The Act or Custom of the Supper

Preface

Whereas for a long time past it has been made sure and clear enough from the Word of God that Christ's Supper has been seriously misused, it is therefore necessary that everything that is not in accordance with the Word of God should be put away from it. And whereas this memorial is a thanksgiving and a rejoicing before Almighty God for the goodness which He has shown us through His Son, and whosoever appears at this feast, meal, or thanksgiving witnesses thereby that he is of those who believe that they are redeemed by the death and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore on Maundy Thursday the young people who now believe and have come to the knowledge of God and of His Word, and desire to begin this thanksgiving and supper, must betake themselves to the floor of the nave between the choir and the entrance, males to the right and females to the left, and the rest must remain in the aisles, the porch, and other places.

As soon as the sermon is over, unleavened bread and wine shall first be placed upon a table on the floor of the nave, and then the ordinance and action of Christ, in accordance with His institution of this memorial, shall be recited openly and intelligibly, in German, as hereafter follows. Then the bread shall be carried round by the appointed ministers on large wooden trenchers from one seat to the next, and each shall break off a bit or a mouthful with his hand and eat it. Then they shall go round with the wine likewise; and no one shall move from his place. When that is done, in open and clear words praise and thanksgiving shall be offered to God in an audible and distinct voice and then the whole multitude of the congregation shall say 'Amen' at the end.

On Good Friday, people of middle life shall assemble in the place aforesaid on the floor of the nave, and the thanksgiving shall take place in like manner, men and women apart, as above. On Easter Day, the old folk likewise. The trenchers and beakers shall be of wood, that no pomp come back again. And this order, so long as it please our churches, we shall observe four times in the year, at Easter, Whitsuntide, autumn, and Christmas.

From the appendix to the Fidei Christianae Expositio, 1531.

I wish here to add the formula of the action which we use in celebrating the Supper, so that your Majesty may see that we do not change the words of Christ, nor vitiate them, nor deprave them with perverse meaning; but preserve entirely those things in the Supper which ought to have been preserved in the Mass: namely prayers, praises, confession of faith, communion of the church or the faithful, and the spiritual and sacramental eating of the body of Christ; but on the other hand omit all things which are not of Christ's institution: for instance, "We offer efficaciously for the living and the dead": "We offer for the remission of sins," and other things which the Papists assert no less impiously than unlearnedly.

Here follows the action [service] which we use at Zürich, Bern, Basel, and the remaining cities of the Christian state, as far as substance is concerned.

First, the benefit of God which He bestowed upon us through His Son is preached in a sermon of sufficient length, and the people are drawn to the knowledge of that thing and to thanksgiving. When that is finished, a table is placed before the choir (as they call it) on the steps; it is covered with a cloth; unleavened bread is placed on it, and wine is poured into cups. Then the Pastor comes forth with two assistants, who all turn toward the people, so that the Pastor or bishop stands in the middle of them with no other vestment than that which is commonly used by honest men and ministers of the church. Then the Pastor begins thus with a loud voice, not in the Latin tongue but the vernacular, that all may understand what is done:

Pastor: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Ministers (in the name and place of the whole church): Amen.

Pastor: Let us pray.

(Now the church kneels.)

Pastor: Almighty eternal God, whom rightly all creatures worship, adore, and praise together, namely their maker, creator, and father; grant to us miserable sinners that we may perform with sincere faith that praise and thanksgiving which Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, instituted for us to do. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

Ministers: Amen.

(Here the minister who stands on the left reads. What is now read is written in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 11 [verses 20-29].)

Ministers (with the church): Praise be to God.

Pastor: Glory to God in the highest.

Deacon: And on earth peace.

Subdeacon: To men a sound and tranquil mind.

Deacon: We praise Thee, We bless Thee.

(And the rest [of the hymn] is completed to the end, with the ministers acting alternately, verse for verse, the church understanding everything, having been admonished beforehand that each person should speak and ponder in their heart, in the sight of God and the church, what is being said.)

Deacon: The Lord be with you.

Ministers: And with thy spirit.

Deacon: What is now read is written in the Gospel of John, chapter six.

Response: Glory to be Thee, O Lord.

Deacon: Thus spoke Jesus: Amen, amen I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna... (etc., up to this end) ...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life [John 6:47-63].

(After these words the minister kisses the book and the Pastor says:)

Pastor: Glory to God, who according to His word deigns to remit to us all our sins.

Ministers: Amen.

Pastor: I believe in one God.

Deacon: The Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Subdeacon: And in Jesus Christ, etc.

