Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

Today we continued our odyssey by visiting a Lutheran church that some of our relatives attend every week. We have attended special services in honor of some of our cousins’ confirmations, but have never been to an “ordinary” Lutheran service. We learned quite a lot there today, and would like to share some of the differences between our own Catholic church and this Lutheran church.

One of the first things we noticed as we walked into the chapel was that there was no crucifix—only a cross, at the front of the chapel. This is because Protestants don’t believe in reproducing an image of God. However, other than the cross, the front of the chapel was set up basically the same way that our church is set up—candles around the altar, a chair for the pastor, and a “stand” where the pastor delivers his sermon.

The service also was very similar to a Catholic Mass—there were three readings, (although two of them were from the New Testament and only one was from the Old Testament) including a reading from the Gospel. However, the sermon was structured around one of Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians, instead of being structured around the Gospel reading, as it is in a Catholic church. Two of us especially liked the written program that we followed during the service because it told us when you stand, sit, and sing. At our church, if you are new to the service, you have to just copy what other people are doing because there is no written guide.

Our relatives explained to us that at their church, they take Communion on the first and third Sundays of the month. This is a difference from the Catholic tradition of taking it any time there is a Mass—since Communion is served at daily Mass as well as on Sundays.

When we read on the official Lutheran website that “Lutherans believe that Christ's body and blood are truly present in the Lord's Supper, but they do not believe, with Catholics, that the bread and wine, are permanently "changed into" Christ's body and blood,” we were very confused. After all, didn’t this mean the same thing? We decided to ask the pastor of the church after the service. We asked our question, and after giving his answer some thought, he told us that Lutherans believe Christ’s body and blood are inside the bread and wine, but they do not literally become the body and blood of Christ. In comparison, Catholics believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ—that there is no element of bread or wine in the substance after the bread and wine has been blessed. This was a very interesting concept, since most Protestant churches believe that the bread and wine is only a symbol of the body and blood of Christ, and nothing more. The pastor explained that the Lutheran beliefs about communion are much closer to Catholic beliefs than other Protestant faiths.

We are very glad that we visited this Lutheran church today, because we truly uncovered many similarities—and some differences—between the Catholic and Lutheran churches. 

-Soklabi