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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Communion for Children
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
In the Episcopal church, any baptized person can receive communion. When our daughter was baptized this All Saints, at just over one year, our rector explained that she was welcome to start receiving communion.
She has not started taking communion, for totally logistical reasons. She is in the nursery during the service, and I am in the choir, so I am too busy with musical duties to go get her before communion, and I would have no place to put her during the motet.
Christmas eve will be different. We will go to the early family oriented service, where I will not be singing. So she will be with me when the time comes, and I could take her up for her first communion.
Is there any reason why I should not? From a practical / safety perspective, she is a solid food champ, so the wafer will not be a choking hazard. From a theological perspective, I'm not entirely sure that "waiting until she understands what communion is about" is really a good standard for first communion, because the idea of "understanding" communion seems at odds with its status as a sacrament. My parents didn't make a big deal out of my first communion, I have been taking communion since before I can remember, so no one will feel left out if we start on Thursday.
Any thoughts?
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Noone understands Communion. We might be able to recite the right words, but that's not the same as understanding.
My children have been receiving Communion since they were able to eat solid food. So, obviously I have no problems with that at all.
If I was in your position and approaching a childs first experience of Communion (or, if it was an infrequent occurance) I would probably sit down with the child before going to church and talk to them about why we take Communion, and also how the liturgy goes at your church. If your daughter knows that this is a special meal where we remember all that Christ did (and, especially at this time of year that includes remembering the Incarnation, of course), that we are joining in a family meal with all the other Christians in the world, that we are in some real (but mysterious) sense being nourished by Christ Himself then she can make her choice about whether to take or not.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
It used to be in the ACC that one did not take communion until one had been confirmed. Our 18 year old who has been confirmed takes communion while our 13 year old who has not been confirmed does not take communion despite being a server.
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
Ours is an open and welcoming table - all who come are welcome, whatever their age.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), this is the criteria: "Baptized children who are being nurtured and instructed in the significance of the invitation to the Table and the meaning of their response are invited to receive the Lord’s Supper, recognizing that their understanding of participation will vary according to their maturity." I've always liked that. While it retains some obligation to instruct communing children, the focus is not on the meaning of the Sacrament—as Alan says, who really understands it?—but on the meaning of Jesus's invitation to us and our response.
I remember well one Eucharist when our son was maybe 2 years old. As we started up the aisle to receive, me holding him in my arms, I began to remind in him (in a whisper) about Jesus inviting him to his table. He reached out his hand, closed my mouth, and said "I know, I know. It's Jesus's bread, and he said I could have some."
I kept my mouth closed.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
hosting/
The hostly consensus is that this discussion belongs in Ecclesiantics. Please reconvene to commune there.
/hosting
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
It used to be in the ACC that one did not take communion until one had been confirmed. Our 18 year old who has been confirmed takes communion while our 13 year old who has not been confirmed does not take communion despite being a server.
Pedantic but important (IMO) tangent. We don't take communion, we receive communion. Massive difference.
[ 21. December 2015, 21:26: Message edited by: Spike ]
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Wilfried
Shipmate
# 12277
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Posted
In our Anglo-Catholic (Episcopal) church, infants receive communion immediately after baptism. At communion time, the priest puts a drop of wine with a fragment of host on their lips.
I've gone down on my knees to administer the chalice to toddlers barely knee high.
Posts: 429 | From: Lefty on the Right Coast | Registered: Jan 2007
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
Is there any reason why I should not?
She probably won't like the taste of the wine, so rather than have her spit the Most Precious Blood back in the chalice / wherever, I'd go with either intinction or receiving in one kind.
Ours have had the bread since they were little, and decided when they wanted to start receiving in both kinds (so far, about age 5-6).
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
Isn't infant communion inconsistent with a memorialist view of the eucharist?
I've been to Orthodox liturgies where the majority of the lay communicants have been babes in arms.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Isn't infant communion inconsistent with a memorialist view of the eucharist?
Possibly inconsistent for infants. But, not for children. Once a child is old enough to colour in Bible pictures then they are old enough to know something about Jesus, and hence old enough to remember something of what Jesus did for us. Like understanding Communion, no one comes to the Table remembering all of what Christ has done for us.
