• Preface: The Triune God and the Means of Grace
• Part I: Proclamation of the Word and the Christian Assembly
• Part II: Holy Baptism and the Christian Assembly
• Part III: Holy Communion and the Christian Assembly
• Part IV: The Means of Grace and Christian Mission

Preface: The Triune God and the Means of Grace

The Triune God acts in the means of grace

Principle 1

Jesus Christ is the living and abiding Word of God. By the power of the Spirit, this very Word of God, which is Jesus Christ, is read in the Scriptures, proclaimed in preaching, announced in the forgiveness of sins, eaten and drunk in the Holy Communion, and encountered in the bodily presence of the Christian community. By the power of the Spirit active in Holy Baptism, this Word washes a people to be Christ’s own Body in the world. We have called this gift of Word and Sacrament by the name “the means of grace.” The living heart of all these means is the presence of Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit as the gift of the Father.

Background 1A
“We believe we have the duty not to neglect any of the rites and ceremonies instituted in Scripture, whatever their number. We do not think it makes much difference if, for purposes of teaching, the enumeration varies, provided what is handed down in Scripture is preserved. For that matter, the Fathers did not always use the same enumeration.”¹

Background 1B
In Christ’s flesh, in his death and resurrection, all people are invited to behold and to receive the fullness of God’s grace and truth.²

The Triune God creates the Church

Principle 2

God gives the Word and the sacraments to the Church and by the power of the Spirit thereby creates and sustains the Church among us.³ God establishes the sacraments “to awaken and confirm faith.”⁴ God calls the Church to exercise care and fidelity in its use of the means of grace, so that all people may hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be gathered into God’s own mission for the life of the world.

Background 2A
In a world of yearning, brokenness, and sin, the Church’s clarity about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is vital. God has promised to come to all through the means of grace: the Word and the sacraments of Christ’s institution. While the Church defines for itself customary practices that reflect care and fidelity, it is these means of grace that define the Church. 

Background 2B
Yet even the Church itself is threatened should it fail to claim the great treasures of the Gospel. Either careless practice or rigid uniformity may distort the power of the gift. This statement is one way in which we, in the Church, can give counsel to one another, supporting and sustaining one another in our common mission. 

Background 2C
We are people whose lives are degraded by sin. This estrangement from God manifests itself in many ways, including false values and a sense of emptiness. Many in our time are deprived or depriving, abusing or abused. All humanity, indeed all creation, is threatened by sin that erupts in greed, violence, and war. In the midst of isolation, lovelessness, and self-absorption, the Church is tempted to turn in on itself, its own needs, and preferences. As a church in this time, we seek to give and receive God’s Word and sacraments as full and reliable signs of Christ.

What is the Church?

Principle 3

“It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.”⁵

Background 3A
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is committed by its statement of purpose to “worship God in proclamation of the Word and administration of the sacraments and through lives of prayer, praise, thanksgiving, witness, and service.”⁶ The Scriptures and our Confessions establish this purpose. We believe that “through the Word and the sacraments, as through means, the Holy Spirit is given, and the Holy Spirit produces faith, where and when it pleases God, in those who hear the Gospel.”⁷  

This statement encourages unity amid diversity

Principle 4

The gift of Word and Sacrament is from God. This statement on sacramental practices seeks to encourage unity among us in the administration of the means of grace and to foster common understanding and practice. It does not seek to impose uniformity among us.

Background 4A
This statement grows out of this church’s concern for healthy pastoral action and strong congregational mission. It does not address our practice of Word and Sacrament out of antiquarian or legalistic interests but rather to ground the practice of our church in the Gospel and to encourage good order within our church.   

Application 4B
Our congregations receive and administer the means of grace in richly diverse ways. This diversity in practice is well grounded in the Confession. "It is not necessary for true unity of the Christian church that ceremonies of human institution should be observed uniformly in all places."⁸ We are united in one common center: Jesus Christ proclaimed in Word and sacraments amidst participating assemblies of singing, serving, and praying people.

Part I: Proclamation of the Word and the Christian Assembly

What is the Word of God?

