As we sat down to dinner last night, our grandchildren all knew the ritual at our house. We held hands and said together our grace. Our grandchildren know only one prayer for grace at our house. It is a prayer that was used in my house when I was growing up:

We thank thee, Lord, for happy hearts
for rain and sunny weather
We thank thee, Lord, for this our food
and that we are together!
Amen

When we say “Amen,” we raise our hands before letting go.

When our children were growing up, we said a variety of prayers. Sometimes we would sing our thanks with songs we learned at camp. Sometimes an individual would offer thanks, and other times we would say or sing together. After our children grew up and moved out of our home, the prayer that includes the line, “And that we are together,” became especially meaningful, and the tradition of saying it when we are all together began. Before they had fully mastered speech, our grandchildren could understand the ritual of holding hands and raising them at the end of the prayer to say “Amen!” together.

I don’t know the origins of the prayer, but I know it was used when we got together with aunts and uncles and cousins when I was growing up. I suspect that because of the use of the word “Lord,” it may go back at least one more generation.

Rituals around meals and eating have been around as long as humans have gathered to share food. Some of those rituals come and go. Others last for many generations.

Today, I get to talk with children about special meals and rituals around eating. The Church School Director at our church has moved on to another job, and volunteers from the congregation are leading the church school while searching for a new director. I was quick to sign up for a week. Susan and I shared the job for two years as the congregation emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns. I enjoy working with the children. Our church does not have a graded church school. The numbers are small enough that all ages are together in a “one-room schoolhouse” model. Older children assist younger children. Stories and lessons are planned to provide learning for multiple ages.

Our congregation celebrates Communion on the first Sunday of each month, so today is a day for that celebration. The children will start their time in worship with all ages and go to church school after a special children’s message. Most Sundays, they do not return to the worship service and are reunited with their families during the fellowship hour following worship. On Communion Sundays, they go briefly to class during the sermon and return to the sanctuary for Communion. It is our tradition to have children process with the bread and juice as the congregation sings a song about Communion:

Come, let us bring the warm and fragrant bread
given here so that all people might be fed.
Come, let us bring the sweet, abundant wine
given here so that all may taste the joy divine.

For the children’s lesson today, we will talk about special meals. They will be invited to share what foods their families share at special times. That will allow me to talk about some of the special meals in the Bible, such as the feast that was given when the prodigal son returned home, and the Passover meal that Jesus shared with the disciples. We’ll taste a few traditional Passover foods with salt water, haroseth, matzos, and grape juice. I’ll read to them from The Book of Belonging about Jesus and the institution of communion. We’ll talk about the table prayers the children use in their homes. I’ll tell the story of table grace at our house and teach them our table prayer.

I’ve gathered the necessary resources, and Susan will help me lead the children. We’ll go to church early to prepare the space. We’ll have to be well prepared because our time will be short, and we’ll have to be ready to participate in the communion procession together. Whenever I teach children, I ensure I have plenty of activities, so I’ll have more than we can do in our time.

Communion is a particularly engaging lesson because it is a sacrament that we repeat over and over throughout our lives. I remember communion in my home church as a child, communion in chapel in college, communion with classmates in seminary, communion in each of the congregations I have served. I have celebrated communion at church camp, in homes, and in hospital rooms. Each time we celebrate, my mind is flooded with memories; I can picture faces. In the institution of communion, Jesus asks his disciples to “Do this in remembrance.” Memory is an integral part of our sacramental meal.

Part of the way we establish memories for children is through repetition. The children will already know a lot about communion because we share it monthly. They will be able to talk about the bread and juice of communion from their memories. Just like our grandchildren who have learned the table grace through repetition, the church's children learn about communion by being invited to share each time we celebrate as a whole congregation.

One of the joyous surprises about being retired is how I often wake up excited about the coming day's events. When I was a college student and taught Sunday School in our church, I couldn’t understand that I would see teaching as a privilege a half century later. Part of what makes it so fun and exciting is that I’ve been doing it all my life. We learn through repetition, piling memory upon memory.

I won’t have time to tell the children all my communion stories. Instead, we’ll be content to add one more memory to their collection as we thank God we are together.