6 mins
The Big Question
The Rev Adam Dillon, minister, Kirkintilloch: St David’s Memorial Park
Jamie Goodwin, Arts and Development worker, Glasgow: Govan and Linthouse
“I had been tasked by the Kirk Session of my previous charge to get the Junior Church ready and to prepare them properly to attend communion for the first time.
“I wondered how it would go.
“After spending some time with the young folk of the church, working through the service with them, I could sense they understood the importance of the Sacrament.
“We had decided that the children would come in to the main body of the Church just before the Invitation to Communion.
“On that first Sunday when the children were to attend, several people were watching closely to see just what the children would do.
“There were more than a few ‘eyes’ on the children to see how they behaved. “What was interesting though, was the fact that it was clear that the children understood the importance and the stillness of the moment.
“This drew some of the adults into a better understanding of the moment and you could hear a pin drop! “For those who assumed that the children might be noisy, realised that the din of bag shuffling had also ceased.
“It’s always been a privilege to celebrate Communion.
“The presence of the whole church, together, has deepened that privilege.
“We have much to learn from one another.”
“When first asked the Big Question my immediate response was ‘Well, of course I have, doesn’t everyone?’
“You can probably guess by that answer that I do not have a background in the Church of Scotland. As a child I was actively encouraged to participate in communion, allowing me the opportunity to learn, share and question the meaning of this sacrament. Moreover, when I began work at Govan & Linthouse Parish, our children would return to participate in communion every quarter. The thought had never crossed my mind that children might not be invited to participate.
“Children and young people join us and are part of every communion. They usually leave for the sermon and have a reminder of what communion means in their groups, but return for the invitation to communion and sit either with their own family or as one group at the front. In fact, I was surprised to learn that our tradition at Govan & Linthouse during our Easter service is to have the children serve Communion, something even I didn’t have experience of when I was younger.
“Including children in communion has sparked some good conversations and the active experience they gain has a great impact on both them and the congregation. The way they act, how they work out how to operate our strange layout with plates, goblets, glasses whilst understanding the importance of this act is truly something to behold; something I would encourage every congregation to take part in.”
The Rev Debbie Dobby, minister Beath and Cowdenbeath North
The Rev Alistair Cowper, minister, Kirknewton and East Calder
Anna Reid, member, Edinburgh: Stockbridge
“As a child growing up in a Christian home, I regularly attended services of Holy Communion, but was only able to receive a blessing until I became a church member.
“My first experiences of children being part of a communion service was when our own children were small. Initially they came to the Communion for a blessing, and could not understand why they were excluded from receiving the bread and wine. It is this sense of their exclusion which has shaped my own practice and thoughts around how we celebrate Holy Communion.
“We speak of the celebration of Holy Communion, yet so often in our practice it can feel like anything but a celebration. My approach with children has been to encourage them to view Communion as something very special. The first time that we celebrated Communion with children present in my previous charge, each person was asked to bring in something which was special to them. As the stories around each special object were told they were placed on the Communion Table. Finally we placed bread and wine on the table and told again the precious story of why these symbols are special to God’s people.
“Holy Communion celebrates our unity in Christ, his giving of himself as a sign of the new covenant that God makes with his people. Whilst none of us can claim to understand the mystery of the presence of Christ in our celebration, we can all recognise that the sharing of bread and wine around the table is a special and significant event from which none should feel excluded.”
“As a young boy I witnessed traditional communion services which always struck a very solemn chord and clearly wasn’t something for children. I assumed that communion was something that the adults did and maybe one day I’d understand what it was all about.
“Now that I am older, I realise that no one fully understands what’s going on at communion.
“It’s a mystery.
“And I’ve too often sat through communion thinking, ‘is this really what Jesus had in mind?’
“The first time I experienced the real presence of Christ at communion was as a 17 year old attending Feisd on Iona. We each collected a pebble from the beach and brought it in to the abbey to form a circular ‘table’ on the floor.
“We were from all nations and we sat around the outside of the stone table and the bread and grape juice was passed around the circle. I thought, ‘this feels close to what Jesus had in mind’.
“More recently, I attended a communion at Whiteinch and the minister had two children either side of him holding out the bread and ‘wine’ as people came forward. I loved the informality and inclusiveness of that.
“I wonder if Jesus meant that whenever we eat food for the body we are to remember Christ as food for the soul. That would mean that every meal time is a sacrament of God’s grace. Through faith then, Christ is present at every meal.”
“Over 25 years ago when I first went to live in Greece, I found myself outside a tiny church in the village of Porto Germeno.
“This tranquil village is nestled in the Corinthian Bay, 70 kilometres from the capital city of Athens.
“It holds a very special place in my heart.
“I stood in the hazy shadows at the door of that church, as three little children and the priest filled the entire tiny space.
“The sun was setting to their soft singing.
“The glow of the candles lit up the enchanted faces of those beautiful children as the priest made the sign of our Lord’s cross in front of each child.
“In the Orthodox Church, the consecrated bread and wine are placed together in a chalice and the priest administers communion using a small silver spoon.
“The evening summer air was punctuated with the smell of incense, candle wax and fresh lemons.
“Those children will have grown into adulthood now.
“However, I will always see them as children, their sweet, sun kissed faces in that little church so many years ago.”
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This article appears in the April 2020 Issue of Life and Work
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