Examination Before Reception
While December is most often viewed as the month of Christmas, most of the month actually takes place during the season of Advent in which we prepare our hearts to receive our King at His second coming.
This month’s Newsletter article will encourage another way for us to prepare to receive Jesus, particularly when we approach the Altar Rails for the Lord’s Supper.
There are four parts in Luther’s Small Catechism. Most people are familiar with the first two parts: the Six Chief Parts of Christian doctrine and the Daily Prayers. In recent years I have spent a little more time teaching the third section: the Table of Duties, which is a collection of Bible verses that pertain to the duties of Christians in their various vocations. Until now, other than a quick run-through during junior confirmation classes, I have neglected to teach or focus on the fourth section.
The fourth section is called “Christian Questions with Their Answers” which was “prepared by Dr. Martin Luther for those who intend to go to the Sacrament” (SC part IV introduction). Notice it says the words, “those who intend to go” – not “those who want to be confirmed”! This section is for ALL Christians who want to receive the Lord’s Supper! In the conclusion, we read, “These questions and answers are no child’s play, but are drawn up with great earnestness of purpose… for both young and old.” No one ever graduates from the biblical requirement to examine oneself before receiving the Lord’s Supper. The Apostle writes, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” lest we be “guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27, 28).
How to precisely examine oneself is not specifically prescribed in Scripture, but, as with any examination, it assumes questions with answers. Hence the fourth part of Luther’s Small Catechism! These “Christian Questions with Their Answers” offer a way to examine yourself before receiving the Sacrament.
After we sing the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world) during the Communion liturgy, I’d encourage all the saints at Zion to turn to p. 329 in their hymnal and briefly go through these twenty brief questions and answers, which include simple interrogatives such as, “Do you believe you are a sinner?” (Q. 1), “How do you know this? From the Ten Commandments which I have not kept” (Q. & A. 2) and “What has Christ done for you that you trust in Him?” (Q. 9). More thoughtful questions such as “What motivated Christ to die and make full payment for your sins?” (Q. 17) and “Finally, why do you wish to go to the Sacrament” (Q. 18) come near the end.
It will take you less than five minutes to read these, but in time, as with anything else you become more familiar with, you will contemplate on its simplicity and learn to value its profundity. It will help you appreciate the Sacrament more and not ever be tempted to take it for granted. Most importantly, as several of the answers include, it will disciple you. It will help you “learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins. Only Christ, true God and man, could do that” (A. 16). It will help you “learn to be horrified by our sins” and “learn to believe that Christ, out of great love, died for my sin, and also learn from Him to love God and my neighbor” (A. 18). The repetition of the word “learn” is purposeful. As we learn, we become better catechized in God’s Word, the purpose of the Catechism!
Beginning in Advent, I have asked the organist to delay playing the first Distribution hymn for five minutes so there is time for everyone to examine themselves before receiving Eucharist. (This also allows the organist time to go receive Communion with the second table.) I pray this encouragement of personal examination before reception of the Sacrament adds to the reverence and joy of receiving Christ’s greatest gift – His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. May God grant it during this Advent and Christmas season, as we prepare to receive our King!
In Christ,
Pastor Hromowyk