Questions & Answers

Our Lord Jesus, in instituting this sacrament, did not address the issue of how often we should offer or receive it. His words merely indicate it is to be done repeatedly and until he returns again in glory. In short, the frequency is and will remain a matter of Christian freedom and the frequency of offering and receiving the Lord's Supper will remain a decision to be made by the local congregation and the individual child of God in consultation with the pastor. In the Small Catechism Martin Luther emphasized this aspect of the freedom that we have and then said the right way that the frequency is increased is when the people of God ask for it and insist on it from among themselves.

Your words might indicate unnecessary concern about the forgiveness of sins. You possess this continuously through faith in your Savior Jesus Christ and this faith with full forgiveness is conveyed and strengthened through the Gospel that you read in your home, hear in sermons and Bible readings, and ponder throughout life. So even when you do not receive the Sacrament on a given day or week, for example, your possession and enjoyment of pardon and peace need not be considered diminished. This is by no means said to downplay the value of the Lord's Supper -- which is pure Gospel -- but to avoid allowing the written and spoken Word to be considered lacking whenever the sacrament is absent.