Happy Summer!! This Sunday certain things shift slightly for summertime. Faith Formation takes the summer off, so the kids will remain in worship after the Children’s Sermon. I like how we have Faith Formation during church—interestingly enough, I have a memory as a little kid doing that in the church I grew up in—but I also like how they can be in worship, learning how to worship. If we want our children to learn how to worship, they have to be in worship, even if they are squirmy and make some noise. Occasionally, I’ve run into teenagers and young adults who never stayed in a worship service in its entirety until after they were confirmed. I think that’s a problem.

This Sunday several of our young people will take an important step in their worship lives by receiving their First Communion. I’ve met with them for the last few Sundays, and we will bake communion bread together this Saturday. In the two years I’ve been at St. Matthew’s, having permission to make a mess in the kitchen is a highlight. The heart of the Lord’s Supper is the promise of Jesus’ presence. Jesus tells us he is with us “wherever two or three are gathered in my name” (Matthew 18:20), but in Holy Communion he tells us that this bread and wine is his body and blood and that it is given for you (I Corinthians 11:23-26). God’s Word with the bread and wine makes the meal “holy”—what we call a sacrament—a sacrifice of thanksgiving. That particular word of promise is one we only hear in worship because it has to have bread and wine by Jesus’ command (“Do this in remembrance of me”). We don’t drive around listening to a spiritually nourishing podcast with bread and wine in the passenger seat.  (Coffee and a donut don’t count!)

And it’s a communal thing, of course. The children get it. Unless their parents have allowed them to receive before now, it’s the one act of worship that has an “age barrier.” I see their desire and disappointment when they can’t do what everyone else is doing. Every special meal I can think of is communal, and the Lord’s Supper is no exception! 

Peace, 
Pr. Christian