Principle 5

Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate. The proclamation of God’s message to us is both Law and Gospel. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God.⁹ Through this Word in these forms, as through the sacraments, God gives faith, forgiveness of sins, and new life.  

Application 5A
Proclamation of the Word includes the public reading of Scripture, preaching, teaching, the celebration of the sacraments, confession and absolution, music, arts, prayers, Christian witness, and service. The congregation’s entire educational ministry participates in the proclamation of the Word. 

Sunday provides a day for assembly around Word and Sacrament

Principle 6

Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection and of the appearances to the disciples by the crucified and risen Christ, is the primary day on which Christians gather to worship. Within this assembly, the Word is read and preached and the sacraments are celebrated.

Application 6A
Sunday is the principal festival day of Christians. The Holy Communion is one name for the Sunday service of Word and Sacrament in which the congregation assembles in God’s presence, hears the word of life, baptizes and remembers Baptism, and celebrates the Holy Supper. The service of Word and Sacrament is also celebrated on other great festivals of the year, according to the common Christian calendar received in our churches. The Christian community may gather for proclamation and the Lord’s Supper at other times as well, as, for example, on other days of the week, and when the services of marriage or of the burial of the dead are placed within the context of the Holy Communion.¹⁰

The Scriptures are read aloud

Principle 7

The public reading of the Holy Scriptures is an indispensable part of worship, constituting the basis for the public proclamation of the Gospel.

Application 7A
The use of ELCA–approved lectionaries serves the unity of the Church, the hearing of the breadth of the Scriptures, and the evangelical meaning of the church year. The Revised Common Lectionary and the lectionaries in Lutheran Book of Worship make three readings and a psalm available for every Sunday and festival.

Application 7B
The use of a Bible or lectionary of appropriate size and dignity by those who read the Scriptures aloud, the use of this book in liturgical processions, and its placement on the reading desk or pulpit may bring the centrality of the Word to visible expression.

The baptized people proclaim God’s Word

Principle 8

All the baptized share responsibility for the proclamation of the Word and the formation of the Christian assembly.

Application 8A
One of the ways lay people exercise the public proclamation of the Word is as assisting ministers. Among these assisting ministers will be readers of Scripture and also cantors and leaders of prayer.¹¹ 

Application 8B
Musicians serve the assembly by illuminating the readings and the sacraments, by the congregation’s participation in song.

Application 8C
There are varieties of ways beyond the assembly in which the public ministry of the Word is exercised. Some of these include the work of catechists, evangelists, and teachers.

God’s Word is preached

Principle 9

The preaching of the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ is rooted in the readings of the Scriptures in the assemblies for worship. Called and ordained ministers bear responsibility for the preached Word in the Church gathered for public worship.¹²

Application 9A
Preaching is the living and contemporary voice of one who interprets in all the Scriptures the things concerning Jesus Christ.¹³ In fidelity to the readings appointed for the day, the preacher proclaims our need of God’s grace and freely offers that grace, equipping the community for mission and service in daily life. “Only under extraordinary circumstances would the sermon be omitted” from the Sunday and festival service of Holy Communion.¹⁴ 

Application 9B
While other persons may sometimes preach, the called pastor of a congregation has responsibility for this preaching, ordinarily preparing and delivering the sermon and overseeing all public ministry of the Word in the congregation. In congregations without a called pastor, the synodical bishop assumes this responsibility, often by providing an interim pastor. All Christians, however, bear responsibility to speak and teach the Gospel in daily life.

The common voice of the assembly speaks the Word

Principle 10

The assembled congregation participates in proclaiming the Word of God with a common voice. It sings hymns and the texts of the liturgy. It confesses the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed.¹⁵

Application 10A
Hymns, the liturgy, and the creeds are means for the community itself to proclaim and respond to the Word of God.¹⁶ This witness should be valued, taught, and taken to heart. The treasury of music is ever expanding with new compositions and with songs from the churches of the world.

The arts serve the Word

Principle 11

Music, the visual arts, and the environment of our worship spaces embody the proclamation of the Word in Lutheran churches.

