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First Communion
What does it mean to take Holy Communion for the first time? Why is this meal so special in the life of a Christian? What do we remember in this special meal? Why do we celebrate it so often at our church? These are but a few of the questions Pastor Mark, Kim DeVries, and the 18 children and their parents wrestled with at the recent First Communion Workshop.
Much of the study time focused on the importance of family celebrations, like anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, graduations, baptisms, and special events. Many of those celebrations are connected to a meal of some kind, such as a turkey dinner with Thanksgiving, cake with birthdays, and hotdogs with family picnics. In like manner, many of our celebrations of our faith involve a meal. In the Bible, the children learned that God’s people celebrated their rescue from slavery in Egypt with a special meal called Passover. And as Jesus gathered his friends for a last meal and farewell, he gave them a special celebration and meal that we call the Lord’s Supper. With these two important Biblical stories as a background, the participants began to understand Holy Communion as a special church family celebration of God’s love and forgiveness.
The First Communion Workshop ended with a time of creating a First Communion banner and a special question and answer time around the Communion Table in the Worship Center. Carroll Potter, the Worship Coordinator was there to share how all the preparations are made before the worship services. Many of the students were surprised to learn how many people help with making communion a true family celebration at Grace.
One of the highlights was the opportunity to go into the Sacristy (the area behind the Worship Center) and see where the wine and bread is stored, and all the communion chalices, plates, and special containers are washed and kept. There are kinds of special decorations, candles, table clothes and banners that help make our worship so special.
And so we celebrate this special step of spiritual growth in the lives of these eighteen youth who now have joined us in celebrating the love and forgiveness we have in Jesus.