Trinity celebrates the Lord’s Supper, also called Holy Communion or the Sacrament of the Altar, as Christ instituted it for His Church. We believe Christ’s words as He spoke them: “Take, eat; this is my body” and “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26–28).
What We Believe About the Lord's Supper
In the Lord’s Supper, Christ gives Christians His true body and blood under the bread and wine to eat and drink. His body and blood are truly present and are actually distributed and received in the Sacrament. Communion is more than a symbolic meal.
We confess this because of Christ’s own words. We do not attempt to explain away the mystery or reduce His words to a figure of speech. The same Lord who died and rose for our salvation has instituted this Sacrament and tells us what He gives there.
Christ also tells us why He gives it: His body is “given for you” and His blood is “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” The Lord’s Supper is therefore one of the means through which God delivers to His people the forgiveness Christ won by His death and resurrection. Faith receives Christ’s words and trusts the promise attached to what is eaten and drunk.
Communion is Also Fellowship
The word communion describes more than an individual Christian receiving Christ’s body and blood. Scripture also speaks of the Lord’s Supper as fellowship or participation. Those who receive together at one altar confess that they are united in the faith taught at that altar.
For this reason, receiving Communion is both receiving a gift from Christ and making a public confession of faith. Christians who commune together are saying that they share the same doctrine and are joined together in that confession.
Why Trinity Practices Closed Communion
Trinity practices closed Communion because we take both aspects of the Sacrament seriously: what Christ gives and what those who commune together confess.
Those admitted to the Lord’s Supper at Trinity are baptized Christians who have been instructed in the Christian faith, confess Christ’s true body and blood in the Sacrament, and share the doctrine confessed and taught at this altar. Ordinarily, this common confession is publicly recognized through active membership in a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod or another church body with which the LCMS shares altar and pulpit fellowship.
Closed Communion is therefore not a judgment that other visitors are unwelcome, nor is it a claim that only Lutherans can be Christians. It is the Church’s practice of receiving the Sacrament together where there is a common confession of the faith.
If You Are Visiting Trinity
All visitors are welcome to attend the Divine Service, hear God’s Word, join in the prayers and hymns, and learn more about the Christian faith.
If you are not currently in altar fellowship with Trinity, we ask that you refrain from receiving the Lord’s Supper. If you are interested in receiving Communion with us, or if you have questions about what we teach, the pastor would be glad to speak with you about our confession and the path toward altar fellowship.
We want both our welcome to visitors and our administration of Christ’s Sacrament to be clear. The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s gift to His Church: His true body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins, received together by those who confess the faith in common.
