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Posted in Church God Faith
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We had a special communion service tonight. Normally I teach the kids on Wednesday night, and I was not planning to go to the service because the last communion service we had was disastrous. So bad I vowed I would never go to another one. {Last time, I had 10 kids sitting with me, and only a few of them are saved. (Our church has open communion for baptized believers) Well, the kids were taking communion, and I thought it would make a big scene to try to stop them in the middle of it, so I let it go. Then, I was trying to stop my 3 and 4 year olds from getting grape juice and ended up spilling some on my 7 year old. It was nerve-wracking and altogether unpleasant. I definitely broke a few taboos, and possibly committed some heinous sin. I am not sure; I was much too distraught to notice.} Hence my desire to never again go though anything like that. As it turns out, most of the kids were not there tonight. My friend Laura took the nursery age kids, and I ended up with only my 11 and 7 year olds, who are indeed saved. I had already told them they could attend the service if they liked, but I was not going to offer that option to the rest of the class. So it turned out I was able to enjoy the service with my kids. (My husband was on stage, as he is the associate pastor.) The pastor and 11 other men performed a drama. It was Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper, but in a contemporary setting. They acted out the scripture and when Jesus (the Pastor) gave the disciples bread, they brought trays of it down into the congregation. Likewise the grape juice. I really enjoyed the freshness of the service. So often, our communion services are as dry and stale as the matzoh bread. Now since the aforementioned communion disaster, I have been trying to decide what I believe about children and communion. I am not trying to stir things up or change church policy, but i am trying to arrive at what I believe about it. The Last Supper took place at Passover, which is very child-friendly. As a matter of fact, the youngest child is the one who asks the questions. So if there had been children at the Last Supper, they would have likely partaken of it and been involved in it. {Some people/denominations and churches get very upset over the issue of Paedocommunions, so let me stress that this is a personal comtemplation, not in any way trying to be heretical or controversial and especially not trying to change anyone's mind or practice.) Things to ponder: Children were an integral part of Passover. Children were required to be circumcised, a sign of the covenant, long before they were old enough to affirm such a covenant. Paedocommunion was the practice of the early church until probably the middle ages. I wonder what made them change. Perhaps when they decided that the elements were too sacred for mere laiety to be trusted with. I would love to hear others views on this, I just ask that you please not flame me :) |
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