Ready To Receive

An Address On The Admission Of Baptised Children To Holy Communion

1 COR 10:17-34

When Alison’s family come visiting there can be as many as 27 of us to sit down to dinner. There tends to be one big long table for the adults  with all the best cutlery and china got out in its splendour, and at the end of the room, nearest the exit to the toilet –a table for the children is thoughtfully tacked on the end. The plates for them are more robust and the knives and forks somewhat chunkier – there are Mickey Mouse serviettes and I love Barbie drinking glasses.

For all its second class feel, the children’s end always looks so much more fun.

From my position amongst the adults I cast envious glances to their end wishing I could be amongst them.

Indeed, I did once plonk myself down in front of a Thomas The Tank Engine place mat  only to be told “Dad, don’t be so stupid” – move up.

Conversely, the older children object to this separation and long to be with the grown ups.

“I think I’m going to be on the children’s table for the rest of my life “ complains Megan bitterly.

It’s strange the way we separate things up according to age and the reasons we think we have to do it.

We are constantly reviewing the way we make children welcome in our church and the form that their worship and nurture should take. Now, each parish in the Diocese is being asked to review the way we make children welcome at the Communion table because there is a growing feeling that in some circumstances children might be permitted to receive the bread and wine prior to confirmation.

This is increasingly permitted where the child has been a regular member of the church family and is supported by their parents in that membership. Where there is an understanding of the basics of faith and an open heart to God and where there is a desire that eventually confirmation would follow and that in conversation with the parents about that child’s Christian nurture, it is agreed that this is a positive way forward for them.

No one would feel forced into this against their will.

There is no question but that the process of baptism and confirmation would remain the same as it ever was for those who did not feel this option was for them.

It needs to be clearly stated that we’re not proposing a situation where anyone at all can just come along and take the bread and wine.

There are a number of angles we have to look at in order to think this through properly.

In scripture, St Paul gives some instruction in 1 Cor 10 and two points seem relevant to our discussion.

First, that when bread and wine is shared, the whole church family needs to be present – it is probable that in the earliest days of the church, children would share the holy meal as a matter of course.

Secondly, that no one should receive the bread and wine in an unworthy manner. So there does need to be some prior instruction, there does need to be a readiness on the part of the child to open their hearts to God in that holy moment.

When we look at the Christian tradition, needless to say, its all over the shop. Quite early in church life, baptism became separated from the laying on of hands we associate with confirmation, but only because the elder or presbyter could not be present to do this, so it was for practical reasons that the two rites grew apart. It wasn’t until the C13 that the Christian Church decreed that you should be confirmed before receiving Holy Communion – but confirmation could be as young as 2 years of age. Thus in 1533 Princess Elizabeth was baptised, confirmed and received communion  when just 3 days old. Poor little mite.

We have come to see Baptism as giving new life, incorporating membership of the church, living in the grace of God – recognising and responding to the love of God already present within us.

Confirmation is about being ready to proclaim the truth of what you believe yourself and seeking the strength to do it.

The question we’ve never really sorted out is where the receiving of Communion fits in to this.

A lot will depend upon what you think is going on when you receive the sacrament.  When the bread and wine is given to us, do we think there has to be a particular level of intellectual understanding about it before it is effective for us – or is it that God bestows his grace upon is in that moment whatever our spiritual condition is. Does God need anything more than a desire to be faithful and an open and believing heart or is the requirement for a more mature preparation which comes only with adulthood.

We say that the sharing of the sacrament is our ultimate expression of being the body of Christ, so we would we wish to exclude younger members from that.

A further factor is our need to understand how best to nurture the children in our care. Their teaching in our Sunday groups is a vital ingredient, but to be integrated into the sacramental life of the church at an earlier age could aid this nurture – be food for the journey for them, be the grace of God working in them and through them to help them grow in faith amidst all the distractions of life.

 In parishes that have given this option – children might then be received for Communion at age 7 but would be confirmed slightly older that at present.

Not as a carrot to keep them interested.

Not as a further compromise in our “must have it all society”

But as a further opening up to God in these young person’s lives.

A lovely way to involve everyone would be that a child who began receiving Communion would be admitted in a simple ceremony on a Sunday morning and would have a particular older member of the church to pray for them and remember them through their continuing nurture.

 In one parish, this move revolutionised the work done amongst children. It gave a focus to the teaching, a sense of belonging to the children and the growth in faith was considerable. In another parish, this was a way that some parents embraced readily for their children whilst the majority stayed with the traditional ways.

I would contend that children often have a greater capacity for the holy than the rest of us do. The ability to wonder, to be awestruck is something so easily wrung out of us as adults. So children could bring something fresh to the table that can be lacking in the rest of us.

This is a meaty subject because it gets us to look at our thoughts in a number of vital areas and the Sunday morning sermon may not do enough justice.

I have shared these thoughts with the PCC and they reacted positively to this possibility but rightly felt the principles needed to be shared with you all and then especially explained to parents with young children. If you have any views do share them with a PCC member or discuss them with any member of the staff team and let us pray that we may move forward in a way that deepens the spiritual life of us all.

R  8.7.07