I am licensed to distribute the Elements. No, this does not mean that like Elsa I can create castles and sculptures from ice. Although I suspect most under 8's would be much more impressed by that than any other skill I might have.
No, I have been licensed by our Bishop to help our priest give the bread and wine to the congregation at that part of the Anglican service we call "Communion" or the Eucharist.
And this weekend I was proud and honoured to be helping to give a group of children from our church their First Communion.
(Oh and in case you are worried the children were heavily influenced to take this step let me explain -they were invited to spend the day working towards understanding what they were agreeing to, and given the choice whether to go ahead. One boy had said no last year, thought about it and decided to do it this year.)
Back to Sunday.
Bear in mind I have known these children pretty much from birth. I am friends with their parents. My children go to school with them. As families we have shared good times and bad, parties, suppers, birthdays and celebrated new jobs.
The dads take the children camping every year while the mums enjoy some fun together - we have ridden the front of London buses squealing like teens, rowed boats and caught crabs, danced in the street at a bizarre London tea dance and eaten more cake and drunk more tea than you would think possible.
And on Sunday holding the chalice (silver cup) containing the wine, looking at the children's faces, growing up faster than I'd like I was very proud.
These are nice children. Children with values, not just because of their church involvement but because their parents are nice people.
I realised that they will keep on growing - a couple of them are already almost as tall as me. I will hopefully still be friends with their parents for years to come. There will be news shared of exam results, boyfriends and girlfriends, jobs, marriages, babies.....
And I will always be able to look at them and know I was there at the moment their took their First Communion, such a special day in a Christian child's life.
As I type this 5 of them are competing to shout over each other in my kitchen compiling some game involving Zombies. (my friend swapped me two of hers to take to primary school while she takes my older son to Secondary where he has to be in early for a mock exam.)
My daughter for some reason is whacking her little brother with a dolphin on a stick. It seems to be a vital part of the game. There are also imaginary pea-shooters.
They look nothing like the little angels who gazed up at me from the altar rail. But even their screeching about dolphin cannons (?) can not take away my warm fuzzy feeling. And I use this phrase in its literal form - Bless them!
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| Our church in the centre of our village. |
And this weekend I was proud and honoured to be helping to give a group of children from our church their First Communion.
(Oh and in case you are worried the children were heavily influenced to take this step let me explain -they were invited to spend the day working towards understanding what they were agreeing to, and given the choice whether to go ahead. One boy had said no last year, thought about it and decided to do it this year.)
Bear in mind I have known these children pretty much from birth. I am friends with their parents. My children go to school with them. As families we have shared good times and bad, parties, suppers, birthdays and celebrated new jobs.
The dads take the children camping every year while the mums enjoy some fun together - we have ridden the front of London buses squealing like teens, rowed boats and caught crabs, danced in the street at a bizarre London tea dance and eaten more cake and drunk more tea than you would think possible.
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| Not our chalice -just a pic of one! |
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| Church kids and priest walking to celebrate Harvest in our village allotments. |
These are nice children. Children with values, not just because of their church involvement but because their parents are nice people.
I realised that they will keep on growing - a couple of them are already almost as tall as me. I will hopefully still be friends with their parents for years to come. There will be news shared of exam results, boyfriends and girlfriends, jobs, marriages, babies.....
And I will always be able to look at them and know I was there at the moment their took their First Communion, such a special day in a Christian child's life.
As I type this 5 of them are competing to shout over each other in my kitchen compiling some game involving Zombies. (my friend swapped me two of hers to take to primary school while she takes my older son to Secondary where he has to be in early for a mock exam.)
My daughter for some reason is whacking her little brother with a dolphin on a stick. It seems to be a vital part of the game. There are also imaginary pea-shooters.
They look nothing like the little angels who gazed up at me from the altar rail. But even their screeching about dolphin cannons (?) can not take away my warm fuzzy feeling. And I use this phrase in its literal form - Bless them!
