From the Mouths of Babes (and Six-Year-Olds)

Six-year-olds are absolutely amazing. Children in general are absolutely amazing.

We go through this ritual every Saturday before we leave for worship service at church. As we're getting our coats on, my son (six years old) will almost always ask "Do we have to sit through a service?". You see, my family worships on Saturday nights because of work schedules, but I normally try to get the kids back to church on Sunday morning for Sunday School. I like to go to Sunday School. So do they. But for a six-year-old it makes things confusing. He never knows for sure if we're going for worship service, (which he's required to sit through now that he's in school) or if we're going for Sunday School.

I remember when I was six and I had to sit through a service. Granted, in the Methodist church the service is only an hour long, but that's an eternity when there's a living room full of new stuff from Christmas waiting back home. But it seems my son has found signs to look for in church. He's apparently noticed things about the sanctuary when you walk in that tell you that today's service is different.

At our church, we celebrate communion the first weekend of each month. And when you walk into the sanctuary, you can see all the elements on the altar, wrapped and covered in clean, white linens. My son, who recently received communion for the first time, now recognizes those items. Tonight, shortly after the service began, my wife leaned over to me and said "Cameron asked me when we walked in if we were having community tonight". We both giggled a little, then we refocused on the opening music. I sat there for a while thinking about that, though. He doesn't know what the word community means. It's doubtful that he could use it in a sentence. He's heard us talk about communion before. What an interesting accident that was.

The word communion has its own Webster's entry, and its definition is not limited to the ceremony we practice at church. But I rarely use it for any other reason. Even more rarely do I hear it used by others for another reason. It seems it has lost its identity as anything but the bread and the cup for me. But to substitute community instead of communion really draws my attention. How incredible is it that together, as the body of Christ, we celebrate God's offering to us, His Son. And wherever you go, it's in groups large and small, together, that this celebration is held. My son, without knowing, taught me tonight that the gift of the bread and the cup is given to me as part of a community, not just as an individual.

So let's celebrate community together. Let's see if we can find hope in that same loaf and cup on the altar that tells my son that this is truly something different.

Peace and Blessings,

Mike