god's children—how do we feed them?
TRANSCRIPT
This article was downloaded by: [University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries]On: 20 December 2014, At: 12:09Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
LiturgyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ultg20
God's Children—How Do We Feed Them?Beth A. Schlegel aa Christ Lutheran Church , York, Pennsylvania, USAPublished online: 07 Apr 2011.
To cite this article: Beth A. Schlegel (2001) God's Children—How Do We Feed Them?, Liturgy, 16:4,25-32, DOI: 10.1080/0458063X.2001.10392517
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0458063X.2001.10392517
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
GOD’S CHILDREN- How Do WE FEED THEM?
The Church: Add-on or Essence?
Beth A. Schlegel
I went into a small-town shoe store to get a pair of boots. The proprietors were nowhere to be seen, but sitting idly on one of the chairs was their young son. Wanting to make him feel important, I asked him if he could show me some boots while I waited for his parents to return. “No,” he said. “I’m just visiting the store today. I don‘t know where they keep things.”
Down the street in this small town was the grocery store where I made my next stop. Again, the shopkeepers had stepped away from the store, but their young daughter was there, arranging things on the shelves. I walked in and asked if she could show me the coffee. “Sure!” she said. “Would you like it ground?” “Are you old enough to work the grinder?” I asked. She replied, “We kids have grown up here. We’ve seen how Mom and Dad do things and we know pretty much everything about the store-how the produce is arranged and watered, how to put old stock in front of new, and how to grind coffee. The store is our family’s life-I hope to run it someday when I’m older. Did you want your coffee ground fine, medium, or coarse?”
viewing an enterprise and the role of children in it. By enterprise, I mean people doing something communally. In this sense, the mission of the church in forming disciples is an enterprise.
The question of Christian formation is directly linked to the question of what the church is. In one view, church is something added to the essential being of humanity-an adult enterprise that children may be exposed to or visit occasionally until they are old enough to participate and add it to their store of experience. In another view, the church is constitutive of human being, an organic life in which every member participates fully from beginning to end,
Fictitious as these examples are, they illustrate two ways of
9 25 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
growing up in it so that one’s very identity and life are inextricably bound to it. I invite readers to consider the second view as the foundation for the discussion to follow.
There are biblical images I take for granted in developing this view: The church as the living body of Jesus Christ (Rom 12, 1 Cor 12) Baptism as birth into the church as the body of Christ (Jn 3;
The Lord’s Supper as the sustenance of the church‘s life (Jn 6;
Members of the church by Baptism share filial bonds one to
Rom 6)
Acts 2; 1 Cor 11)
another (the epistles)
Further, I suggest that Baptism is the unidirectional passage from mortal human existence per se to personal life and identity formed by the church as the communion in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In the same way as a baby is born to be nourished and so to thrive, a Christian is born in Baptism to be nourished with the body and blood of Jesus Christ as the source of life eternal.
Is Baptism a dead-end? Baptism is not an end in and of itself. Just
as children and adults alike gather at a table for family meals, so baptism has as a goal, the newborn’s admission to and participa-
tion in the fellowship of the Lord‘s table. The purpose of Baptism is
the Christian’s incorporation into the body of Christ. Birthing and feeding are held
together as an integral unity in the life of the church, just as they
are in the human life Jesus became incarnate to share. The practice of the ancient church to commune infants at baptism that was suspended in recent centuries but that persists in eastern Ortho- doxy and is now once again permitted in various denominational traditions (includ- ing this writer’s Lutheran tradition) corresponds to this organic understanding of the church as the living body of Christ.
9 26 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
Do children belong fully to the church as communion of saints?
Let us pay close attention to the life of the body as it moves from the table to the world. The seams between the eucharistic assembly and Christian homes that have pulled apart and begun to unravel in the cultural wake of individualized piety need mending so that what is said and heard and done corporately on Sundays shapes and nourishes the personal and family life of all Christians. Formation in the Christian faith that is handed down from generation to genera- tion is every member‘s privilege and responsibility. We want OUT children to grow up in the community of faith, to be able to “keep the shop,” and to desire to continue the faith, handing it down as a treasured gift to the next generation as we have received it from the generations before us.
viewing baptized children as full members of the church and raising them as such. Returning to the natal illustration: hospitals do not prcpnre infants for birth; they prepare mothers and fathers for the event of birth and, ideally, for the responsibilities of parenting. Similarly, children are not p r e p ~ r c d for taking nourishment. They are fed by the parents until they are able-having observed others and been taught by repetition-to feed themselves. (It is instructive to note that some people, by virtue of disability, are fed for a lifetime with no diminution of their membership in the family.) As they participate over time in the regular and ongoing table fellowship of the family, children are irzstrirctcd in principles of nutrition, etiquette, custom, and tradition. This instruction happens in a variety of ways: by example, by repetition and habit formation, by verbal explanation and correction, by printed materials, and by classroom (or physician’s office) teaching. Can we see in this description of human formation a paradigm for the church?
