As I read the Old Testament I am struck by the number of occasions when all the people are assembled, which by implication one can presume includes the children. Some verses are explicit, e.g. Ezra 10:1 and Joshua 8:35, while others like Exodus 19:11 leave the reader to make an assumption.
These are special moments in the life of the people of God, with the whole community gathered, everyone present. There is no talk or sense of segregation, which leads me to think that the children were indeed included. The Passover meal was a family meal, in fact explicitly so as a means of communicating the faith to the younger generation (Exodus 12:26). The other festivals were too (Exodus 13), indeed the whole Exodus deal was an all-age experience (12:37).
Yet our current practice of faith seemingly enforces age distinction more often than not. Now there are obviously some good reasons in play here, amongst them of course some practical reasons. Yet heading off into the desert with only as much as you can carry was hardly 'practical' if you had to take your young children!
I wonder if sometimes we have overly domesticated our faith? Have we let all the good and reasonable practical aspects gather undue weight? Maybe there are theological reasons too - yet presumably they all stood young & old together trembling before God in that Exodus 19 episode?
1 Corinthians 11 gives us a glimpse on the Lord's supper in at least one segment of the early church. It is clearly a 'bring and share' meal. Were children excluded? The text doesn't explicitly tell us, but in all reasonableness what is likely to be implied in a community meal?
Of course at that time the church didn't have dedicated church buildings. So whilst they might have met in a home, if the gathering was of any size I would guess they actually met outside - implying their communion experience was in fact a bring and share picnic! By our standards, anything but domesticated.
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Looking at verse 27, I would question whether a youngster has the capacity to Drink the cup in a 'worthy manner', or In verse 28 - the ability to 'examine themselves' or in v29 - Understand what it means to 'discern the body of Christ'. Therefore, I would be very surprised if it was a community meal. Communion is a serious matter, as stated in v 29,30 and eating/drinking unworthily has potentially some dire consequences. In light of these warnings, I would be very wary of inviting more or less all and sundry to the communion table.
ReplyDeleteYou may be guilty of allowing a fixed understanding of the passage to pre-determine the context here. How about exploring what might be a reasonable understanding of the original context (albeit inevitably somewhat speculative on our part) and then allowing that to question how we might interpret the verses?
DeleteOn a different note, where do people with mental disablities or acute adult learning difficulties stand r.e. the requirements to self-examine and discern?
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