholic. Granted this is an argument that is a generation or two removed. Nowadays Christians of any stripe may have more in common than the differnces they once fought over, but disticintiveness is an issue, a real one, and needs to be sorted out. Pastoral leadership can walk a congregation through this, or reinforce it. The question is which?
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Dec 13, 2011 - 05:52 pm
Sinibaldo
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This is interesting, PastorT... what were the objections to a weekly communion? Is it time consuming to set up? I don't have the insider perspective on this...from the layman's point of view, I can't imagine a strong objection to a weekly communion.
Primary arguments were the "it's not as special if we have it all the time" type.
I figure there's a continuum of thought on communion. On the one hand, there's the view that communion is like your anniversary meal with your wife: it's something really special, and you don't just go to your normal hangout, but you kick it up a notch and treasure the moment and savor the food.
On the other hand, there's the view that communion is like your daily meals: you have to eat them just to survive, and you won't function without them.
Both views have elements of truth to them. But personally, I'm one who leans much more towards the "eat this meal to survive" school of thought. Other people here . . . not as much.
In addition, there were a few arguments that it made the service longer. My response probably wasn't all that helpful: "Well, sure, but it's worth it!" 
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Dec 17, 2011 - 04:23 pm
PastorT
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I have since, over the years, shared in several teaching moments about the sharing of Holy Communion. I found out that all the resistance to more frequent communion centered around one of these three factors (which I will note were not theological, but more practical or tradition related):
1. "We've always had communion once a month - why change?"
2. Communion makes our services longer.
3. Celebrating Holy Communion more frequently makes it less "special."
Hi Pastor,
I am an elder in my parish, and this has been a constant issue I bring up. We celebrate the sacrament every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sunday, and important holidays and festivals. It seems to me the confessions indicate that, while the laity is not obliged to receive, the Church is abliged to offer the sacrament, and therefore should do so as a matter of practice. After all, the Church's call is to preach the word and administer the sacraments. Alas and sadly, I've run into the exact same arguments against weekly communion.
One elder mentioned your argument #3. I offered in return that perhaps, then, the pastor should only preach a sermon every other Sunday, since sermons are indeed special. Or considering how special Lutheran music is, perhaps only have music every other Sunday. As you can expect, it didn't fly too well.
I continue my efforts.
Jon
rnrn
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Dec 18, 2011 - 04:41 pm
JonNC
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We serve communion every Sunday with homemade bread and homemade wine (no preservatives) There are times when communion is not possible i.e. with the 10w worship but whenever possible, I feel communion should be served. It is the body of Christ with us. It is the presence of Christ with us individually and collectively. It is the forgiveness of Christ for us, individually and collectively. It is the recognition that we are the family of God gathered around the table of God and even when there are differences we hear the word of God that sounds like my mother. "I don't care if you don't like your brother or sister right now, you are family, so sit down, shut up, eat, and learn to get along" I also believe that any communion that excludes anyone for any reason is an abomination and you need to learn that you are brothers and sisters in Christ so sit down, shut up, eat and learn to get along!
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Jan 4, 2012 - 01:40 pm
PD
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We serve communion every Sunday with homemade bread and homemade wine (no preservatives) There are times when communion is not possible i.e. with the 10w worship but whenever possible, I feel communion should be served. It is the body of Christ with us. It is the presence of Christ with us individually and collectively. It is the forgiveness of Christ for us, individually and collectively. It is the recognition that we are the family of God gathered around the table of God and even when there are differences we hear the word of God that sounds like my mother. "I don't care if you don't like your brother or sister right now, you are family, so sit down, shut up, eat, and learn to get along" I also believe that any communion that excludes anyone for any reason is an abomination and you need to learn that you are brothers and sisters in Christ so sit down, shut up, eat and learn to get along! rnrn
I am confused by this. When you say open to anyone, how extensive do you mean that? All Lutherans, regardless of synod? All Christians, regardless of faith communion or baptismal status? All people, regardless of their belief?
Jon
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Jan 4, 2012 - 06:34 pm
JonNC
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We serve communion every Sunday with homemade bread and homemade wine
Wow, nice...I like that it's important enough in your church, to spend time on the details like this.
you need to learn that you are brothers and sisters in Christ so sit down, shut up, eat and learn to get along! Ha, I'm not sure telling people to "shut up" is a good tactic to get people to "get along." ; )
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Jan 5, 2012 - 09:57 am
LutheranChronicle
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