Workbook page: 253
PDF page: 288
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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 288
2026 Convention Workbook 253 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS /one.lnum/three.lnum The Lutheran Church/emdash.lnumMissouri Synod There is no reason to question the Synod’s time-honored position on this matter. The elements referred to in Scripture are without question bread and wine. The Synod therefore rightly opposes the substitution of pasteurized grape juice for wine in the Sacrament. Rather, the Commission echoes Concordia Theological Seminary’s “Opinion of the Department of Systematic Theology”: We strongly urge, therefore, lest confusion be multiplied, offense be given, consciences and peace within the church be disturbed, that Lutheran pastors and people continue a consistent practice in support of the Scripturally designated elements in Holy Communion, especially as regards the use of wine, “the fruit of the vine,” which Christ instituted when He gave to His church this new testament in His blood. 11 In conclusion, we commend once more the Synod’s long-standing teaching that only bread and wine should be used in the Lord’s Supper, since “the use of an element other than wine is an alien practice in the churches of the Augsburg Con- fession and brings about doubt whether the Sacrament is offered or not” (2001 Res. 3-16). 11 “Opinion of the Department of Systematic Theology,” 80. Earlier in its opinion, the Systematic de- partment offers this strong caution: “Those who simply ‘prefer’ to receive grape juice instead of wine should be led to see that their ‘preference’ is in violation of Scripture’s own clear teaching and that they are thereby making the Sacrament an uncertain matter, if in fact not invalid. Moreover, it is to be feared that such tampering with the Sacrament may in the final analysis involve a deeper error, the relegating of the Lord’s Supper to a mere memorial meal instead of the blessed means of grace that Christ has constituted it to be for our spiritual well-being, for the forgiveness of sins” (80). See Appendix B for the full text of this opinion. /one.lnum/four.lnum Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper THE USE OF PRE-PACKAGED ELEMENTS IN THE LORD’S SUPPER Historical Background Of the three practices that are named in 2023 Res. 5-15, the most recent—at least in the LCMS—is the introduction of pre-packaged bread and wine (or grape juice). COVID-19 led to skyrocketing use of the packets in many Protestant and Evangel- ical churches, 12 and also to some use in the LCMS. The recent rise of pre-packaged elements resulted from the mystery of how COVID-19 was spreading. The use of packets was linked to other changes in church life, from widespread temporary suspension of worship in many churches, to parking lot services, to physical sep- aration of individuals and families in sanctuaries, and so forth. For one vendor of the pre-packaged elements, sales rose by 1,000 percent in the year after COVID-19 hit the US. 13 Over the centuries, various ways of providing the communion elements have been employed in the church catholic. With regard to the bread, practice has varied through church history. The earliest evidence indicates that ordinary table bread was used. The Roman Catholic tradition now is to use only unleavened wheat bread; churches of the East generally use leavened bread. For many years a larger 12 Lutheranism can arguably be placed under the Protestant and the Evangelical umbrella as a church body that stems from the sixteenth-century Reformation. However, within this document our general practice will be to distinguish confessional Lutheranism from other Protestants and Evangelicalism. 13 Parija Kavilanz, “Easter Is Here, and So Are Disposable, Pre-filled Communion Cups,” CNN Business, April 7, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/business/prefilled-communion-cups/index.html. /one.lnum/five.lnum The Lutheran Church/emdash.lnumMissouri Synod loaf was employed—sometimes leavened and sometimes not. Both unleavened and leavened bread have been used, usually made from wheat flour, although there is evidence that in some places other grains were acceptable to make the flour for the bread. Usually the unleavened bread for the Sacrament is made with only flour and water, but in some places oil is added, and in others wine or salt may also be in the dough. 14 The creation of the individual host dates to the seventh or eighth cen- tury, and by the ninth century the practice of individually made unleavened hosts was nearly uniform in the West (almost always baked in monasteries with prayer and fasting). However, a few, even in the West, preferred a single loaf of leavened bread for the Eucharist. 15 With the Reformation came more change. The Reformed eventually insisted on the use of ordinary loaves in the Supper, because of the symbolism inherent there- in, while Lutherans generally retained the Roman practice of individual hosts. 