Concerning First Communion at Fish Lake
Offering Holy Communion to people of any age - including infants and young children - is certainly different from the traditional practices in most ELCA congregations, which has been to wait until youth are confirmed before they can receive Holy Communion. Many Lutheran churches, however, are deciding to commune people of all ages now - including children and infants.
Our understanding of what is an appropriate age for receiving Holy Communion has evolved over the years. Lutheran conversations about the appropriate age for first receiving Holy Communion have been going on for quite a while. Until the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 1997, a suggested policy was to commune children at age 10 or the level of fifth grade (A Statement on Communion Practices [The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978], 3).
This norm was established by our church bodies in 1978, but was discussed for a number of years prior to that. Before the 1978 decision, the norm for first communion was after a person was confirmed.
The Bible gives support, although not actual evidence, for including children in the whole life of the church. Three of the four Gospels include the rather touching story of Jesus and the children: Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; and Luke 18:15-17. Luke adds an interesting difference from Mark and Matthew. While Mark and Matthew use the Greek word for children, Luke's text uses the term infants. According to Luke, the people were bringing children as young as infants for Jesus to touch and bless. When the disciples tried to stop the practice, Jesus sternly warned them not to prevent children from coming to him. Children were very important to Jesus. They were not to be excluded from fellowship with him, regardless of their age. Children are held up by Jesus as those who bear the very presence of Jesus himself. Jesus gives children a unique and important place in the corporate body of Christ. Not only are they models of faith for adults, but they are the bearers of Jesus' presence among us as well.
Paul, also has some important things to say about communion in 1 Corinthians 11:17-33. The eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians is important here because theologians have used it both to justify including infants and young children in the celebration of Holy Communion and to exclude them from it. While Paul deals with adults in these verses, his use of the term "the body of the Lord" can legitimately be interpreted to include children as well as adults. When children are baptized, they become part of the church, part of the body of the Lord.
According to Jesus' words about children and our understanding of Holy Baptism as the entrance into the body of Christ, children are certainly part of the body Paul is telling us to consider as we celebrate Holy Communion. When we receive the body of Christ, we are to be attentive to all the members of the body - young and old.
This is not really a new idea. From the very early times of Christianity, children and infants, have received communion. The practice of giving Holy Communion to all the baptized members of the church is not a new idea, but a very old one that the church maintained for centuries. For about 1200 years infants and children received Holy Communion along with the adults until a Fourth Lateran Council decision in A.D. 1215. In the years just prior to this decision, the elements of bread and wine in communion began taking on a more mystical, perhaps even magical, understanding among the people. Great concern began being expressed about the sacredness of the bread and wine. Fear developed that the bread or wine could be spilled and thus desecrated. As a result, decisions were made to no longer give the wine, which was more easily spilled to the laity. Another decision was that confession must be made prior to receiving communion. At that time infants usually received only one element, the wine, from a spoon or from the priest's finger. With the laity no longer receiving the wine, the infants were left out. Infants and young children were also unable to make confession so it was decided to have the children wait until they reached an age of discretion.
Clearly Christ invites all to his feast, his table. We come as beggars, not as persons who in any way deserve this marvelous gift from God. We come as persons who are tainted and unworthy. And even as adults we come without a clear understanding of how this grace of God is given to us in and through the sacraments. Regardless of our age, this gift will always remain a true mystery.
Our Lutheran theology affirms that there are no prerequisites for the reception of the sacraments. They are not dependent upon one's age or faith. Nothing of one's own makes anyone a worthy recipient of either Holy Baptism or Holy Communion. In the sacraments God comes to the recipient. The one being baptized or communed receives the benefits of forgiveness, life, salvation, and faith through God's grace in the sacraments. We receive these benefits passively and respond to them actively through service to others. As our baptismal liturgy says, "Let your light so shine before others". This takes place through acts of love on the part of children as well as adults.
So, in conclusion, the sacraments are events of the whole church. They are events in which the complete body of Christ is to be present and acknowledged. The body of the Lord is the church, all the baptized, adults and children. This needs to be recognized, acknowledged, and celebrated. Holy Communion is the meal for all the baptized. This needs to be recognized, acknowledged, and celebrated as well.
