We want to come to the Table in faith, and not because of superstitious attachment to ritual. At the same time, we don’t want to avoid superstitious ritual by avoiding ritual itself—that would be a superstitious attachment to the arid intellectual customs of the modern age.
This stark contrast between faith and superstition can be easily seen in how we bring our children to the Table. If we feel like they have to have the bread and wine regardless of the circumstances, and we are doing it largely because that is what everyone else is doing, then we are not displaying faith—rather we are showing off the fact that herd instincts do not disappear just because you are in church.
If you are here with small children, and you are bringing them to the Table, you are most welcome to do so. But you are also called to acquaint yourselves with the promises of God for your children in the Scriptures. What did God say? Did He invite you, and are you coming for that reason? If so, then the bread and wine are among the most precious shared possessions that two or three generations can possibly share. It is a blessing that is promised to a thousand generations. But if not, then iniquity is visited to three and four generations. That solemn warning is attached to the commandment against idolatry (Ex. 20:5), and bread and wine with no Christ is an idol. Bread and wine just because does more harm than good, as Paul would say.
The bread and wine are here, and so is Jesus. Come to them all, and welcome.