The Lord's Supper on Easter

This year, Easter falls on April 16th, the third Sunday of the month—a normal communion Sunday. What follows is the report given to the St. Peter Board of Elders. The board decided to offer the Lord's Supper on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday is also a natural day to celebrate the Sacrament. It is arguably the highest festival in the Christian year. “Easter celebrates the truth that ‘Christ was raised from the dead’ (Roman 6:9), and that Christ lives also today. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession (X,4) links ‘the living Christ’ with Holy Communion: ‘In the Lord’s Supper the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present and are truly offered with those things that are seen, bread and wine. We are talking about the presence of the living Christ, knowing that death no longer has dominion over him.’ It is the living Christ who comes to us in this sacrament. Without Easter we would have no sacrament to celebrate. Because Christ lives, we receive his true body and blood in Holy Communion”(Victor Prange, Forward in Christ, Vol 87).

Oftentimes it is argued that communion should not be celebrated on festival Sundays for a few reasons. The first and possibly most common concern is the potential impact on visitors. Festivals, such as Christmas and Easter are common times for visitors to be present in our worship services. We even send out invitations for people to come and visit us on Easter. Many visitors to our worship do not understand our practice of closed communion. Some may come up for communion despite the announcements in the bulletin. We may have to explain our practice to them before or after the services. They might be offended. It’s probably worth remembering that even if we don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper on Easter, closed communion is something we will have to talk to visitors about eventually. We want them to come back, and they might come back on a communion Sunday. “Not offering the Sacrament for the sake of visitors among us doesn’t eliminate the need to explain closed Communion; it only postpones it” (Pastor Jon Micheel, 2003).

Perhaps we should not overlook the positive impact our celebration of the Lord’s Supper might have on visitors. Perhaps they will sense that something important, something mysterious, yet joyful is happening here--even if they can’t participate. Perhaps some might even feel relieved to not be pressured to go up for this ceremony. Some might welcome the chance to simply observe what is happening. Hopefully they will also witness our own gospel proclamation: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Another objection might be that Easter services are usually filled with special music that adds to the length of the services. Having the Lord’s Supper will only make the service longer. Perhaps we might suggest that choirs and accompanists plan special music that is integrated into the liturgy and hymns for the day and therefore do not take much extra time.