by Pastor Gordon Wiersma
As Advent begins, our worship services will include many familiar pieces in our liturgy that shape this season of preparation—candles, dance, music, and litanies. In the 11 a.m. service, as we follow the pattern of celebrating communion on the first Sunday of Advent, we will also begin a new pattern of including our children from Children in Worship. This new pattern results from a number of discussions among the Elders, Pastors, Worship Ministry, and Christian Education Ministry.
The Elders and Pastors’ discussion included the desire for the celebration of communion to be a time of hospitality for all who have gathered for worship. Part of our Reformed tradition—and of many other Christian traditions—has been to have many rules to control who receives communion. There have been theological reasons for these rules, but they have often been applied in problematic ways. With work from my Doctor of Ministry program as a catalyst, the Pastors and Elders talked about the foundation of “God’s grace” from our Reformed tradition as calling us toward the communion table as a place where all are welcomed to be nourished by the presence and grace of Jesus Christ. Faith and baptism, doctrine and membership, age and understanding—these are all important aspects of how we organize our congregational life. But the Elders and Pastors wanted to express that at the communion table, none of these things should issue or deny an invitation to the feast of life. Everyone present for worship is a guest at the communion table, and all who wish to respond to the invitation to be nourished by God’s grace in Jesus Christ are welcome at the table. You’ll notice what is now spoken and printed in our liturgy, revised by the Elders and Pastors, fully and consistently expresses this grace of hospitality.
As the Worship Ministry was aware of these Elder/Pastor discussions, they recognized another aspect of hospitality to address, which was the elements themselves. For quite some time, Hope Church has provided a gluten-free option for communion bread. This has been a good expression of hospitality, but having separate elements was not ideal in form or function. A new, locally baked bread was located of which nearly all can partake, and this has been introduced to our worship—both 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.—as a further expression of hospitality in our celebration of communion.
In the midst of these efforts toward radical (complete and enthusiastic) hospitality, the Christian Education Ministry discussed the mismatch between our intentions to welcome children to receive communion and our provision of opportunities to receive it. We brainstormed how best to support families with younger children to have the opportunity to celebrate communion as part of the congregation. On December 1, we will start a new pattern of bringing the children into the sanctuary to share in communion with the rest of the congregation. We are working out good logistics for this, yet it still will surely involve some measure of “holy hubbub”—but such is the beautiful hospitality of a meal that our Lord invites us all to share together to be nourished by God’s grace. This new pattern is giving us good opportunities to talk with our children more deeply about communion—including the new bread!—and it is also an opportunity for all of us to be renewed in the radical hospitality that is at the heart of our communion celebration.
The Pastors and Elders would be glad to have further conversation about all of this holy hospitality and grace, just ask. And I invite you to look forward with Advent anticipation to this new communion pattern on December 1, as we more fully embody the hospitality of God’s grace for all at the communion table.
Peace,
Pastor Gordon