Besides, those churches which baptise infants are, IME, very unlikely to be entirely memorialist in their approach to Communion. And, if they do have a memorialist strand in their understanding it's likely to be communal rather than individual - the Church together remembers what Christ has done (including in whatever liturgy is used) rather than necessarily each individual remembering as they come forward to receive.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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seasick
...over the edge
# 48
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
It used to be in the ACC that one did not take communion until one had been confirmed. Our 18 year old who has been confirmed takes communion while our 13 year old who has not been confirmed does not take communion despite being a server.
Pedantic but important (IMO) tangent. We don't take communion, we receive communion. Massive difference.
Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort...
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We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian Church, ... an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein. - John Wesley
Posts: 5769 | From: A world of my own | Registered: May 2001
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TomM
Shipmate
# 4618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
It used to be in the ACC that one did not take communion until one had been confirmed. Our 18 year old who has been confirmed takes communion while our 13 year old who has not been confirmed does not take communion despite being a server.
Pedantic but important (IMO) tangent. We don't take communion, we receive communion. Massive difference.
Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort...
I'm not sure that the verb has entirely the same meaning in that context. Even allowing for changing meanings over the centuries since that text was written...
Surely in Cranmer's statement 'take' is something about marking/accounting rather than taking the elements from the priest?
Posts: 405 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Arethosemyfeet
Shipmate
# 17047
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Posted
What does the original Greek mean in the Gospels? Most English translations use "take" in Christ's instructions.
Posts: 2933 | From: Hebrides | Registered: Apr 2012
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TomM
Shipmate
# 4618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Arethosemyfeet:
What does the original Greek mean in the Gospels? Most English translations use "take" in Christ's instructions.
The Synoptics all use λαμβανω which can be translated as either 'take' or 'receive'. Paul doesn't really give a comparable verb.
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I have to say that this really seems to be splitting hairs.
In some churches the President places the bread into someone's open hand. In other churches people take a piece of wafer or a morsel of bread from a plate that the President has had passed round, or even break a piece off a loaf.
In some churches people are offered the chalice. In others they take it from the President and drink. In others they take little cups from someone who is offering them a tray-full of them.
But does any of this matter, in Christ's name?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Arethosemyfeet
Shipmate
# 17047
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
I have to say that this really seems to be splitting hairs.
In some churches the President places the bread into someone's open hand. In other churches people take a piece of wafer or a morsel of bread from a plate that the President has had passed round, or even break a piece off a loaf.
In some churches people are offered the chalice. In others they take it from the President and drink. In others they take little cups from someone who is offering them a tray-full of them.
But does any of this matter, in Christ's name?
I think that attitude matters, but not necessarily the word used to describe it. "Take" can imply a more assertive, demanding stance which is not appropriate when we are talking about receiving something given to us freely, but at great cost. We are invited guests at the Lord's banquet, not customers demanding our rights.
Posts: 2933 | From: Hebrides | Registered: Apr 2012
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mr cheesy
Shipmate
# 3330
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Posted
Just for balance: I don't consider it to be inconsistent to restrict Communion to believers as a memorialist.
My child does not take it, and will not until she is confirmed. I would not attend a church which distributed the elements to infants.
I, of course, accept that other opinions and practices are available.
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arse
Posts: 10697 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
This has been really helpful (especially the cons, as it helps me understand why someone would wait, even though I won't), and probably just what I will need to prepare myself with when she is old enough to articulate questions herself. She'll be 14 months on the 25th, so there isn't much word-based back and forth happening (not that she doesn't get points across in her own way), but I still talk to her about all sorts of things, so I can definitely see myself starting the "conversation" now, for her to join in when she is ready and has the vocabulary.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Fr Weber
Shipmate
# 13472
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Posted
Or indeed, "Take, eat : this is my Body, which is given for you."
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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."
--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM
Posts: 2512 | From: Oakland, CA | Registered: Feb 2008
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Ours is an open and welcoming table - all who come are welcome, whatever their age.
Same here.
Yeah, yeah. And ours is a closed, discriminatory and monstrously unkind table, because we take Paul's warning seriously and make a rudimentary effort to see that those who go forward have some idea of what in the heck they are receiving. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Really, we don't have to get self-congratulatory here. We all do what we do because we think we have good reasons. Why not differ in peace, and give one another the benefit of the doubt?
