Jeffrey Myers is pastor of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church in St. Louis.

He is the author of many books, including A Table in the Mist, Ecclesiastes through new eyes, and wisdom for dissidents,

the Epistle of James, through New Eyes. He has a new book, a little volume, entitled, Why Children

Are Welcome to the Lord's Supper, our topic today. Welcome, Pastor Myers.

Thank you. Great to be here. All right. So first,

what is the question here on the table? Why would some say that children are not welcome to the

Lord's Supper? Yes, that's a great question. In our tradition, Presbyterian tradition, reform tradition,

it's been a requirement for children to have to jump through certain hoops before they can come to the table.

So, for example, memorize catechism questions in some circles have a credible conversion experience, be able to articulate maybe what's going on

in the supper, theology, at least in some basic sense. So that has been the standard position in a lot of

Protestant churches, especially reform churches. And what I'm doing is challenging that.

Right. Now, this is more than a small technical matter of doctrine. Bigger issues are implicated, such as.

Absolutely right. Yes. Are baptized children members of the body of Christ?

Should they be treated as members of the body of Christ? And can we understand that being members of the body of Christ means they have certain privileges, a certain

grace that can be had in the liturgy, so that when kids have to wait until they perform something,

until they jump through some hoops, do they achieve the supper? That is harmful for them, we believe.

They ought to come to church recognizing that the Lord has graciously incorporated them into the body of Christ,

so united to Christ from earliest moments so that when they're sitting there in a pew

or however you distribute the

communion, they're not passed by. They're not overlooked. They're not on the outside. They're on the

inside. And the body of Christ includes not just adults who can rationalize what may or may not be

happening in a supper. Of course, who can really do that anyway. It's miraculous and mysterious, but it includes all members of the church, of the body of Christ.

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