As I write this article, the Sunday lectionary presents the stories of the boy Samuel and the boy Jesus in the temple and how they “grew up both in stature and in the favor of God and people” (1 Sam 2:26; Luke 2:40, 52). For both these biblical boys, the life of the faith community was not hidden from them until some presumed point of perfect understanding or maturity, but rather, their participation from birth made possible their mature life of faith, even at an early age. (There is an important distinction between full participation in the life of the church on the part of all the baptized and the partial sharing in worship by unbaptized inquirers and catechumens. In this article I am dealing only with postbaptismal formation.)
Thepurpose of Baptism is the Christian’s incorporation into
Of necessity, this objective means the body of Christ.
9 27 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
What happens when the church is perceived as such an organic community? First, we see the church primarily as a table fellow- ship-that is, the communion (koinoniu) of Christ's body and blood. This is most clearly visible where Christians habitually assemble on the Lord's Day for the Lord's Supper. Next, we see baptisms taking place within this table fellowship so that the newly born in Christ are immediately led to the nourishment of Christ. The table conversation involves the sacred texts handed down to tell the stories of the faith, to repeat the history of the community, and to give instruction for living as members of that particular community. As the fellowship moves from the table to witness and service in the world, we see members working together encouraging and correcting, repenting and forgiving, demonstrating, learning, practicing, and inviting. In sum, we see people of all ages "growing up both in stature and in favor with God and with people."
The realization of such an ecclesial vision would involve (a) the preparation of parents and sponsors for bringing a young person to baptism, including an introduction to the eating and drinking of communion, together with a review of the responsibilities and privileges of raising a Christian; and (b) the ongoing instruction of children in the home, in the pew, at the font and altar rail, in class- rooms, and in those nooks and crannies of every church where personal relationships with fellow Christians are nurtured. In this ecclesial vision, the role of cognition as a prerequisite for full participa- tion in the church's life would be minimized and the role of faith in the triune God who gives us life would be preeminent. This faith is created by the word God speaks to us in the community of faith in sermon, baptism, absolution, and communion. Thus, it is the pres- ence of God's word and Holy Spirit that is prerequisite for participa- tion in the sacramental life of the church, not a person's ability to grasp and understand or even the church's ability to teach.
Is it who you are or what you know? In this context we ought to consider the problematic matter of
readiness. "Is my child ready to take communion?" parents may ask. The question is well intended and reflects a high regard for the church's teaching as important for Christian living. There are, how- ever, two problems posed by this question: first, the implication that communion is something to be added to an already existing Chris- tian life; and second, that there is some objective standard by which the church is authorized to measure readiness. While from the perspective of child development it may be possible to say that ten- year-olds (or seven-year-olds) are cognitively able to comprehend the significance of the sacrament, does it follow that we should establish that ability as a rule for participation? Are we willing to apply the principle to the other end of the age spectrum and exclude from the sacrament those whose mental ability is diminished by
9 28 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
dementia or, to be consistent, to say that all persons who reach a given age (say eighty?) will automatically be excluded?
The requirement of attaining a certain level of cognition also excludes from full participation in the life of the church many with chronic mental illness, mental retardation, or other afflictions that affect cognition. In truth, the practice in many places has applied some principle of cognition to participation in the sacraments with great inconsistency. Who is to say that any given person at any given time is “ready“? God alone knows. The question then becomes “Does the institution of the sacraments call for the application of any such standard of cognition as necessary for receiving them?” Does not a cognitive approach devalue the efficacy of God’s word and Spirit in creating faith?
Where the church is convinced that in its sacramental life the triune God speaks and acts to create faith in the hearts and lives of those who hear, then the church will remove any barriers that restrict-by age or cognition, or any other criterion-the participa- tion of baptized persons in the Lord‘s Supper. Indeed, it will seek to facilitate their sharing in the body of Christ. It is precisely this conviction of God’s operation in the sacraments that permits us to see the infant sucking the wine of Christ’s blood from the minister’s thumb or the toddler gleefully eating the bread of Christ’s body-or the person with Down’s Syndrome or the senior with Alzheimer’s receiving the sacrament-as something other than absurd. Such examples are indeed the Lord’s inclusion of the “least of these“ in the kingdom of heaven itself.
Does this mean we shouldn‘t teach them? The inclusion of all the baptized in the sacramental life of the
church does not detract from the church’s responsibility to teach the faith to its children. It simply locates such teaching after baptism and first communion. Many congregations desiring to practice communion of all the baptized will have a period of transition. During this time, the in- struction may precede the first communion of older children while following the reception of younger children. The transition is best undertaken in a climate of invitation and flexibility. Instead of making Holy Communion instruction a “program” for a specific age group, plan times for instruction during the year and invite parents and children of all ages to participate. Teach the meaning and use of the sacraments to all age groups in Sunday school and other educational arenas. In preparing Chris- tian parents for the baptism of their children, lift up the church’s sacramental life as essential. Make full use
9 29 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
of the baptismal liturgy and its provision for the garment, which makes clear the connection between the birth and the meal.
