CHILDREN AND THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
(A Guide for Parents)
I. INVITATION AND DECISION
In the Presbyterian Church (USA),
“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.” [Book of Order, W-2.4011b] Children need not have reached a particular
age before receiving the Lord’s Supper; nor do they need to have been
confirmed. Only baptism in a Christian church is required.
The child must be baptized to participate because baptism and communion are linked. Both say, in part, that God loves and forgives us and that we belong to the whole body of Christ. In Baptism, we celebrate that we are claimed and called by God. At communion, we remember our baptism and the life we are called to lead. Communion without baptism suggests these links are not meaningful.
When parents have their children baptized, they, along with the congregation, promise to nurture the child in the Christian faith. In the context of this promise, parents must decide whether or not the child is ready to participate in communion. Only they may say to a child, “Yes, you may receive Communion,” or “No, I/we do not feel that you are ready to participate yet.” The Session hopes that you will take this decision seriously and make it after careful consideration.
II. ASSISTANCE
This
booklet has been prepared to help you understand the parental responsibility
involved and to interpret the meaning of the sacrament to your children. The pastor or elders will speak personally
with any parent who wishes to discuss the decision. They also welcome inquires from children.
III. A GOLDEN
“Why,” it could be asked, “shouldn’t I
as a parent say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and leave the teaching and interpreting up to the
church?”
Certainly our church leaders will continue
to help children understand and appreciate this sacrament. There is, however, a larger opportunity at
stake. We want our children to treasure,
understand, and show reverence for the sacrament. When they hear their parents seriously
discuss and interpret its meaning, they are exposed to the highest type of
learning situation. What a difference
this experience can make in the lives of these children!
A conscientious parent who works with
his or her child is also in a better position to know whether or not that child
is ready to partake. If the answer is “No, my child appears to be too young and
immature to grasp the true meaning,” this need not be considered a negative
decision: you have communicated to your child a depth of appreciation and reverence
for the Lord’s Supper and are simply saying that the experience is too
important to jump into before the time is right.
IV. UNDERSTANDING THE LORD’S SUPPER
A.
Practical Consideration
Children are curious. They may
have heard about Communion for a long time or they may have observed people
in
church eating something from a plate and
drinking something from a tiny cup. They wonder what it is and how it
got
there. By all means tell them.
Some churches
use unleavened bread because such bread is used at the Passover Feast. At Harundale, we usually use a large loaf of
leavened bread to break during the “Words of Institution.” Ordained elders then pass trays with small
pieces of bread to worshippers in the pews.
The cups are
filled with grape juice. Some churches use wine, but because many people prefer
not to use an alcoholic beverage, and because in the PC(USA) grape juice
(unfermented) must also be offered whenever wine is used, for simplicity we use
only juice in our Communion.
It is our custom to eat/drink
after all have been served.
When we serve communion by “intinction,” we invite worshippers to come forward to break
off a small piece of bread from the common loaf, dip it in a common chalice containing
juice, and partake before returning to their pews.
In our church an ordained deacon
prepares the bread and grape juice for the Communion service. He/She also supervises the cleaning and care
of the Communion vessels.
The Session decides when and how often we celebrate the Lord’s
Supper.
At Harundale we usually celebrate
the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month and on Ash Wednesday,
Maundy Thursday and Christmas Eve.
Presbyterians do not have “private
communion.” It is always an act of the gathered
people in worship. When
communion is
taken to the sick or shut-in, deacons and elders are representatives of the
whole congregation.
The communion service follows the
“proclamation of the Word” and generally includes:
1. an invitation to all baptized Christians to
participate who trust Christ
as their Savior and wish to celebrate the joy of God’s
forgiveness.
2.
A
prayer of Thanksgiving and the Lord’s Prayer.
3. the words of
institution from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which
explains what
Jesus said and did in the upper room.
4. a prayer that the elements (bread and wine) become by
God’s power
set apart for their special purpose.
5. the passing and
partaking of the elements.
6. the prayer of dedication.
Children should
be encouraged to ask practical questions, and are entitled to the best answer
we can offer them. There are times when
the best answer is: “I don’t know, but I
will help you find out.”
B.
Background in Bible and History
The event in the upper room with
Jesus and the disciples is reported in the gospel of Mark (14:22-25) and
the gospel of Luke (22:14-20).
The Apostle Paul gave a summary in I Corinthians (11:17-34) which
includes the famous “words of institution” which we read in the Communion
service. Paul also teaches that it is
appropriate to practice the supper in a sprit of generosity and reverence (not
greed or selfishness—for that would miss the point of Communion). Parents would find a reading of these
passages helpful, and might also read them with their children.
The supper in the upper room was the historic Passover Feast which Jesus
and the disciples were celebrating. It was an annual feast in which the people
remembered how
God had rescued them from slavery in
purposes in
history.
In the feast it
was traditional to break bread and pass it during the meal, and to pass the cup
at the end of the meal. Jesus gave these
two acts special significance by saying: “This bread is my body broken
for you” and “This cup is the new covenant (promise between God and us) in my blood.” He was referring to the actual sacrifice of
himself—body and blood—on the cross, in order that we may all receive forgiveness and acceptance by
God.
Ever since this upper room event
the church has re-lived the Lord’s Super. At first believers gathered in homes and
celebrated the sacrament as meal much like the upper room event. Later the Church developed the sacrament into
its abbreviated form as part of the worship service.
C.
Meaning
Christians have
found a wide variety of meanings and experiences in the Lord’s Supper. Some key understandings widely are:
1.
Communion
is a serious celebration. It is serious
in that we need to be prepared to take it, and we should take it, and we should
take it with reverence. At the same time
it is a celebration. We rejoice
because of Christ’s sacrifice for
us. It is not a funeral service.
2.
Communion
with God and with one another is a gift of God’s Spirit. Presbyterians believe that when we gather around
the Table, we are united with God and Christ, with the whole Church in every
place, and with all the faithful, both living and dead.
3.
The
grace of God’s forgiveness and the presence of the Spirit are gifts which God
gives, just as the sending of Jesus to take upon himself
the guilt of our sin on the cross is something which God did.
4.
Each
of us comes to appreciate more and more through Communion what God has done for
us, but none of us ever fully understands.
There is always mystery in God’s way and activity in our lives.
5.
As
the congregation celebrates Communion, we strengthen our unity as a church
family of God (our fellowship with one another) and strengthen our purpose as
Christians.
6.
The
appropriate response to Communion is never that “now we know all about it” (we
never do) or “now at last I am worthy of Communion” (we never are), but a
spirit of joy and gratitude for God’s goodness, and faith that God in this
Sacrament strengthens, unifies, and renews us.
7.
The
supper looks forward to the time when God will gather all the faithful at heaven’s
banquet table. Our celebration is a
foretaste of that feast.
V. CONCLUDING
COMMENTS
We hope this background is helpful
to you as a parent and that it has stirred a truer recognition of the large
parental responsibility and opportunity to communicate faith in the family. We also hope that you realize that none of us
have “arrived” in faith, but rather we are “pilgrims in progress.” Remember, there is nothing more valuable in a
child’s learning about faith than the discovery that adults know that they do
not have all the answers. Yet these same
adults (Mom and Dad) are not shaken but searching in confidence and trust. With this thought in mind, if either you or
your children have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at
Harundale. We, too, may not know the
answers but be assured we shall make every effort to search with you.
God bless you and guide you as you seek to nurture your child’s spiritual life.