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, Hesaid,“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

WHEREAS, 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 side, we unanimously reject and condemn all the following errors … That the external visible elements of bread and wine in the holy sacrament should be adored” (FC Ep VII 40 [Tappert]; emphasis added); and

WHEREAS, Chemnitz rejects “the carrying about, the reservation, and the adoration of the bread, all of which are beyond the usage instituted by Christ” (Martin Chemnitz, The Lord’s Supper, J. A. O. Preus, tr. [CPH, 1979], 50; emphasis added); and

WHEREAS, While it has been a Lutheran custom that the congregation kneels during the entire Words of Institution (Friedrich Lochner, The Chief Divine Service [CPH, 2020], 253), it has not been a Lutheran custom until the late 20th century that the presiding minister would elevate the host and cup and then kneel to adore them; and

WHEREAS, Teachers of the Synod have repeatedly rejected this practice throughout our history, such as when Eugene Klug and Otto Stahlke call the adoration of the “external visible elements of bread and wine” (FC Ep VII 19; SD VII 126) “false adoration” (Eugene F. Klug and Otto F. Stahlke, Getting into the Formula of Concord [CPH, 1977], 115); and

WHEREAS, This practice has not been in any of the Synod’s hymnals; and

WHEREAS, Despite this, the adoration of the host is practiced in several of our congregations, educational institutions, conventions, and convocations of the Synod today; and

WHEREAS, Regarding the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, our Lord Jesus Christ told us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19); and

WHEREAS, St. Paul writes that there is one baptism (Eph. 4:5); and

WHEREAS, There is no reference in the New Testament to people splashing water in remembrance of their Baptism; and

WHEREAS, Dipping and making the sign of the cross in holy water is a practice of the Roman Catholic Church; and

WHEREAS, In the Small Catechism, Luther writes that the water in Baptism is plain water unless it is combined with the Word of God in an actual Baptism, and that we remember our Baptism through daily contrition and repentance(SCIV, Holy Baptism); and

WHEREAS, The practice of placing a baptismal font or basin at the entrance of the church and encouraging worshippers to dip their fingers and make the sign of the cross was not practiced in the Lutheran church until the late 20th century; and

WHEREAS, Until recently, baptismal fonts were dry unless there was a baptism; and

WHEREAS, There is nothing special about the water in a baptismal font unless it is being used to baptize; and

WHEREAS, This practice has also crept into many congregations, educational institutions, conventions, and convocations of the Synod in the last several years; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) be requested to study the practices of Eucharistic adoration and the dipping of fingers in the baptismal font, examining them in light of Holy Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, and the historic practice of the church; and beit further

Resolved, That the CTCR report its findings and recommendations to the Synod in convention; and be it finally

Resolved, That congregations, educational institutions, convocations, and conventions of the Synod be encouraged to refrain from these practices pending the report.