(...to the end of the symbol which they call the Apostles' [Creed], which the ministers recite in turn with a loud voice just as the hymn 'Gloria in excelsis' before.)

The Pastor's invitation to celebrate the Supper worthily:

Now we wish, dearest brethren, according to the rite and institution of our Lord Jesus Christ, to eat this bread and drink this drink, which He commanded to be done in commemoration, in praise, and in thanksgiving of this, that He suffered death for us, and that He shed His blood to wash away our sins. Therefore let each one prove and ask himself, according to the word of Paul, what kind of confidence and certainty he has in our Lord Jesus Christ, lest anyone conduct himself as a believer who yet has not faith, and so becomes guilty of the death of the Lord. Nor let him despise the whole church of Christ (which is His body) and sin against it repeatedly. Therefore send yourselves down upon your knees and pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven', etc., to the end.

(And when the ministers have answered: Amen, let the Pastor pray again.)

Prayer: Lord God Almighty, who hast knit us together through Thy Spirit in the unity of faith into one body, which body Thou hast commanded to give praise and thanks to Thee for that liberality and benefit whereby Thou deliveredst Thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ unto death for our sins; grant that we may fulfill this Thy precept with such faith that we may not offend or provoke Thee, the infallible truth, by any lying simulation. Grant also that we may live as holily as befits Thy body, Thy sons, and Thy family. So that unbelievers too may learn to acknowledge Thy name and glory. Guard us, Lord, lest Thy name and glory be exposed to insult on account of the depravity of our life. We pray always, Lord increase our faith, that is, undoubting confidence in Thee. Thou who livest and reignest, God for ages.

Response: Amen.

(Then the Pastor acts thus and speaks the sacred words at the same time:)

Pastor: The Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed to death, took bread (here the Pastor takes the unleavened bread into his hands), and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said: Take, eat: This is my body which is given for you. Do this in commemoration of me.

(Here the Pastor offers the bread to the ministers who stand around the table, who immediately take it with reverence and divide it among themselves and eat. While in the meantime the Pastor continues:)

Pastor: Likewise, after the supper was done, He took also the cup. (Here the Pastor takes the cup into his hands, gave thanks and says:) Drink ye all of this; this cup is the New Testament in my blood. As often as ye shall do this, do it in commemoration of me. For as often as ye shall eat this bread and drink of this cup, ye shall preach the death of the Lord, ye shall praise Him, and ye shall give thanks, until He comes.

(After this the ministers carry round the unleavened bread and each takes a small piece of the offered bread with his own hand and afterwards offers the rest of the part to his neighbor. And if any does not wish to handle the bread with his own hand, the minister carrying it round offers it to him. Then the ministers follow with the cups and one offers the Lord's cup to another. Let not your Majesty shrink from this custom of taking and offering; for it has often been found that some who had sat together rashly, who yet had previously exercised feuds and hatreds among themselves, laid aside the violence of their mind from this participation of the bread or drink.)

(Again another minister reads from the pulpit from the Gospel of John for some time, while the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood is eaten and drunk; it begins, however, from the 13th chapter. And when all the cups are brought back, then the Pastor begins thus:)

Pastor: Fall upon your knees. For sitting and silently listening to the word of the Lord we eat and drink the sacrament of the Supper.

(And when all fall down, I say, the Pastor begins:)

Pastor: Praise the Lord, ye servants, Praise the name of the Lord.

Deacon: Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.

Subdeacon: From the rising of the sun unto the going down... etc.

(And so again the ministers finish this psalm [113] in alternate turns, which the Hebrews assert was accustomed to be said by their ancestors from the table.)

(After this the Pastor exhorts the church in these words:)

Be mindful, dearest brethren, what we have now done together according to the command of Christ. For we have testified by this thanksgiving which we have performed in faith, that we are indeed miserable sinners but cleansed by the body and blood of Christ which He delivered and shed for us, and [that we are] redeemed from everlasting death. We have testified that we are brethren: let us therefore prove that by charity, faith, and mutual duty. Let us pray therefore to the Lord that we may hold His bitter death so deep in our hearts that we may daily die indeed to sins, but be so supported and grow in all virtues, by the grace and gift of His Spirit, that the name of the Lord may be sanctified in us, and our neighbor be loved and helped. The Lord have mercy on us and bless us, cause His face to shine upon us and have mercy on us. Amen.

Prayer. (The Pastor prays again:)

We give thanks to Thee, O Lord, for all Thy gifts and benefits, who livest and reignest God world without end. Amen.

Pastor: Go in peace. Amen.

(Then the church departs.)