Application 11A
Music is a servant of the Gospel and a principal means of worshiping God in Lutheran churches. Congregational song gathers the whole people to proclaim God’s mercy, to worship God, and to pray, in response to the readings of the day and in preparation for the Lord’s Supper.

Application 11B
In similar ways the other arts also are called to serve the purposes of the Christian assembly. The visual arts and the spaces for worship assist the congregation to participate in worship, to focus on the essentials, and to embody the Gospel.

Application 11C
In these times of deeper contact among cultures, our congregations do well to make respectful and hospitable use of the music, arts, and furnishings of many peoples. The Spirit of God calls people from every nation, all tribes, peoples, and languages to gather around the Gospel of Jesus Christ.¹⁷

Confession and Absolution proclaim the Word

Principle 12

The Gospel also is proclaimed in Confession and Absolution (the Office of the Keys) and in the mutual conversation and consolation of the brothers and sisters.¹⁸ Our congregations are called to make faithful use of corporate and individual confession of sins and holy absolution.

Application 12A
Absolution is a speaking and hearing of the Word of God and a return to Baptism. The most important part of confession and forgiveness is the “work which God does, when he absolves me of my sins through a word placed in the mouth” of a human being.¹⁹ Liturgical patterns for corporate and individual confession and forgiveness are given in Lutheran worship books.

On other occasions Christians assemble around the Word

Principle 13

Assemblies for worship are not limited to Sunday or to celebrations of Word and Sacrament. Christians gather for worship on other days of the week, for morning or evening prayer, for services of the Word or devotions, to mark local and national festivals, and for important life occasions such as weddings and funerals. Christians also gather in their own homes for prayer, Bible reading, and devotions.

Application 13A
Every opportunity for worship is valued and encouraged. The communal observance of morning and evening prayer and the celebration of weddings and funerals within services of Word and Sacrament in the congregation are appropriate traditions. Morning and evening prayers and mealtime blessings in the household are also an extension of corporate worship.

Part II: Holy Baptism and the Christian Assembly 

What is Baptism?

Principle 14

In Holy Baptism the Triune God delivers us from the forces of evil, puts our sinful self to death, gives us new birth, adopts us as children, and makes us members of the body of Christ, the Church. Holy Baptism is received by faith alone.

Background 14A
By water and the Word in Baptism, we are liberated from sin and death by being joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Baptism God seals us by the Holy Spirit and marks us with the cross of Christ forever.²⁰ Baptism inaugurates a life of discipleship in the death and resurrection of Christ. Baptism conforms us to the death and resurrection of Christ precisely so that we repent and receive forgiveness, love our neighbors, suffer for the sake of the Gospel, and witness to Christ.

Application 14B
Baptism is for the sake of life in Christ and in the body of Christ, the Church. It also may be given to those who are close to death, and is a strong word of promise in spite of death. Individuals are baptized, yet this Baptism forms a community. It is for children. It is for adults. It is done once, yet it is for all of our life.

Jesus Christ has given Holy Baptism

Principle 15

Baptism was given to the Church by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission, but also in his own baptism by John and in the baptism of the cross.

Background 15A
One great source of the teaching and practice of the Church regarding Baptism is the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”²¹

Background 15B
Other passages are also part of the biblical tradition of the origin and meaning of Baptism. Another source is the account of Jesus’ own baptism at the River Jordan. While Jesus is the eternal Son of God, all who are baptized into him are adopted as beloved children of God. With Jesus all the baptized are anointed by the outpoured Spirit. Because of Jesus we are, through Baptism, gathered and included in the life of the Triune God.

Background 15C
In two places in the New Testament where Jesus speaks of his own baptism,²² he refers not to his being washed in the Jordan River, but to his impending death.²³ It is that death to which we are joined in Baptism, according to the witness of Paul.²⁴

Baptism is once for all

Principle 16

A person is baptized once. Because of the unfailing nature of God’s promise, and because of God’s once-for-all action in Christ, Baptism is not repeated.

