G'ampa C's Blog

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Lord's Supper Vol 9--- What about the kids?

It has been a long-standing tradition in the Churches of Christ that children are not allowed to take the Lord's Supper until they are immersed. Apparently this comes from church tradition as far back as the fourth century. That is how we dealt with our children, but there is a fair amount of skepticism about that in my mind now.
The Passover clearly, by stated design, included the children. The youngest child asked the "WHY" in the ceremony. They would not be allowed to take of the Passover, however, without hearing what it was about and hearing the discussion of the traditions. Why were the children included in the Passover? I think it was to teach them from an early age that:
1. They are part of the family of God, and participate in his covenant.
2. They are important.
3. They have a place in the scheme of things.
4. They need to know about God's love and power and his delivery of their ancestors, and they need to believe themselves a party to that continued deliverance.

When I think of the Lord's Supper and children, do all of these items apply? Yep.

When Jesus said "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these...", what did that mean? Is it too much of a stretch to argue that little children do not inherit our sin, that they are born sinless, while arguing in the same breath that they can't take communion?
How many of the children reared in the church over the past 100 years have left the church or left God altogether? Could it have made a difference in their lives if they were considered part of the church family early on? Maybe so. Our children have been treated as second-class citizens in several ways in the church, and that is just wrong. (My opinion)
I think if my children were small again, I would make it a point to share the Lord's Supper with them, probably as early as they could tell me what it means to them. I wouldn't allow them to take a bit and pass it on, (it should not be a snack) but I would expect them to look at the next person and be able to tell them what this is about and why they do it. Then when they commit their lives to Jesus, taking the communion will bring a whole new meaning for them.
Maybe Ryan Nutt, age 5, summed it up for me when he was trying to convince his mother that he should be allowed to take the Lord's Supper:
He took his mother's cheeks between his hands and said
"Mother, am I or am I not a member of the body of Christ?"
Hmmmm.

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