This post is likely going to be a bit on the short side, and mostly because I probably gave away the entire point of the post in the title.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked about how Lutherans understand communion. It’s not a symbol. We believe that “is” means “equal sign.” It is Jesus’ body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. By eating and drinking His body and blood, we receive grace, the forgiveness of our sins. More than that, by participating in this holy meal, we are “remembering” Jesus, not just remembering what a great guy He was/is, but by participating in what He did and who He is.
There’s one more aspect to the way Lutherans understand communion. This isn’t just about the forgiveness of sins, but it’s also about feeding our faith. We see it as soul food, so to speak. By consuming Jesus, we become more and more like Him.
It’s like the old saying: you are what you eat. Lutherans believe that, through Holy Communion, we eat Christ. We do so so that we may become stronger in our faith.
And that’s it. One last point. Maybe not worthy of an entire post, but that rounds out our look at communion. We could possibly talk about a few more aspects of how Lutherans understand communion, but that’s more a denominational thing. I wanted to focus more on the “bigger picture” than delving into the different understandings that exist between the different groups of Lutherans.
We’re going to wrap up our look at the Lutheran sacraments next week.