Hasten as a bride to meet Him, And with loving rev’rence greet Him. For with words of life immortal He is knocking at your portal. Open wide the gates before Him, Saying, as you there adore Him: Grant, Lord, that I now receive You, That I nevermore will leave You. – LSB 636:2

The hymn writer, Johann Franck (1618-1677), a lawyer and politician in Guben, Brandenburg, wrote this beloved hymn in pious devotion to our Lord who comes to us in His true body and blood in the sacrament of the altar. Stanza two uses the well-loved image of Christ as the Bridegroom and the church as His bride, and in the Lord’s Supper we gladly greet our Bridegroom. But how does the church greet her Lord? With reverence.

Our culture is mostly very casual and informal today. We don’t use titles very regularly, we typically refer to each other by first name, casual Friday seems to be every day, and the common language we use tends to border on the vulgar. What this means is that in a laissez faire culture, such as our own, it makes formality and reverence that much more powerful. When we take extra inconvenient steps to behave with reverence we are making a statement that the thing we are doing is very important to us. This reverence reminds us (and it teaches others) of the significance of a thing.

Thus, Christians have adopted many reverent and pious practices during the entire Divine Service, such as making the sign of the cross, bowing, kneeling, etc. Some of these reverent practices are most prevalent when we receive the sacrament of the altar. Let us think about a few of them.

Bowing. When we approach the altar, before we kneel, we bow. We do not bow to the pastors or elders, but to God. We are approaching the throne room of the Lord, and we bow in worship of God.

Kneeling. After we bow, we kneel before the Lord. We do so because we are receiving Christ in all humility. Kneeling is a very humble posture. It’s a weak, prone, position, by which we physically acknowledge our lowliness before God.

Reception. When we receive the body of Christ we do so directly on our tongues, reminding us that God feeds us and we passively receive this gift from Him. Or we receive His body upon our hands and then into our mouths. Here we make a throne for God, placing one hand on the other, not grabbing at our Lord’s body but receiving Him as gift.

We receive the blood of Christ from the chalice, taking hold of the bottom of the chalice, to help guide it into our mouths, remembering that we drink from the one cup because we have all been made one in Christ. Or if we drink from the individual cups, we carefully pick up the cup, drink every last drop, and then hold it carefully and set it down gently so as not to accidently let a drop of Christ’s precious blood be spilled on the floor.

Sign of the Cross. We sign ourselves with the cross after reception, by which we remember our Lord’s passion and death which feeds us this feast; by which we remember our baptism into Christ; by which we remember through the body and blood of Jesus sacrificed on the cross and given to us here in the supper we are sealed in Christ and granted protection from Satan’s attacks.

Upon returning to the pew we offer God our thanks in prayer, receiving this good gift in joy and gratitude, remembering that by it the Lord is strengthening our faith, forgiving our sins, uniting us with Christ, and granting us eternal life. Through these reverent practices we teach ourselves and one another of the profound greatness of what Christ is delivering.

1 Soul, adorn yourself with gladness,
Leave the gloomy haunts of sadness,
    Come into the daylight’s splendor,
    There with joy your praises render.
Bless the One whose grace unbounded
This amazing banquet founded;
    He, though heav’nly, high, and holy,
    Deigns to dwell with you most lowly.

2 Hasten as a bride to meet Him,
And with loving rev’rence greet Him.
    For with words of life immortal
    He is knocking at your portal.
Open wide the gates before Him,
Saying, as you there adore Him:
    Grant, Lord, that I now receive You,
    That I nevermore will leave You.

3 He who craves a precious treasure
Neither cost nor pain will measure;
    But the priceless gifts of heaven
    God to us has freely given.
Though the wealth of earth were proffered,
None could buy the gifts here offered:
    Christ’s true body, for you riven,
    And His blood, for you once given.

4 Now in faith I humbly ponder
Over this surpassing wonder
    That the bread of life is boundless
    Though the souls it feeds are countless:
With the choicest wine of heaven
Christ’s own blood to us is given.
    Oh, most glorious consolation,
    Pledge and seal of my salvation!

5 Jesus, source of lasting pleasure,
Truest friend, and dearest treasure,
    Peace beyond all understanding,
    Joy into all life expanding:
Humbly now, I bow before You;
Love incarnate, I adore You;
    Worthily let me receive You
    And, so favored, never leave You.

6 Jesus, sun of life, my splendor,
Jesus, friend of friends, most tender,
    Jesus, joy of my desiring,
    Fount of life, my soul inspiring:
At Your feet I cry, my maker,
Let me be a fit partaker
    Of this blessèd food from heaven,
    For our good, Your glory, given.

7 Lord, by love and mercy driven,
You once left Your throne in heaven
    On the cross for me to languish
    And to die in bitter anguish,
To forego all joy and gladness
And to shed Your blood in sadness.
    By this blood redeemed and living,
    Lord, I praise You with thanksgiving.

8 Jesus, bread of life, I pray You,
Let me gladly here obey You.
    By Your love I am invited,
    Be Your love with love requited;
By this Supper let me measure,
Lord, how vast and deep love’s treasure.
    Through the gift of grace You give me
    As Your guest in heav’n receive me.

Text (sts. 1, 4–5): © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110003002
Text (sts. 2–3, 6–8): Public domain