Talking to your Children about Communion
(from the website of Willoughby CRC, Langley, BC)
Parents/grandparents/guardians are encouraged to spend some time the week before communion.…maybe 15-30 minutes…talking with their child(ren) about the Lord's Supper. Here are some ideas to approach the conversation. You probably won’t have just one conversation with your child about communion…you will likely have several…so focus on one idea, thought, meaning or question.
- There are three places in the NT where you can find a recording of Jesus meal with his disciples in Jerusalem. Depending on the age of your children you can read one or all of them. If you children are older spend time comparing the different passages—how they are the same/different, etc. Matthew 26:26 – 29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14 - 20
- Remembering: Talk about how the Lord’s Supper is a time of remembering: as at a birthday when we remember and celebrate the day of your birth, at the Lord’s supper we remember God’s acts of love towards us and what Jesus did for us on the cross. We celebrate new life in Christ and God’s continuing presence with us.
- Forgiveness…what it means to forgive…and that when we come to the table we are reminded of our forgiveness through God’s grace.
- Belonging: here you can talk about baptism and belonging to God’s family – at the table we reaffirm (say again) that we belong to God and that we want to continue to live like God’s people.
- Talk specifically about what the bread and wine represent. Especially for young children perhaps pour some juice in a cup, cut up a small piece of bread….'practice’ the behaviour of what it’s like to eat and drink at the table.