When we leave the Lord’s Table, how do we feel? As blue as when we came? Or do we depart feeling nothing at all?
When the pastor dismisses us from Holy Communion with the words “Depart in peace,” we shouldn’t confuse this peace with the emotional highs and lows that accompany us through life. In fact, one Sunday we may be dismissed from the altar feeling light of heart, yet the very next Sunday we may feel little sense of joy.
How can this be?
Thank God that our faith is not founded on our own easily shaken sense of emotional well-being. Instead, our peace is grounded on the unshakable words and promises of our Lord himself.
When the minister of our Lord dismisses us “in peace,” our faith is not directed inward, but outward. We have already examined our hearts before coming to commune. And what is found there? Sin and death. True, there is also hope in Christ reigning in the midst of sin and death. But the hope that is within us is not self-generated. Hope is born of the words and promises of Jesus who says to us, “Take, eat; this is My body” (Matt. 26:26).
We cling to the word of peace which the minister speaks to us, for it is the word of Christ Jesus, to whom is given all authority in heaven and on earth. If our Lord says we have peace, then it must be so, whether we feel that peace or not.
When Simeon held the infant Jesus in his arms, he believed in God’s peace which was given through this Child. What else can explain the words that he spoke: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace” (Luke 2:29, KJV). He didn’t look into his own heart for peace, but outside himself-to Christ.
It’s no accident that these words of Simeon are sung in most Lutheran churches after the dismissal from the altar. We confess to our Lord the peace he gives us in his body and blood. Our eyes don’t look heavenward, as if to find Christ “up there.” We won’t find our peace there. Jesus invites us to look here, in the sacred meal of his body and blood. That’s where we find him. Here we have his peace. Here is forgiveness of sins, as well as life and salvation. Peace comes to us precisely where we are. In the midst of our miserable condition, Christ comes to give us peace.
To depart in peace is to live under God’s free grace and favour. Whether our remaining earthly days are many or few, we live in peace. Because of Christ we are ready to depart this life for that which is far better. But for as long as he keeps us in this world, we are God’s instruments of peace to our neighbour. Though in this life we ourselves are always in need of God’s peace (for our lives are far from perfect), yet God uses us to bring his word of peace to others.
We are at peace with God because he has made peace with us through the sacrificial death of his Son. And so, the words of the dismissal—“depart in peace”—ring in our ears. We depart the Lord’s Table, back to the pew, back to our homes, back to our work, back to our problems, our challenges and our heartaches. The family quarrel has not yet been resolved. The cancer has not gone away. The burden of financial debt must still be carried.
But we depart in peace, for God is at peace with us.
2003 LCMS Commission on Worship
Trinity Lutheran Church 
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