A Table for Hungry Children

We gather here week after week to commune with the Lord, and we bring our children to this table. This is good and right, but it is worth reminding ourselves every so often why we do this. And it’s a good idea to know why we bring our children to this table particularly in the climate we live in where it is not very common and sometimes not very well received. We do not bring our children to the table out of superstition. We do not believe that grace is a substance and that after a lack of bread and wine one could measure a quantitative difference between two people. There is no grace calculator; there is no grace scale, and even if the idolatrous minds of men tried to come up with one, it would be completely useless. Our children are welcome and invited to this table because they are God’s children. God feeds his children; he does not starve his children. It is no accident that throughout the Old Testament the people of God are called the “children of Israel.” John picks up on this same theme when he repeatedly addresses exhortations in his epistles to “little children.” The point is that we all come as little children. And given what Jesus says, it is safe to say that you may only come as children for of such is the kingdom of heaven. You may not come here believing that your understanding of theology or liturgy or philosophy earns you any special grace points in the sight of God. Your high school diploma, your masters degree, or the fact that you are over 5 feet tall do not get you one inch closer to the Lord of this table. You must come here as children, hungry children: hungry for food, hungry for fellowship, hungry for the attention of your Father. So if you are a child of God, come now, hungry and be filled.