First Communion

Sunday was a first for us, on many levels. We received a call last week asking if we would be able to do communion. I said that we were not placing Elisha in the nursery yet (which is good,since we found out this week that he is positive for giardia, **sigh**- but it's very treatable **yeah** but the antibiotic is nasty **sigh** :0)
so he would be with us. That is fine.

So, fast forward to Sunday. It was Elisha's first time to sit through the whole service. He was so good- only a few La la la's during Pastor Brian's sermon. So, we reached the end of the sermon, time for communion. We had it worked out with Tim's sister that if he got rowdy, she'd come relieve me and I'd leave with him.

We walked up front and received the elements. We do communion by intinction- where we have the bread in a basket, the juice in a goblet and each person files past and receives the bread, symbolizing the body of Christ, broken for us, and they dip it into the juice, symbolizing the blood of Christ shed as a redemption of our sins.

Eli and I had the bread, Tim the chalice of grape juice. When we were walking up to receive the elements, Eli was waving to everyone- Hi! Hi! wave, wave, Hi! For many, it may have been the first time seeing him with us- we've been laying low in the back for the past few weeks. We saw many faces light up with the joy that only a small child that is loved by many can bring. SO many of these dear folk prayed earnestly with us over the past 2 years to bring this little guy home.

So, he tried to grab the bread at first. Then, he was perfectly angelic, just watching from the safety of my arms while everyone filed past. He, at some level, seemed to understand the seriousness of the event taking place in front of him. He waited until we were all done and then opened his mouth like a little birdie. I gave him a small piece of bread (sans the juice) and as he ate it and we walked back to our seats, he was still and resting his head on my shoulder. Thank you, God. We have been praying that he would know you and understand you. It may have been a fluke that he behaved as he did. It may be an understanding far beyond his reasoning powers. I chose to believe the later, given the amount of prayer and love that has already been poured into his life.

So, before he is even 2, he was actually 23 months old on Sunday, our son is already volunteering at church, and loving it. What a blessing!