A Table That Disciplines All We Bring to It

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As you bring your little ones to this Table, take care in two areas.

The first is to remember that you as parents don’t hold the power of the keys. This means that you should not be conducting church discipline in your family row, withholding the bread, for example, if your child was being fussy or fidgety earlier in the service. If your child is a communicant, your child is a communicant.

At the same time, just as this weekly observance reminds us to keep short accounts with God and with one another, so also this weekly observance may be revealing to you that you need to get some help in how you love, teach, and discipline your child. If the approach of the Lord’s Table reminds you to be reconciled to your brother—as it ought to—so also the approach of the Table ought to highlight that you need some help with some aspects of your parental teaching. If your child is flipping out during the Supper, for example, and doing so routinely, how is that not a disgrace? This Table is a table of discipline, by definition.

 

We cannot argue for paedocommunion, urging that little children be allowed to come to the Table that disciplines us all, and then protest if when this discipline starts to take effect. Just realize that it takes effect, in this instance, with the parents. Bringing your children to the Table involves far than bringing them to bread and wine. It means bringing the whole family, heart and soul, hugs and swats, mom and dad, the whole fam, to the Lord Jesus, and He receives us here. So come and welcome.

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