Background 16A
Baptism is a sign and testimony of God’s grace, awakening and creating faith. The faith of the one being baptized “does not constitute Baptism but receives it. . . .” “Everything depends upon the Word and commandment of God. . . .”²⁵

Application 16B
Rebaptism is to be avoided²⁶ since it causes doubt, focusing attention on the always-failing adequacy of our action or our faith. Baptized persons who come to new depth of conviction in faith are invited to an Affirmation of Baptism in the life of the congregation.²⁷

Application 16C
There may be occasions when people are uncertain about whether or not they have been baptized. Pastors, after supportive conversation and pastoral discernment, may choose to proceed with the baptism. The practice of this church and its congregations needs to incorporate the person into the community and its ongoing catechesis and to proclaim the sure grace of God in Christ, avoiding any sense of Baptism being repeated.

Baptism involves daily dying and rising

Principle 17

By God’s gift and call, all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus are daily put to death so that we might be raised daily to newness of life.²⁸

Background 17A
Believers are at the same time sinners and justified. We experience bondage to sin from which we cannot free ourselves and, at the same time, “rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”²⁹ The baptismal life is expressed each time the baptized confess their sins and receive forgiveness. “Repentance, therefore, is nothing else than a return and approach to Baptism. . . .”³⁰

Application 17B
There are many ways to encourage this daily dying to sin and being raised to live before God. They include confession and absolution, the reading of the Scriptures, preaching, the mutual comfort and consolation of the sisters and brothers,³¹ daily prayer and the sign of the cross, the remembrance of the catechism, and the profession of the creed.

Application 17C
Christians continue in the covenant God made with them in Baptism by participation in the community of faith, by hearing the Word and receiving Christ’s Supper, by proclaiming the good news in word and deed, and by striving for justice and peace in all the world.³²

Baptism is for all ages

Principle 18

God, whose grace is for all, is the one who acts in Baptism. Therefore candidates for Baptism are of all ages. Some are adults and older children who have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, declare their faith, and desire Holy Baptism. Others are the young or infant children of active members of the congregation or those children for whom members of the congregation assume sponsorship.

Application 18A
Since ancient times, the Christian Church has baptized both infants and adults.³³ Our times require great seriousness about evangelization and readiness to welcome unbaptized adults to the reception of the faith and to Baptism into Christ. Our children also need this sign and means of grace and its continued power in their lives. In either case, Baptism is God’s gift of overwhelming grace. We baptize infants as if they were adults, addressing them with questions, words, and promises that their parents, sponsors, and congregation are to help them know and believe as they grow in years. We baptize adults as if they were infants, washing them and clothing them with God’s love in Christ.

Baptism includes catechesis

Principle 19

Baptism includes instruction and nurture in the faith for a life of discipleship.

Application 19A
When infants and young children are baptized, the parents and sponsors receive instruction and the children are taught throughout their development. With adults and older children, the baptismal candidates themselves are given instruction and formation for faith and ministry in the world both prior to and following their baptism. The instruction and formation of sponsors, parents, and candidates prior to Baptism deals especially with faith in the triune God and with prayer. In the case of adults and older children this period of instruction and formation is called the catechumenate. Occasional Services includes an order for the enrollment of candidates for Baptism.³⁴

Application 19B
The parish education of the congregation is part of its baptismal ministry. Indeed, all of the baptized require lifelong learning, the daily reappropriation of the wonderful gifts given in Baptism.

Sponsors assist those being baptized

Principle 20

Both adults and infants benefit from having baptismal sponsors. The primary role of the sponsors is to guide and accompany the candidates and, so far as possible, their families in the process of instruction and Baptism. They help the baptized join in the life and work of the community of believers for the sake of the world. 

Application 20A
Congregations are encouraged to select at least one sponsor from among the congregational members for each candidate for Baptism.³⁵ Additional sponsors who are involved in the faith and life of a Christian community may also be selected by parents of the candidate or by the candidate. Choosing and preparing sponsors requires thoughtful consideration and includes participation by pastors or other congregational leaders.

Background 20B
The sponsors of children are often called godparents. They may fulfill a variety of social roles in certain cultures. The roles may be regarded as an elaboration of the central baptismal role they have undertaken. Such sponsors take on a lifelong task to recall the gifts of Baptism in the life of their godchild.

