Holy Communion

At Immanuel Lutheran, we invite anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior to come forward and receive communion. Most often, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of the month by coming forward in groups and kneeling at the communion rail in the front. Parents are invited to bring children of all ages forward and if they do not wish for them to receive communion, to receive a blessing instead.

Real Presence Of Christ

We believe that in the elements of the bread and the wine is found the real presence of Jesus. The elements are not meant to be merely symbolic. If it was meant to be so, Jesus would have stated as such at the Last Supper when the sacrament was instituted. However, we also do not teach the doctrine of consubstantiation where the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Jesus. Thus, while the bread and wine remain bread and wine, the presence of God is present in a unique and mysterious way when we celebrate Holy Communion together.

Open Table

At Immanuel, we celebrate what is known as an open table for Communion. This simply means that all who believe and trust in Jesus’ death on the cross for their salvation, regardless of other church attendance or membership, are welcome to come forward and receive the bread and wine. If you are not comfortable receiving communion with us, we do want to invite you come forward and receive a word of blessing. Simply leave your hands folded together when the bread is being distributed to indicate the desire to receive a word of blessing instead of communion.

Sacrament

Holy Communion is one of two Sacraments we celebrate in the Lutheran tradition. A sacrament is a promise of God which has a physical, tangible element attached to it in Scripture. In the case of Holy Communion, that promise is the gift of eternal life and the elements attached to it are bread and wine.

First Communion

Ultimately, we look to the adult who is bringing a child to church to be the one who determines when a child is old enough to understand the work Jesus did on the cross on our behalf to know when they are ready to begin receiving communion. With this, we as a congregation would like to join in celebrating this milestone in each child’s faith development. We do have resources available for parents and children to talk about and understand communion before beginning to receive communion during Sunday worship. If you are interested in setting up a time of celebrating your child’s first communion or would like to receive the information to help talk with your child about the significance of communion, please get in touch with the pastor.