Communion
God's Gifts are...FREE!
Communion at St. Stephen is just this simple: EVERYONE is welcome. The God of the universe has come near to us through the man Jesus we know as God’s Messiah, and through his body and blood has reconciled all of us (regardless of age, gender, culture, or creed) to himself. So come. As we say here: “Whether you are 1, 91, or 103, God’s gifts are...FREE!”
This includes your children. We are aware that the church has come to be known more for its divisions than for the vision of unity in the person and work of Jesus it is supposed to represent and proclaim to the world. One of the last strongholds of these divisions actually lies within Christian communities themselves. We may claim that all are welcome, but if you watch our practice across many of our Christian traditions, you will find that we exclude our own children...an odd thing since as Christian communities we all claim to represent Jesus, the one who said...
"Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them. (The Message--Mark 10:14b-16).
We who find ourselves in the "Lutheran" Christian tradition have a double directive for the inclusion of children in our corporate life; the one that comes from Jesus (which should be all that we need), and also one that comes from the man who began our particular expression of the Christian faith, Martin Luther. He writes in his "Large Catechism" under "The Sacrament of the Altar" that...
"We cannot perpetuate these and other teachings unless we train the people who come after us and succeed us in our office and work, so that they in turn may bring up their children successfully. Thus the word of God and the Christian church will be preserved. Therefore let every head of household remember that it is his duty, by God's injunction and command, to teach or have taught to his children the things they ought to know. Since they are baptized and received into the Christian church, they should also enjoy this fellowship of the sacrament so that they may serve us and be useful. For they must all help us to believe, to pray, and to fight the devil" (The Book of Concord, Tappert, pp. 456-7).
We want you to know that as we gather at God's kingdom table, EVERYONE really is welcome, even children. So come and worship with us and participate in the entire authentic experience of praising the only LIVING God! Our worship and our Table of fellowship are not our own. They don't belong to the pastor of St. Stephen, to St. Stephen as a congregation, or to anyone else. Our worship and our Table belong to Jesus...the crucified and Risen one; the one who ate with outcasts, with the sick and hurting, with the treasonous and sinful, and with the ones who were never able to get life right. Today, he STILL eats with these sorts of people; he eats with you and me.
Praise be to God!
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