Last week in a fellowship gathering, I was invited to bring up the bread and cup during the holy communion session.
Before going on this story, I'd like to point out some traditions or norms of Chinese Christian communities in Hong Kong, particularly the evangelical denominations.
First, they usually appoint someone prestigious to bring up the bread and the cup, like elders, deacons, pastors and the like.
Second, most of them allow only “official members” of their church or persons they've already known to partake, and usually these Christians were already baptised in their recognised way. In short, traditional evangelicals cling to make sure that everyone who partakes the bread and cup is a believer and one understands who and what he/she believes.
I was baptised, yet obviously I am not a prestigious person. I guessed the pastor saw me as a “theologically trained” believer so that he invited me to do so.
I walked to the congregation, holding a tray containing individual packs of bread and cup - they looked like snacks. When I approached a family of three, their little girl stretched out her hand and grabbed one. Her parents looked embarrassed, didn’t know how to respond, for they presumed that their daughter didn’t understand what the holy communion meant (and I guess she was not yet baptised.) On the whole, they were worried about her daughter‘s eligibility of the partake.
"It doesn't matter. Let her take it,” I smiled and said. Whether the girl understood what it meant, or just took it out of curiosity, I thought it’s no need to stop her. What is holy communion? What does bread and cup mean or represent? This is the love of our Lord Jesus. I believe that Jesus is happy to share His love with this little girl too. All we need is to tell her "Jesus loves you" and bless her.
"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them..." (Luke 18:16, ESV)
