"RHOADS, Roger" wrote: > I find in the older Evan. (German) Lutheran and German Reformed > church records such things as lists of those who received communion in the > past year or lists of those who plan to take communion in the near future. > What was the purpose of such lists? Was it somewhat like a membership list? Yes, Lutherans were expected to commune a certain number of times each year in order to remain active in eir congregations. In order that there was no confusion, these records were kept. > > Why the list of those planning to attend? I am not sure why these needed to be kept. Generally, a person who was planning to commune on a Sunday was to make his or her intentions known to the pastor either Friday or Saturday. Usually confession was heard. > Was communion a personal > voluntary action or was it with the approval of the pastor? Both, I suppose. Lutherans do not specify how often one must commune, but at least twice yearly. Yes, in those days, and still in some churches, the pastor needs to approve as he (usually not in churches where woman are pastors) is the guardian of the faith. > > I also find lists of baptisms that are for adults only, no children, > yet today the baptism of a child is quite common. When did this change? I think that this would be more a reflection of the times. Perhaps more adults were converting to the faith. Lutherans have always practiced infant baptism but there might have been a frontier strain that didn't. Sometimes, Lutherans have tried to blend in with their neighbors. > > > Roger Rhoads Hope that this helps, (Pr.) John Dornheim

John Dornheim wrote: > > "RHOADS, Roger" wrote: > > > I find in the older Evan. (German) Lutheran and German >>Reformed > > church records such things as lists of those who received communion >>in the > > past year or lists of those who plan to take communion in the near future. > > What was the purpose of such lists? Was it somewhat like a membership list? > > Yes, Lutherans were expected to commune a certain number of times each year in > order to remain active in eir congregations. In order that there was no > confusion, these records were kept. > > > > > Why the list of those planning to attend? > > I am not sure why these needed to be kept. Generally, a person who was planning > to commune on a Sunday was to make his or her intentions known to the pastor > either Friday or Saturday. Usually confession was heard. I remember something else about this that I found -- and still find -- quite odd. Keeping in mind that the husband is the spiritual head of household, however, this may not be actually strange. My father would head to town on a Saturday to "announce" for communion. This meant a stop at the parsonage where those "announcing" would wait in a nice parlor, visit, and wait for their turn. They then would be ushered into the pastor's study, declaring their -- AND their wife's -- intent to attend the Lord's Supper that Sunday. This, of course, did afford an opportunity to discuss anything troubling with the pastor. What was odd? My mother never "announced" for communion. My father did it for her. The presumption was that, the husband being the spiritual head of the family, if the wife is troubled, she talks to her husband. Of course, she would be free to make an appointment with the pastor herself, but she didn't "announce" for communion unless she was a widow or adult single woman not living under her father's roof. If she was an adult single woman under her father's roof, her father "announced" for her as well. > > > Was communion a personal > > voluntary action or was it with the approval of the pastor? > > Both, I suppose. Lutherans do not specify how often one must commune, but at > least twice yearly. Yes, in those days, and still in some churches, the pastor > needs to approve as he (usually not in churches where woman are pastors) is the > guardian of the faith. There also was the matter of preparing as close as possible the amount of bread and wine to be used. Anyone who has ever served on an altar guild may have heard the stories of pouring all the consecrated wine left in either the chalice or the flagon directly onto the ground OR, if there wasn't much remaining, of the elders drinking the remainder of the consecrated wine while they counted the collection. This, of course, was wasteful in terms of cost, but considered necessary to not mix consecrated wine with unconsecrated wine in storage. Working sacristies are SUPPOSED to have one drain that goes directly to the bare ground outside the church into which is poured any left-over consecrated wine. Hardly anyone does this anymore, however. The wine left in the chalice is, of course, discarded because some saliva has been mixed in it. But the wine left in the flagon is often returned to storage for use another time. When I was in junior college in Concordia, Missouri, the pastor of the local congregation actually stopped the service one Sunday, because he had run out of wafers. He went through the ENTIRE consecration of bread ceremony again. Then gave us college students a lecture on registering for communion before noon on Saturday at our dormitories so the count could be sent over to the church. -- Loretta Iroquois County ILGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~iliroquo/ Ford County ILGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilford/ Iroquois County Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilicgs/