c. 1997 Religion News Service

PHILADELPHIA _ Baptized Lutheran infants cradled in a parent’s arms will be allowed to receive Holy Communion at Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations, delegates to the denomination’s top policy-making body said Wednesday (Aug. 20).

Currently, the church opens Communion to all baptized Christians, but excludes infants. Just a quarter of a century ago, only members who had been confirmed in the faith _ usually in early adolescence _ were allowed to take Communion.

The new standard aligns those ELCA congregations choosing to implement it with the practice of the early church, in which an infant would immediately be given Holy Communion following baptism. It is also a practice that has continued in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The new standard, adopted as part of a statement on sacramental practices at the denomination’s biennial Churchwide Assembly, also urges congregations that might not practice infant Communion to accept the communing status of children of parents who transfer from a church where infants are allowed to take Communion.

The Rev. Paul Nelson, the ELCA’s director of worship, called the change a”theological reclamation of baptism as full entry into the life of the church.””This will articulate the ELCA’s churchwide understanding of how administration of the sacrament should be practiced,”Nelson said after the vote.”It will encourage congregations and their pastors to discuss the sacraments, teach the sacraments and reflect on the ways churches practice the statement in light of what the larger church says.”

Nelson said the practice of admission to Communion varies widely in the 5.2 million-member denomination, adding congregational reports show a preponderance of churches admit children to Communion at the fifth-grade level.

But the reports also show wide diversity in Communion practices among the 11,000 ELCA congregations. Nelson said 1,045 churches permit Communion only after confirmation; 853 allow it for sixth-graders; 5,399 offer it to fifth-graders; 1,833 offer it to those between kindergarten and the fourth grade; 388 after baptism, but not to infants; and just 60 churches now permit Communion for infants.

But he said the number of congregations communing younger children _ in the fourth grade and below _ is growing.

The new sacramental practices also set a standard for the Communion elements, saying wheat bread and wine are preferred over grape juice and other options, which further aligns the ELCA with its more liturgical neighbors, such as the Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Eastern Orthodox churches.

While setting wheat bread and wine as the normative symbols of Holy Communion, the new standards allow for the use of non-alcoholic wine or communing with bread only for those with medical or other limitations.

END BRIGSS