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
But back to the OP for me--
I have no problem with communing baptized babies, as they are believers through the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and AFAIK are unable to get themselves into a spiritual state where receiving communion might be harmful to them. I am far less sure of this when it comes to little monsters <cough> six to nine-year-olds (roughly) who are certainly old enough to hate their brethren and sistren and to be nurturing revengeful thoughts toward them, lo, at the very altar. When I think of my own state at that age, I think it was a very good thing I was kept away from the altar, until I had some notion of proper self-examination and when it would be better for me to stay the hell in my pew. And to stop having revenge fantasies involving the silverware drawer.
[ 23. December 2015, 05:09: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
I didn't get any "self congratulatory" vibe, just a statement of fact. Many of us reading the same Bible come away with different interpretations, putting the emphasis of our doctrine and practices on different passages of Scripture. We all know what St Paul said, we all know that Jesus said "He who comes to me will never go hungry ... whoever comes to me I will never drive away". Some come away with an open table where all who come may receive, others send the Elders around the congregation in the weeks prior to a Communion service and interview everyone to confirm they have an adequate understanding and are not living in some form of sin, Lutherans (at least the ones I know in Japan) sit between those extremes.
Obviously anyone who considers a basic understanding of Communion to be essential wouldn't offer Communion to a 14 month old child. But, then there's the question of how much understanding is required, and IME I know some 2 year olds who can express fairly impressive comprehension of what Communion means.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
We have an evil, wicked, closed-off, Orthodox-Only-Everybody-Else-Bugger-Off communion also. But babies commune from the day they're baptised. So I guess we're screwed both ways.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I don't see that. In fact, if I were forced to formulate policy (thank God I'm not), I'd commune babies from baptism, and older baptized children from the point they express a desire for it and some slight clue what it is (in other words, NOT the child we knew who would grab the host away from his mother's mouth, because he was in the habit of doing this at every meal).
The bit that would puzzle me is what to do about wee children who are old enough to cherish hate or other distinctly willful and deadly sins in their hearts, but who do not seem quite up to saying to themselves, "The fact that I'm dodging around my mother trying to slug my sister repeatedly in the communion line is maybe a good reason for staying in my seat this time."
I would hope the parents could make the determination, but then I remember my own childhood, and how easily I snowed my mother...
It's a good thing baptism has no such warnings attached to it. I was baptized at the age of 12, and recall being in a physical fight with my siblings almost before our hair was dry.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
It's a good thing baptism has no such warnings attached to it. I was baptized at the age of 12, and recall being in a physical fight with my siblings almost before our hair was dry.
Of course that isn't how things work in "Believers' Baptism" churches, where individuals have to request their own baptism and demonstrate some basic understanding of Christian discipleship. The "minimum age" for this - especially for children who have been brought up in the faith since birth - can be a matter of some debate (as, indeed, can the age for "admission to Communion", unless - as in some churches - this is dependent on whether Believers' Baptism has been administered or not).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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mr cheesy
Shipmate
# 3330
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
It's a good thing baptism has no such warnings attached to it. I was baptized at the age of 12, and recall being in a physical fight with my siblings almost before our hair was dry.
Of course that isn't how things work in "Believers' Baptism" churches, where individuals have to request their own baptism and demonstrate some basic understanding of Christian discipleship. The "minimum age" for this - especially for children who have been brought up in the faith since birth - can be a matter of some debate (as, indeed, can the age for "admission to Communion", unless - as in some churches - this is dependent on whether Believers' Baptism has been administered or not).
I'm not sure I quite accept BT's wording here, but agree with the general thrust. There may be no "warnings", but some churches take their role (with regard to baptism and communion) very seriously - and believe that baptising the "wrong" person will heap condemnation upon them (though I've never been able to find out exactly what this means).
So at the opposite end of the spectrum from some of the views expressed above are those who a) baptise only those of sound mind (and age) who request baptism and after examination can be found to be knowledgeable of the biblical basis of the request and freely making a choice for themselves - which by definition excludes children below the age of parental expectation and b) only distribute communion to those in membership of the church, where the membership process is different to baptism (it isn't always).
Of course, what it comes down to is how you understand baptism and communion. If one believes in a form of "opt out" faith, whereby one is considered to be part of the Christian family until one makes a choice not to be, then it is natural to distribute communion and baptism widely. If one believes in an "opt in" faith, then the opposite applies.
