Close Communion and Two Sweet Old Ladies

Pastor Tim Rossow over at Steadfast Lutherans offers an encouraging and interesting post on Communion fellowship and how it is received by others ("The Communion Rail was Closed Today to Two Old Ladies"). In discussions on this issue in my parish over the last couple of years, a few had belabored the point of the offensiveness of this practice, especially to prospective communicants such as these pleasant ladies. Pastor Rossow notes that these women understood the need for the faithful practice of Close Communion and respected it without showing angry indignation, even though they had what he refers to as "LCMS bloodlines." As I have noted before, our confession counts, and formal membership in a church with a differing denominational affiliation links us with that confession, even when we may not intend it to be that way. If membership is to mean anything, we must be held accountable for it. Apparently these ladies understood that and accepted the limitations it brought. How refreshing.

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