16 The wine of the Supper through history also exhibits significant variety. Only grape wine appears to have been used throughout the church, although some heretical groups used only water rather than wine. While water alone was condemned, wine was typically diluted with water in the ancient world, in Jewish practice, and so also in the church. Augustine mentions the practice, and Cyprian of Carthage com- ments on this theologically, although the practice was more likely the result of practicality and custom than theology. 17 The grape varieties used for wine varied. The practice of communing in one kind, or withholding the cup, is of course one of the most significant variations that occurred in the practice of the Lord’s Supper. The practice of the New Testament church, as we know from Corinth, or of the Western Church in general into the twelfth century was clearly Communion in both kinds, although there were exceptions in isolated circumstances, for example, 14 See Henri Leclercq, “Host,” in The Catholic Encyclopedia , vol. 7 (Robert Appleton Company, 1910), https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07489d.htm (accessed August 19, 2024). 15 Lucia Graziano, “Communion Wafers Instead of Loaves: A History,” Aleteia, February 7, 2023, https:// aleteia.org/2023/02/07/communion-wafers-instead-of-loaves-a-history (accessed August 19, 2024). 16 “Host,” Catholic Encyclopedia. 17 Augustine, “On Christian Doctrine,” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , vol. 2, ed. Philip Schaff (Hen- drickson reprint, 1995), 590; Cyprian, “Epistle 62: Caecilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord,” in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson (Hendrickson reprint, 1995), 358–64. /one.lnum/six.lnum Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper when the Sacrament was taken to the sick and in the practice mentioned by certain church fathers of laity taking home the host for communing privately and in the communion of young children. 18 In the East the Sacrament “is always given in both forms—bread and wine.” 19 Thus, the Roman practice of communing in only one kind is a novelty in the catholic tradition that, unfortunately, became the standard in the medieval Roman Catholic Church. Protests against the practice of with- holding the cup preceded the Reformation, but with the Reformers the chalice was returned to the laity in virtually every strand of the Reformation. As noted above, however, some Protestants began the variation of using some- thing other than wine in the cup. Then, beginning in the twentieth century and due to advances in knowledge about disease transmission, the common chalice gradually gave way to the use of individual metal cups or glasses and then indi- vidual plastic cups. The cups were almost always filled in advance of the service. The rationale for the practice is the assumption that communicants are thereby protected from colds, flu, or other diseases. (It should be noted, however, that this assumption cannot be firmly substantiated and that there is no verifiable evidence of any transmission of infections via the common cup.) 20 Over time the use of indi- vidual portions of wine became common also in the LCMS, and the Synod formally approved the use of individual glasses in 1944. 21 18 See Patrick T oner, “Communion under Both Kinds,” II. History of Disciplinary Variations, 2, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (Robert Appleton Company, 1908), https://www.newadvent.org/ cathen/04175a.htm (accessed February 22, 2026). 19 “Holy Eucharist,” Orthodox Church in America, https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/ worship/the-sacraments/holy-eucharist (accessed August 22, 2024). 20 In 1998 the US Center for Disease Control “reported that there had never been an outbreak of infection related to the communion cup and that a theoretical risk of transmitting infectious dis- eases by using a common communion cup exists, but that the risk is so small that it is undetect- able.” See “COVID-19 and Holy Communion” Public Health 187 (2020): 134–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.puhe.2020.08.012. A later study published in light of COVID-19 came to this same conclusion that “the common communion cup may serve as a potential vehicle for transmission. However, the risk is considerably lower compared to other conditions of social gathering . Furthermore, the transmission of any infectious disease has never been documented ” (emphasis added); see Dimitrios Anyfantakis, “Holy Communion and Infection T ransmission: A Literature Review,” Cureus Journal of Medical Sci- ence, June 21, 2020, https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8741. 21 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1944 Convention Proceedings, 254–55.