And also for your children

This past Sunday I attended a monthly Children Communion service at St. John’s, a Mercersburg United Church of Christ church in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. A few months ago I would have through the concept of a children’s communion service as being a bit strange and even questioned its soundness but that was also before I had given the issue much thought. When it comes to the Sacraments the inclusion of children of Christian parents is a matter of debate in the church today. Such as the debate over if the church should baptize infants of Christian parents or adults and older children who have personally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior who died on the cross and rose again from the dead to make atonement for their sins before God. Yet at at the next level comes the issues surrounding who should be offered the sacrament of Holy Communion. Should one have to be baptized first and if so is an infant baptism good enough or does one need to be either baptized as an adult believer or affirmed their baptism through confirmation when they came of age first? Or better put is it proper to serve Holy Communion to a baptized baby of Christian parents as soon as the baby is old enough to be able to handle solid food? I am sure some people will object to serving Holy Communion to baptized babies upon the grounds that they are clearly not able to partake in the Eucharist in a reverent manner given their inability to understand what is going on. Yet at the same time why is it also viewed by some of the same people as proper to baptize infants into the covenant community of the Church when they also have no idea of the nature and meaning of baptism at the time? It seems a bit strange how the many people have no problems flipping between the competing philosophies in regards to infant vs believer baptism yet change side in regard to baptized infant vs believer communion. At the same time how far does the ability to understand play a role in one’s ability to receive communion? Does that mean that even while somebody who was born mentally retarded might be able to be baptized as an infant into the church yet never be allowed to receive the sacrament of communion due to their mental handicap of being stuck at the emotional maturity level of a 5 year old for life? Likewise how about the flip side when one ages and begins to slowly down mentally or falls to Alzheimer’s disease require us to slam the church door of access to Holy Communion to elderly lifelong Christians who faithfully served God with their life for decades simply because their mental capacity is not what it used to be? Does it not make the most sense to lump these special case adults with the children into Jesus’ declaration that we should not hinder children for such belongs in the Kingdom of God and that whosoever does not become like a child will not enter into it. As the Kingdom of God is a place of equal opportunity where all are welcome be they Jew or Gentile, white or black, adult man or woman or young child. So why not do the same with the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion?