The best time to have a conversation with you kids is in the moment. Unless it’s the worst time, like in the middle of a church service. It never fails to suddenly get really quiet when your kids ask the most untimely question at what seems be an inappropriate volume level.
The question of communion always seems to come up as the pastor starts talking about the bread and wine, and you wave it off for later because it’s deep and involved and you aren’t really sure how to explain it to your little one. You remind yourself to go over communion later, but so many things happen that when later arrives, you’ve long forgotten that conversation on your running to do list.
Today is a great time to bring up the subject. Here are some great tools that will help you explain communion to your kids.
- Recount – Kids learn best through storytelling, plus they love to hear tales about when you were a child. Help lead your kids through an exercise of remembrance. I showed my kids an old card shuffler my grandmother used when she played Bridge and explained that when I see this shuffler, I’m taken back in time and a flood of sweet memories of my grandmother overtakes me. In a similar way, the bread and the cup of communion remind us of Jesus and what He did for us every time we receive them.
- Remember - Explain to your kids that communion is a way believers remember what Jesus did for us in His death on the cross, burial and resurrection. Read or share the story of the last supper from Matthew 26:17-30. Let them ask questions, and if you don’t know the answer, study the Bible together.
- Reflect – Communion is one of the two “ordinances” the Lord has given the church, with baptism being the other. Both baptism and the Lord’s Supper powerfully reflect the gospel—the death and resurrection of Christ. They are opportunities for us to remember the significance of what Christ has done for us. Help your kids understand that communion is meant for those who already have union with Jesus (those who have placed their trust in Christ). If your children haven’t yet trusted the Lord, take time during the Lord’s Supper to explain the gospel in terms they can understand. Maybe say something like this: We are all born with sin and separated from God. Jesus paid the price for this sin by His death on the cross. If we believe that He did this for us and trust Him as our Savior, we can be saved and live in relationship with God forever.
- Reverence – When we take communion, we pause and remember what Jesus did on the cross, and we reflect on the blessing we receive as children of God. This gives us a sense of reverence for God. Communion is an act of worship that leads us to be in awe of who God is and what He has done in your life.
Chances are your kids will want to know exactly what is going on. Explain you’ll have a small cracker and small cup of grape juice or wine.
- The cracker represents Jesus’ body that was broken. Ask your child to consider all the things Jesus went through on His way to and on the cross. He was physically beaten and broken in ways we can’t even imagine. That’s why you’ll hear the pastor leading communion say to break the bread in two before you take it. Then you eat the bread in remembrance of Jesus’ broken body and death on the cross.
- The wine represents the blood shed on our behalf. His blood is what makes atonement for our sin. He took our sin on Himself on the cross and paid the price with His blood. You drink the grape juice or wine in remembrance of the blood shed on our behalf.
- Typically, after you eat the bread and drink the “wine,” you’ll have a moment of prayer and reflection followed by worship.
Communion is special, designed to bring the follower of Christ into a sweet time of reflection, remembrance and reverence. I pray you enjoy sharing this ordinance with your children for years to come.