Gather children together for sessions of storytelling. Use illus- trated Bibles, picture books and simple renderings of biblical texts to tell the stories of the Passover and the Exodus to shape their experi- ence of Baptism and Communion.. These are, after all, the church‘s stories, their stories. In these stories, God has acted to save and redeem the chosen people; in the eucharistic community, God acts
again, and still, to save and redeem us. In forming children in the faith, The inclusion of all the baptized enRaRe them in the life of t h i Gngregation as#acolytes, read- ers, presenters, writers of prayers, singers, dancers, and the like. Let
in the sacramental life of the church does not detract from the
I
theG instruction in the faith move church’s responsibility to teach back and forth the narra-
the faith to its children. tive of salvation history and rela- tionship with Christ and with the church: Above all, let the children
always have the community to surround them, the community of faith that seeks its life at the Lord’s table.
What about the exceptional? The practice of communion table fellowship keeps in mind the
participation of children. Certainly the church’s obedience to the Lord‘s institution of his Supper proffers both the bread and wine to communicants, according to the Lord’s command. However, the church also teaches that the Lord is fully present in each element- those receiving the bread receive the fullness of Christ, likewise those receiving the wine. Therefore, most pastors are used to mak- ing exceptions in certain circumstances--many elderly infirm, per- sons with allergies to wine or wheat, or those with certain medical conditions commune in one element alone or by intinction, dipping the bread into the wine. The same principles may be applied to the communion of babies and toddlers. Infants may be communed in wine only, the minister dipping the thumb into the cup and allowing the baby to suck it while the word “the blood of Christ shed for you” is spoken to the infant. Alternatively, the bread and wine may be commingled and administered by a small spoon. Toddlers who do not yet drink well from a cup may be communed in bread only, again the minister being careful to speak the word, “the body of Christ given for you” directly to the child. Many children even as young as two or three years of age are able to dip a wafer into the cup. In places where individual glasses are used, very small amounts of wine are appropriate for young children.
Some young children are “stranger shy” and take nothing from someone who is not Mommy or Daddy. In such cases, a parent may
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
break off a portion of his or her own bread and give some to the child while the pastor speaks the word of ministration to both parent and child. Congregations whose church body teaches the normative use of wine but whose local practice makes grape juice available for those with allergies will want to be aware of the potential danger of the notion that grape juice is for kids and wine is for grownups. This confusion becomes a tangled mess for the children as they get older and creates unnecessary difficulties for those providing ongoing instruction in the sacraments. The amount of wine used in the Lord’s Supper is very small, yet if concern about the alcohol in this element is great, consider intinction for those communicants who desire it or encourage communion in bread alone for those who cannot take wine.
Train your children in the way they should go Parents play an important role in modeling and teaching table
manners at the Lord’s supper. Each time the infant or young child is communed, the parent says “Amen.” Eventually, the child will say it for herself. The same is true for making the sign of the cross when receiving and holding the hands to receive the bread. The child learns by watching and by the parent’s instructing, “Put your hands like this. Good.” Where custom and piety encourage prayer before and after receiving the sacrament, it is the parent who models and encourages such practice in the pew. Indeed, it is the whole commu- nity that is the classroom for its children.
As an organic being, the church is constantly growing up. One generation is always interpreting the life of the body for the next. Christian formation ends not with confirmation but with death, our passage from this life in which we see “as in a mirror dimly” to that consummate existence in which we see God ”face to face” (1 Cor 13:12). By seeing children as the present (not future) church and by forming them in the faith through full participation in the life of the church, we equip them to “keep the shop,” to be active and engaged in the church’s apostolic witness and mission, and, in their turn, to hand it over-precious and intact-to the generation to follow.
Notes * Dove Books has some excellent materials for this purpose, particularly for middle
and upper elementary age. In particular, When I Go to Mass, The Baptism oflesiis, The Bread of Life, and 011 the Rond to Ernrnnirs (New York: Macmillan, 1964-1966). While they may be out of print, they are worth keeping an eye out for. A Bnptisrn S t o r y and Eirchnrist: A Child‘s Story (Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 1991) are good for pre- school and early elementary children. The American Bible Society is another source for illustrated and simplified biblical texts for use with children.
Beth A. Schlegel is associate pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, York, Pennsylvan ia.
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014
9 34 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
olor
ado
at B
ould
er L
ibra
ries
] at
12:
09 2
0 D
ecem
ber
2014