WHEN IS HOLY COMMUNION CELEBRATED?
Both Sunday services celebrate Communion on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. We invite you to worship with us regardless of whether or not you are prepared to receive Communion, but ask that you remain in your seat during Communion if you are not prepared to receive the blessed Sacrament (see below).
Children who have received training for their First Communion are invited to participate; younger children are invited to come forward with their parents and receive a blessing from the pastor.
PREPARATION FOR HOLY COMMUNION
The Lord’s Supper is celebrated at this congregation in the confession and glad confidence that, as He says, our Lord gives into our mouths not only bread and wine but His very body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins and to strengthen our union with him and with one another. Our Lord invites to his table those who trust his words, repent of all sin, and set aside any refusal to
forgive and love as he forgives and loves us, that they may show forth his death until he comes.
Because Holy Communion is a confession of the faith which is confessed at this altar, any who are not yet instructed, in doubt, or who hold beliefs differing from that of this congregation, and yet desire to receive the sacrament, are asked first to speak with a pastor.
The Miracle of the Sacrament
The Scriptures teach and we believe that something unexplainable occurs between God and His people in the sharing of Holy Communion. Here the Lord offers His Body and Blood to strengthen the faith of believing Christians. I Corinthians 10:16 Holy Communion is open to those who have been baptized and who accept and understand the following basic truths:
We Believe –
+We need God’s forgiveness for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
+God in His love sent His Son to pay the price for our sins on the Cross, and the “blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin”.
+True repentance from sin is a necessary part of proper preparation for the Sacrament as Scripture declares, “a man ought to examine himself before he eats the bread and drinks of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself.”
+Holy Communion is the tangible assurance that we have been forgiven for the Word promises, “the Body of Christ is given for you”.
+The Risen Christ is Really Present in the Sacrament, and with the Bread and Wine we receive His True Body and Blood.
For further study, see Matthew 5:23f.; 10:32f.; 18:15-35; 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 11:17-34.