Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the Divine Service we have received from our fathers, just before communion the Celebrant holds up the Body and Blood of Jesus and says, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” Then we sing to Christ the Lamb of God and approach.

In the earliest recorded Divine Service, at that spot, the pastor says, “May grace come and may this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If anyone is holy, let him approach; if anyone is not, let him repent” (Didache 10.6). “If anyone is holy, let him approach.” Who qualifies? Are you holy? …