Background 20C
The sponsor provided by the congregation is, in the case of the baptism of an infant, especially concerned to accompany the family as it prepares for Baptism and, as a mentor, to assist the integration of the child into the community of faith as it grows in years. In the case of the baptism of an adult, this sponsor accompanies the candidate throughout the catechumenate, in prayer and in mutual learning, assisting the newly baptized adult to join in the ministry and mission of this community.

Application 20D
The entire congregation prays for those preparing for Baptism, welcomes the newly baptized, and provides assistance to sponsors.

Baptism takes place in the assembly

Principle 21

Candidates for Holy Baptism, sponsors, and an ordained minister called by the Church gather together with the congregation for the celebration of Baptism within the corporate worship of the Church.

Application 21A
When pastoral considerations require Baptism to take place outside of corporate worship, if at all possible representatives of the congregation gather for Baptism. In such a case a public announcement of the baptism is made at the service the following Sunday.

Application 21B
Baptism may take place at varying points in the worship service. When the Baptism follows the Liturgy of the Word, it helps to emphasize Baptism’s connection to the promise of the Gospel and faith in that promise and leads the baptized to the altar. When infants are baptized in a service where adults are not, the Baptism may be part of the entrance rite. This emphasizes that their instruction is to follow and reminds the whole congregation of the baptismal nature of the order for Confession and Forgiveness. At the Vigil of Easter, baptisms are placed between the Service of Readings and the proclamation of the Easter texts. This helps Christians to remember their burial with Christ into death, and rising with him to new life. 

A pastor presides at Baptism

Principle 22

An ordained minister presides at Holy Baptism.³⁶

Application 22A
God is the one who acts in Baptism. The pastor, congregation, candidates, and sponsors gather around the font to administer the sacrament. The pastor presides in the midst of a participating community. Ordinarily this presider is the pastor of the congregation where the Baptism is being celebrated. The pastor acts as baptizer, but does so within a congregation of the Church which actively assents and responds.

Baptism may occur before an imminent death

Principle 23

In cases of imminent death, a person may be baptized by any Christian. Should sudden death prevent Baptism, we commend the person to God with prayer, trusting in God’s grace.

Application 23A
Counsel for such a baptism at the time of imminent death may be found in Occasional Services and should be widely known in the Christian community.³⁷ A dead person, child or adult, is not baptized. Prayers at such a death may include naming, signing with the cross, anointing for burial, and commendation to God. Prayers and commendations may be offered in the event of a stillbirth or of the early loss of a pregnancy.

Application 23B
When a person who was baptized in imminent danger of death survives, Occasional Services provides for a Public Recognition of the Baptism at corporate worship.³⁸

We baptize in the name of the Triune God

Principle 24

Holy Baptism is administered with water in the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism into the name of the triune God involves confessing and teaching the doctrine and meaning of the Trinity. The baptized are welcomed into the body of Christ. This is the community which lives from “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit . . . .”³⁹

Background 24A
The Church seeks to maintain trinitarian orthodoxy while speaking in appropriate modern language and contexts. While a worldwide ecumenical discussion is now underway about such language, we have no other name in which to baptize than the historic and ecumenically received name.⁴⁰

Background 24B
It is in the crucified Jesus that we meet the God to whom he entrusted all, who raised him from the dead for us, and who poured out the Spirit from his death and resurrection. Washing with water in this name is much more than the use of a formula. The name is a summary of the power and presence of the triune God and of that teaching which must accompany every Baptism. Without this teaching and without the encounter with the grace, love, and communion of the triune God, the words may be misunderstood as a magic formula or as a misrepresentation of the one God in three persons, “equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.”⁴¹ What Father and Son mean, in biblical and creedal perspective, must also be continually reexamined. The doctrine of God teaches us the surprising theology of the cross and counters “any alleged Trinitarian sanction for sinful inequality or oppression of women in church and society.”⁴²

Application 24C
Some Christians, however, are received into our congregations from other churches in which they were baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ.”⁴³ There are some whose Baptisms were accompanied by trinitarian examination and confession of faith,⁴⁴ and whose Baptisms have occurred within the context of trinitarian life and teaching. We will do well to avoid quarrels over the validity of these Baptisms.

