Our two little girls, aged 1 and 3, receive Holy Communion every Sunday. For them, going forward is an intense social experience wherein they, as their mommy and daddy tell them, “taste Jesus”. This does not seem to baffle them in the least. What is happening to them physically and spiritually I leave at the edges of wonder, though I would say they’re more in communion with those around us and with our Lord himself than my dusty little soul is. Their purity in this has not been obtained thru an understanding of doctrine - they simply trust what we say and do.

Now when we take them to a different (non Orthodox) church and we are offered Holy Communion (happens often when we visit family), we decline and suffer the obvious elephant in the room. That they do not receive the ‘bread and wine’ is because of me and my wife’s understanding of doctrinal differences and somewhat because of that particular pastor / church’s understanding of those doctrinal differences. My point is that it would seem their experience of the Blessed Meal is directly related to my particular understanding of doctrine. I know we will teach them many things about the faith in word and deed, but I guess I’ve assumed that a personal understanding of the Eucharist is immaterial to It’s material.

This has been tumbling around in my head as I think about the unity of the church, specifically as it relates to my mostly Protestant family, but also in response to some of the dialog here in the last few days. Any thoughts? I’d love to get this mental laundry dried and folded…