allsaintsjonesboro Why We Do What We Do

Receiving the Body of Christ with Reverence

This post is part of a new “Why We Do What We Do” series, explaining the biblical and historic practices of the Church.

FROM THE EARLIEST CENTURIES OF THE CHURCH, Christians have approached the Holy Sacrament with fear, love, and deep reverence. The way we receive the Body of Christ is never a matter of mere technique or personal preference but must take into account what Scripture says is actually happening in the Supper. Our bodily posture confesses what we believe about who Christ is, who we are, and what He is giving in this most holy gift.

Holy Scripture consistently teaches that man is by nature sinful and unclean and so unworthy to handle the holy things of God. This confession is not meant to shame the faithful, but to tell the truth about our condition apart from Christ. The prophet Isaiah, when brought into the presence of the Lord, does not congratulate himself for drawing near. Instead, he cries out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” Only after a seraph touches his lips with a burning coal from the altar does he hear the Gospel: “Now your guilt is removed, and your sin forgiven” (Isaiah 6:5–7).

The Church has long understood this passage as a powerful image of the Holy Sacrament. The forgiveness of sins is not achieved by Isaiah’s effort or worthiness. It is delivered to him by God, from the altar, through an appointed servant. In the same way, Christ places His own Body upon the lips of His people, forgiving sins and cleansing the unclean. Receiving the Host on the tongue vividly confesses this biblical reality: we do not take Christ for ourselves; He gives Himself to us.

This confession is further reinforced by the Church’s historic practice of the lavabo—the washing of the celebrant’s fingers. The celebrant’s hands are not holy by nature, but are set apart by the Word of God and prayer for the handling of the Sacrament. As Psalm 26 declares, “I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, O Lord.” The Church has therefore guarded the handling of the consecrated Host with care, not out of superstition, but out of reverent faith in Christ’s true presence.

Receiving the Body of Christ on the tongue beautifully embodies the Gospel itself. In the Sacrament, we contribute nothing. We bring no work, no worthiness, no act of devotion sufficient to earn what is given. We simply open our mouths, like beggars before a merciful Lord, and receive what He promises. This posture teaches us again that salvation is by grace alone, given freely for Christ’s sake.

For these reasons, the Church has consistently preferred reception of the Host on the tongue as the clearest confession of reverence, humility, and faith in Christ’s gift. While the Church does not bind consciences with an absolute requirement, she does encourage practices that best teach and protect the faith. To receive on the tongue is to let the body confess what the heart believes: that Christ alone acts, Christ alone gives, and Christ alone forgives sins in His holy Sacrament.

Series: Why We Do What We Do

Understanding the theology, Scripture, and historic practice of Christian worship at All Saints.

In this series:

allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Earthly & Heavenly Bread – A Homily on Mark 8:1-9

On the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Aug. 3), Father Leigeber preached on Christ’s miraculous feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8:1–9), reminding us that God alone provides our daily bread—both for this life and for the life to come.

The multitude in the Gospel lesson left everything behind to hear Jesus’ Word, going without food for three days. Their hunger for the Word of God outweighed their bodily needs—a striking example of the truth that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Jesus, seeing their need, feeds them miraculously with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish—showing that God is the giver of all things, physical and spiritual. Father Leigeber reminded us that our meals, our homes, our families—everything—are gracious gifts from our heavenly Father. This is why Christians pause to pray before meals, following the example of Christ Himself.

Yet the feeding miracle points beyond mere daily sustenance. The language of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread to the disciples draws our attention to the Holy Eucharist, where Christ feeds His Church with His very Body and Blood. Just as He used the disciples to distribute bread to the people, so today He uses pastors to deliver His heavenly gifts in Word and Sacrament.

In a world of busyness and distraction, we are tempted to neglect this miraculous Meal. But Jesus’ compassion remains. Even if we’ve been forgetful or careless, He still offers Himself to us. Every Sunday, Christ performs a miracle—nourishing and sustaining His people with the Bread of Life, for the strengthening of faith and the hope of resurrection.

Let us never forget the Source of all good things. And let us give thanks, both at our tables and at His altar: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.”

Listen to the entire sermon:

allsaintsjonesboro Uncategorized

Do we venerate the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist?

For about eight hundred years, the Church has dedicated the Thursday after Holy Trinity Day to be a feast day dedicated entirely to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. This past Thursday, then, was that feast day–the Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the Epistle from 1 Corinthians 11, we heard about Jesus’ institution of this holy supper and the words He has given through which He converts simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord, and in the Gospel lesson, Jesus’ words from John 6, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

But it was, especially, the traditional collect (prayer) of the day that focused our contemplation on this miraculous gift. We prayed:

O God, who under this wondrous Sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy Passion: grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever have in ourselves the fruit of the redemption which Thou hast wrought; who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end.

Do Lutherans venerate and adore the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist? For many American Lutherans and other Protestants, that may sound more than a little bit strange. But if Christ says that the bread and wine of the Sacrament are actually His true Body and Blood, is it strange? Or simply Christian? Listen to Father Leigeber’s sermon below for more.