“When they dip their bread, is it ok if they also dip in the tips of their fingers, like up to the knuckles?”
This question came from a knowing mother in attendance during the question and answer portion of our final class just before our “dress rehearsal” for communion.
I laughed and described the preferred method of dipping only the bread into the goblet of juice.
With that settled, another shrewd mom raised her hand,
“If they can’t decide which piece of bread they want, is it cool to touch a whole bunch of pieces while they figure it out?”
Again, another good question! We clarified–the first one your touch is your piece…..no wandering fingers.
Finally, another question,
“What if we drop our piece of bread, leave it or pick it up?”
This was a doozy, my training partner and myself disagreed. “Just leave it” which was countered with “but what if someone steps on it? There will be crumbs…”….I fear we left the kids horribly confused on this point.
I love church in moments like these. A dozen kids and their parents, learning the theological and personal meaning of celebrating communion while necessarily needing to navigate the practical details. Too often in church, we are strong on answering what and why but leave out critical details about how.
- How do we keep Jesus first in our parenting
- How do we follow Jesus in our career pursuits?
- How do we care for ourselves well as we pursue kingdom living?
People like the knowing mothers who asked the pertinent questions in the communion class are often overlooked. And what are we missing as we do that? It’s the details, the practical steps, and the choices in real life that make all the difference.