Application 24D
Outside the context of trinitarian life and teaching no Christian Baptism takes place, whatever liturgical formula may be used.

Baptism is a public sign

Principle 25

We seek to celebrate Baptism in such a way that the celebration is a true and complete sign of the things which Baptism signifies.⁴⁵

Background 25A
“The pedagogical force of practice is considerable.”⁴⁶ A strong baptismal theology calls for a strong baptismal practice, teaching and showing forth the meaning of Baptism and inviting Christians to discover continually its importance for their daily lives. Those who plan baptisms attend to the use of faithful words and gracious actions, to including the event within the Sunday service, to the architectural or natural setting, to the regular preparation of candidates, sponsors, parents, and congregation for Baptism, to post-baptismal teaching that strengthens us for mission, and to the possibility of great festivals as times for Baptism.

Application 25B
“It is appropriate to designate such occasions as the Vigil of Easter, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints’ Day, and the Baptism of Our Lord for the celebration of Holy Baptism. Baptismal celebrations on these occasions keep Baptism integrated into the unfolding of the story of salvation provided by the church year.”⁴⁷ The Vigil of Easter is an especially ancient and appropriate time for Baptism, emphasizing the origin of all baptism in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Water is used generously

Principle 26

Water is a sign of cleansing, dying, and new birth.⁴⁸ It is used generously in Holy Baptism to symbolize God’s power over sin and death.

Application 26a
A variety of modes may be used; for example, both immersion and pouring show forth God’s power in Baptism. Immersion helps to communicate the dying and rising with Christ. Pouring suggests cleansing from sin. We have taught that it is not the water which does such great things, but the Word of God connected with the water.⁴⁹ God can use whatever water we have. Yet, with Martin Luther, we wish to make full use of water, when it is possible. “For baptism . . . signifies that the old man [self] and the sinful birth of flesh and blood are to be wholly drowned by the grace of God. We should therefore do justice to its meaning and make baptism a true and complete sign of the thing it signifies.”⁵⁰

A font is located in the assembly

Principle 27

A baptismal font filled with water, placed in the assembly’s worship space, symbolizes the centrality of this sacrament for faith and life. 

Application 27a
As congregations are able, they may consider the creation of fonts of ample proportions filled with flowing water, or baptismal pools which could allow immersion. “The location of the font within the church building should express the idea of entrance into the community of faith, and should allow ample space for people to gather around.”⁵¹

Other signs proclaim the meanings of Baptism

Principle 28

The laying on of hands and prayer for the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the signing with the cross, and the anointing with oil help to appropriate the breadth of meanings in Baptism. Other symbolic acts also are appropriate such as the clothing with a baptismal garment and the giving of a lighted candle.

Background 28A
These interpretive signs proclaim the gifts that are given by the promise of God in Baptism itself. Some keys to their interpretation are given in the Holy Scriptures. The laying on of both hands with the prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a sign of the pouring out of the Spirit of God to empower the people of God for mission. The sign of the cross marks the Christian as united with the Crucified. The use of oil is a sign of anointing with the Spirit and of union with Jesus Christ, the anointed one of God.

Baptism incorporates into the Church

Principle 29

In Baptism people become members not only of the Church universal but of a particular congregation. Therefore all baptisms are entered into the permanent records of the congregation and certificates are issued at the time of the administration of the sacrament.

Application 29A
The time of the presentation of this certificate may be at the Baptism itself or at a post-baptismal visit or during post-baptismal formation. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America keeps a roster from the baptismal ministry of its military chaplains. 

Baptism is repeatedly affirmed

Principle 30

The public rite for Affirmation of Baptism may be used at many times in the life of a baptized Christian. It is especially appropriate at Confirmation and at times of reception or restoration into membership.

