How's this for irony - communion rail in a Lutheran church

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My eldest daughter sings in a local choir and they had a casual concert this weekend, held at a Lutheran church in town (I’m not sure what synod). I’ve been in this church before but hadn’t noticed before this that, not only do all the pews have kneelers, but they have a communion rail in the front of the church, right in front of the steps leading to the altar!! I couldn’t believe it. I have no idea if they use the kneeler at all, but it didn’t look that old and the church itself was built in the late 60’s, I think. Anyway, I just thought I would share this with you all as I’m sure you will find the irony of this incredible.

God bless all, Jen
 
wheres the irony?lutherans have always held the belief that they receive the body and blood of jesus during holy eucharist,some practise closed communion and will only commune those with there belief in the real presence(lcms).with all due respect i,ve seen many catholics run out the door immediately after receiving communion,i,ve never seen that at a lutheran church,i,m not passing judgement only saying what i,ve observed.by the way i,m lutheran in a interfaith marriage(wifes catholic)and have attended both churches for years so i have first hand knowledge,not trying to start a flame up as i have great love and respect for the catholic church.in christ,celt
 
Sounds like this is probably a LCMS parish, as even the most odd ones liturgically (i.e., What kind of service can we make up this week?) are pretty stern about how they practice communion. I was in an LCMS parish about 3 years ago in Indianapolis that had just opened, and they had a huge altar rail and all of the ministers of the Sacrament were vested and in some form of ministry within the LCMS setup. Further, no-one cussed me out when I didn’t go to communion! LOL!

What is more ironic is that the ‘fencing’ of the Altar with rails began with Archbishop Laud of Canterbury, who was martyred by Cromwell’s folks for (gasp!) trying to mandate the SURPLICE! and for celebrating Liturgy facing east. (Double Gasp!)

Previous to this, Churches may have set prie deuxs up for feeble folks, but most communicants basically knelt at the steps to the choir or, in small parish churches with no choir, at the base of the steps to the Altar.

One thing I found hilarious when we remodeled our Hospital Chapel was that while I did the best I could to try to make it as Catholic-friendly as possible, I only won so much (note my earlier post where I noted that I tried to place the Tabernacle directly beneath the cross and instead the construction workers shoved it into a side-wall in the sanctuary). At any rate, the one thing I am glad that I succeeded in was getting the money approved for an altar rail. The hilarious thing was that as I was supervising the installation, a woman came walking in and began to moan and lament, “Oh dear, this looks so Protestant… look, you even put in a Communion Rail! Catholics don’t do that anymore.” They walked out. As I walked back to the office, the Apostolic chaplain came walking up to me and said, “Father Rob, I need to talk to you… that chapel looks to **** Catholic. I want it to be more representative of my faith… can’t you take out that stupid rail?”

For a few minutes, all I wanted to do was scream.

Rob+
 
It was most likely a LCMS church. I grew up in this church and LCMS’s believe that communion IS Jesus - real presence.

Therefore, when I converted to Catholicism, it wasn’t much of a stretch from how I was raised as a child. (pretty much in name only, IMO).
 
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im_wildrose:
My eldest daughter sings in a local choir and they had a casual concert this weekend, held at a Lutheran church in town (I’m not sure what synod). I’ve been in this church before but hadn’t noticed before this that, not only do all the pews have kneelers, but they have a communion rail in the front of the church, right in front of the steps leading to the altar!! I couldn’t believe it. I have no idea if they use the kneeler at all, but it didn’t look that old and the church itself was built in the late 60’s, I think. Anyway, I just thought I would share this with you all as I’m sure you will find the irony of this incredible.

God bless all, Jen
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The Episcopal Church uses kneelers AND Communion Rails too.
 
You will find kneelers in certain ELCA churches as well. Whether they are used or not depends entirely on the pastor/committee. Any ELCA Lutheran church you walk into is a dice-shoot. You may get a Bible-thumping bull-session, or you may get high liturgy that embarrasses many Catholic services.

Scott
 
In regards to azcelt, the irony is that, as you said, there is a considerable amount of disrespect for the Eucharist in some Catholic churches and there are many who have done away with kneelers. Communion rails are a very rare sight indeed.

Fr. Rob has hit it on the head. I think I would have been screaming if I had been you!!! lol That is too funny. Perhaps I’m a bit sheltered but I have never seen nor heard of a Communion rail in other denominations. I do think it’s nice that others have them but I wish even more that they would make a return in the Catholic churches as well. Of course, I would just settle for kneelers in every Catholic church. There’s nothing like going to a new church and finding out, upon entering, that you’re going to have to make a spectacle out of yourself by kneeling on the floor at the Consecration. This happened to us recently and, along with getting odd looks, most of the people around us didn’t go out of their way to shake our hands during the Peace be with you.

Anyway, I still find the whole thing incredibly ironic. Perhaps there will be some healing of the divisions with our new pope. GOD BLESS POPE BENEDICT XVI!!!

God bless, Jen
 
Last year before my decision to swim the Tiber, and in revolt against the non-celebration of communion at the Southern Baptist Church where we were members, I started going monthly to the ELCA congregation around the corner and a few blocks away. Communion there was received kneeling at an altar rail.

(I did quit going there as soon as I made my full decision to convert, and it has been with much joy that I have been able to fully receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord, starting this past March 26.)

DaveBj
 
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