There are many points on the spectrum of beliefs, the trouble occurs when assumptions are made about where others are (even within churches or denominations) and decisions are made which others find deeply offensive.
At the end of the day, one just has to decide what one believes and then go with it.
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arse
Posts: 10697 | Registered: Sep 2002
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
I’m an ex opera operato kinda guy, so you can work out my position on all of this.
A number of priest I know are all in favour of giving to communion to anyone who wishes. Although I can’t see any point in refusing communion to anyone who presents themselves reasonably sober, I’m very suspicious of breaking the link between communion and baptism.
I’m not sure how to put this. Perhaps it is just so clericalist. Instead of the baptized people of God as a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, it something the clergy hand out to us all. So the church is the clergy, not the whole body of the baptized.
The sacraments are God’s free gift we receive independently of any deserving on our part, but they are not themselves independent of our living a Christian life, however inadequately.
But I respect both those who welcome all and those who (for perfectly good reasons) practice close communion. I’m not bothered if I can’t officially receive RC communion. If I want that, I should become an RC.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
I’m an ex opera operato kinda guy, so you can work out my position on all of this.
I'm actually not familiar with the term- care to explain a bit?
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
Should have said ex opere. It's a long time since my Latin O level.
Wiki says:
Ex opere operato is a Latin phrase meaning "from the work worked" referring to sacraments deriving their power from Christ's work (ex opere operato Christi) rather than the role of humans.The phrase is commonly misunderstood to mean that sacraments work automatically and independently of the faith of the recipient. In order to receive sacraments fruitfully, however, it is believed to be necessary for the recipient to have faith.[1] In modern usage, the phrase often refers to the idea that sacraments are efficacious in and of themselves rather than depending on the attitude either of the minister or the recipient.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
So can a 14 month old, under this belief, receive the sacrament "fruitfully," and if not, is receiving "unfruitfully" a bad thing?
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
Such is the practice of the Orthodox church.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
There were two options there. Please just spoon feed this to me, if you could.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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gog
Shipmate
# 15615
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
There were two options there. Please just spoon feed this to me, if you could.
No my understanding is that spoon feeding is for all in the Orthodox Church. I'll get my coat
On the more meaningful contribution to the thread, I see Communion as at times a converting ordinance. So it is a way to both come to faith and deeper faith.
Posts: 103 | From: somewhere over the border | Registered: Apr 2010
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I honestly didn't see that joke until a while after I posted, and I thought I'd leave it there for someone. (First communion received, by the way.)
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
The quote from wiki seems to refer to RC theory. The RCs admit to communion from the age of reason not for babes in arms.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Baker
Shipmate
# 18458
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Posted
I grew up, in the US, in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. They are very conservative. Until recently women were not ever allowed to be voting members of the congregation I was born to. My eighty three year old mother will be going to her first Voter's meeting soon.
OK, that's background. We kids didn't commune, I had my first Communion at the same service in which I was confirmed, at the age of thirteen. Little kids didn't even go up to the rail with their parents in those days.
Now I'm a member of the Episcopal church in the US, and young children can commune. Any baptized Christian can, whereas at my birth conregation only LC_MS members are admitted.
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Ad astra per aspera
Posts: 108 | From: Tottering-on-the-Brink | Registered: Aug 2015
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
I’m not sure how to put this. Perhaps it is just so clericalist. Instead of the baptized people of God as a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, it something the clergy hand out to us all. So the church is the clergy, not the whole body of the baptized.
This sounds like the arm complaining it's not an eye. St. Paul was pretty adamant that there are different offices in the church, and we're not all interchangeable cogs. The clergy do their job, which is to administer the sacraments. The laity have their various jobs to do. We're not all eyes. We're not all hands.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
Mousethief -
I know that. My concern is in giving communion to the non-baptized, the baptized laity have no role other than passive recipients.
My other concern is that it makes communion look like magic.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
My concern is in giving communion to the non-baptized, the baptized laity have no role other than passive recipients.
How does giving communion to everyone change the role of the baptized?
quote:
My other concern is that it makes communion look like magic.
How? The priest doesn't appear to be a conjurer just because non-baptized people receive communion.