Application 30A
“When there are changes in a Christian’s life, rites of affirmation of Baptism and intercessory prayer could mark the passage.”⁵² “Moving into a nursing home, beginning parenthood or grandparenthood, choosing or changing an occupation, moving out of the parental home, the diagnosis of a chronic illness, the end of one’s first year of mourning, the ending of a relationship, and retirement are all examples of life’s transitions that could be acknowledged by these rites.”⁵³ Other examples include adoption and the naming of an already baptized child, release from prison, reunion of an immigrant family, and new life after abuse or addiction.

Application 30B
Every Baptism celebrated in the assembly is an occasion for the remembrance and renewal of baptism on the part of all the baptized. The Easter Vigil especially provides for a renewal of baptism.⁵⁴

Part III: Holy Communion and the Christian Assembly

What is Holy Communion?

Principle 31

At the table of our Lord Jesus Christ, God nourishes faith, forgives sin, and calls us to be witnesses to the Gospel.  

Background 31A
Here we receive Christ’s body and blood and God’s gifts of forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation to be received by faith for the strengthening of faith.⁵⁵

Jesus Christ has given the Holy Communion

Principle 32

The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of his betrayal.⁵⁶

Background 32A
In numerous places in the Gospels, the early Church also recognized the eucharistic significance of other meals during Christ’s ministry and after his resurrection.⁵⁷

Jesus Christ is truly present in this sacrament

Principle 33

In this sacrament the crucified and risen Christ is present, giving his true body and blood as food and drink. This real presence is a mystery.

Background 33A
The Augsburg Confession states: “It is taught among us that the true body and blood of Christ are really present in the Supper of our Lord under the form of bread and wine and are there distributed and received.”⁵⁸ The Apology of the Augsburg Confession adds: “We are talking about the presence of the living Christ, knowing that ‘death no longer has dominion over him.’”⁵⁹

Background 33B
“The ‘how’ of Christ’s presence remains as inexplicable in the sacrament as elsewhere. It is a presence that remains ‘hidden’ even though visible media are used in the sacrament. The earthly element is . . .  a fit vehicle of the divine presence and it, too, the common stuff of our daily life, participates in the new creation which has already begun.”⁶⁰

The celebration of Holy Communion includes both Word and sacramental meal

Principle 34

The two principal parts of the liturgy of Holy Communion, the proclamation of the Word of God and the celebration of the sacramental meal, are so intimately connected as to form one act of worship.

Application 34A
Our congregations are encouraged to hold these two parts together, avoiding either a celebration of the Supper without the preceding reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and intercessory prayers or a celebration of the Supper for a few people who remain after the dismissal of the congregation from a Service of the Word. The Holy Communion is not simply appended to the offices of Morning or Evening Prayer.

Application 34B
The simple order of our liturgy of Holy Communion, represented in the worship books of our church, is that which has been used by generations of Christians. We gather in song and prayer, confessing our need of God. We read the Scriptures and hear them preached. We profess our faith and pray for the world, sealing our prayers with a sign of peace. We gather an offering for the poor and for the mission of the Church. We set our table with bread and wine, give thanks and praise to God, proclaiming Jesus Christ, and eat and drink. We hear the blessing of God and are sent out in mission to the world.

The Holy Communion is celebrated weekly

Principle 35

According to the Apology of the Augsburg Confession,⁶¹ Lutheran congregations celebrate the Holy Communion every Sunday and festival. This confession remains the norm for our practice.

Background 35A
The Church celebrates the Holy Communion frequently because the Church needs the sacrament, the means by which the Church’s fellowship is established and its mission as the baptized people of God is nourished and sustained.⁶² This practice was reaffirmed in 1989 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We continue to need “consistent pastoral encouragement and instruction relating to Holy Communion . . . pointing up Christ’s command, his promise, and our deep need.”⁶³ For a variety of historical reasons, Lutherans in various places moved away from the weekly celebration of the sacrament.

Application 35B
All of our congregations are encouraged to celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly, but not every service need be a Eucharist. 

Application 35C
Participation in the sacramental meal is by invitation, not demand. The members of this church are encouraged to make the sacrament a frequent rather than an occasional part of their lives.

The Holy Communion has a variety of names

Principle 36

A variety of names demonstrate the richness of Holy Communion. Those names include the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist, Mass, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Divine Liturgy, and the Divine Service.

Background 36A