Last week in my high school Midweek class, we talked about communion.  I figured that this would be an open and shut discussion.  Communion in an LC-MS church: good; communion outside of an LC-MS congregation: bad.  However, that was not the case.  They said that communion at an ELCA church is ok, as it is at an Episcopalian congregation. 

What they failed to realize is that in communion, there is both a vertical and a horizontal aspect to communion.  The vertical aspect is that between God and man.  They saw that aspect, but it was the horizontal aspect they didn’t understand and/or agree with.  The horizontal aspect is that between man and man.  When you come to the Lord’s Table, you confess that you are in theological agreement with those around you.  Since we are not in theological agreement with he ELCA or the Episcopalians, we cannot commune at their altars, nor could they commune at ours.

After the discussion, I was concerned about their understanding of the Lord’s Supper.  Last night, we read a couple of small phamplets concerning communion:  What About The Sacrament of the Altar and What About Fellowship in the Lord’s Supper.  They seemed to have a more Lutheran understanding of it after we finished our discussion.