To Properly Examine New Worship Practices within the Synod

Official Workbook overture source text

4-29 
To Properly Examine New Worship Practices 
within the Synod 
WHEREAS, With regard to the Lord’s Supper, when our Lord and 
Savior Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament, He said, “Take and eat; 
this is my body … Drink from [the cup] all of you. This is My blood 
of the covenant …” (Matt. 26:26– 28 NIV); and 
WHEREAS, St. Paul writes, “For whenever you eat this bread and 
drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 
Cor. 11:26 NIV); and 
WHEREAS, The Scriptures therefore declare that we eat and drink 
the body and blood of the Lord in Holy Communion and do not 
speak of adoring either the host or the cup; and 
WHEREAS, At the time of the Reformation until this day the 
Roman Catholic Church has practiced the adoration of the host and 
cup when bells are rung during the Words of Institution; and 
W
HEREAS, Luther affirmed the adoration of Christ as present in 
the Sacrament as distinguished from the Roman practice of the 
adoration of the host in his 1523 paper entitled “The Adoration of 
the Sacrament” (Luther’s Works, 36:269–305); and 
WHEREAS, By the 1530s the adoration of the host was no longer 
practiced in Lutheran churches. It is not in any of the early church 
orders, including those of Luther; and 
WHEREAS, It is stated in Luther’s Table Talk, under the heading 
“Elevation of the Host Abolished in Wittenberg, No. 5589, Spring, 
1543”:  
Thereupon somebody asked, “Are there other reasons than 
adoration [of the host] for abolishing elevation?” He answered, 
“I know no other.” The former suggested, “Doctor, in places 
where the gospel has not been preached so long one might 
tolerate this patiently and not abolish elevation, especially where 
the people are not yet established in their faith.” The doctor 
replied, “Yes, it’s of little consequence to us. We don’t care if 
it’s abolished or not, provided the abuse — that is, the 
adoration— is not there. Some churches have seen that we have 
dropped the elevation [in Wittenberg] and have imitated us. We 
are pleased with that.” ( Luther’s Works 54:462, emphasis 
added);  
and 
WHEREAS, The Formula of Concord specifically rejects and 
condemns the adoration in Article VII, which states, “On the other