meditatio at the water's edge

We had a really good experience with our water's edge group tonight. We had some sharing about our lives, some really good worship, a great teaching piece by Joel, some meaningful prayer, and communion led by David Van Huisen. It was really good...

...but the best moment came when we are passing the bread and juice around and my three year old (almost) gets in my face. She says, "Daddy, I want some bread." ... and she kept saying it. So, finally I try to tell her a little bit of what it means, and she still wants some. So, unsure about the "religious" protocal of a three year old taking part in the Lord's Supper, we go to the table. She takes a very little (very little) piece of bread and dips it in the juice. She proceeds to place it on her tongue, quickly realizes it is a strange feeling, gives it back to me, and again takes it from me and eats it when we get back to our place on the floor. As she ate the little morsal, she was overcome with self-consciousness. Why? I have no idea. But I do know that she was not denied the bread that she wanted. Perhaps we need to consider? How often do we deny the bread of life to people because the are not "just right" for a million reasons... including being too young, too sinful, too dirty, too...

... did I mention the beautiful sunset I experienced driving home tonight? I ate at the table, and I am full!