More generally: in churches that place no restrictions upon who may be baptized, it seems weirdly inconsistent to withhold communion from any of the baptized.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Ours is an open and welcoming table - all who come are welcome, whatever their age.
Same here.
Yeah, yeah. And ours is a closed, discriminatory and monstrously unkind table, because we take Paul's warning seriously and make a rudimentary effort to see that those who go forward have some idea of what in the heck they are receiving.
Paul's warning comes hard upon the heels of his bullshit about man being the glory of God and woman being the glory of man, so yeah, taking him seriously is monstrous. The idea that people in the Corinthian congregation were sick and weak because they were inadequately prepared to take communion is superstitious. If that actually happened, there would be a higher rate of illness in congregations with open communion.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
It's nice to know that there are people who think they know better than St Paul. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif) ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Always nice to have confirmation of our monstrosity.
Sorry, but my only interactions with a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor were quite wonderful. A very dear friend of mine was dying, and twice my visits to him coincided with his pastor's visits. The pastor brought communion the second time, and he invited me to take part. Upon reflection later I wondered if what he had learned of my views about the sacrament at our first meeting had strongly influenced his offer, but either way, I didn't care - he was taking excellent pastoral care of my friend, and extending the offer of communion to me meant that I could take communion with my friend one last time. It was at once heart-breaking and consoling, and I will always be grateful.
He didn't require me to cover my head while praying, either.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
Communion is the Great Thanksgiving. Do we wait until children are old enough to understand the story and meaning of the Thanksgiving Holiday before we allow them to the dinner table to share the feast with friends and family? Of course not we welcome them at home because they are a part of the family, so why not to the Lord's Table? As they grow older they come to understand more about each table.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
Years ago we had a rector at my TEC parish who had come over from the Catholic church. He said he had let go of the idea that children had to wait until they were 6 or 7 to receive communion when a toddler in his first TEC parish had came to the rail and asked for "the Jesus cookie."
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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ldjjd
Shipmate
# 17390
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Posted
In my university days, I attended a Lutheran Church/MS with a friend. It was a Comminion service, and my friend knew I was not an LCMS member. I had a vague suspicion that they practiced closed Communion although there was was nothing indicating this during the service.
Except - my friend handed me a card and pencil from the pew rack, and I noticed that the bottom line said "Home church if visiting........"
I filled it out nevertheless, and at Communion time, I noticed that one was supposed to hand it to an usher (whom I feared functioned as the gate keeper) at the head of the line.
I panicked. "Is it o.k for me to do this?" I whispered. "Of course", she hissed back.
I handed the card to the usher, who didn't even look at it. Likewise, at the rail, the Pastor gave me no suspicious stare.
[ 27. December 2015, 04:29: Message edited by: ldjjd ]
Posts: 294 | Registered: Oct 2012
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John Holding
Coffee and Cognac
# 158
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Years ago we had a rector at my TEC parish who had come over from the Catholic church. He said he had let go of the idea that children had to wait until they were 6 or 7 to receive communion when a toddler in his first TEC parish had came to the rail and asked for "the Jesus cookie."
Its about table manners, not about fitness to receive the sacrament. And there can be no rule about when -- that's up to the child and the parents or others who are training him or her.
My younger daughter from the time she was baptized received the bread -- a small piece of the wafer given to my wife or me -- as soon as she was able to take it and ingest it. She had been given communion at her baptism by spoon. Wine was later, because it's really not so easy for a small one to drink non-messily from a chalice. Nonetheless, by the time she was four she was a regular communicant in both kinds. No problems for her, no spit or backwash in the chalice to cause problems for the rest of us.
John
Posts: 5929 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: May 2001
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Helen-Eva
Shipmate
# 15025
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Posted
Speaking as an adult convert it's quite off-putting if EVERYONE else can take communion and you can't (because you're not yet baptised). When I was coming to church for the first time a good crop of not yet confirmed children and adults going up for a blessing were very reassuring.
Mind you, every time we got to "We were all baptised into one body" I was still thinking "I wasn't!" which wasn't great.
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I thought the radio 3 announcer said "Weber" but it turned out to be Webern. Story of my life.
Posts: 637 | From: London, hopefully in a theatre or concert hall, more likely at work | Registered: Aug 2009
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