Communion with the boys

Just a little background as I'm not sure what communion means to all my readers.... To us, at our non-denominational, Christian church, communion is a time for us to remember what Christ did for us on the cross - the way he offered his body and his blood for payment for our sin. We pass a tray of little unleavened crackers and cups of grape juice around and all who have committed their lives to Jesus are invited to participate if they are right with the Lord. We have a directive prayer time where a pastor reads some Scriptures and leads us to examine our heart, be right with God, and lift others up to Him.

This morning before church wasn't really all that different than any other day when we were trying to get out the door somewhere. Three boys were grounded from the T.V. and Wii for the rest of the weekend because they wouldn't get ready. Two boys were name-calling, fighting, and just being plain rude.

As usual, one our pastors read 1 Corinthians 11.  When it came time for communion in the service. I had a dilemma. Two of the three boys sitting with me  were my two boys that have made a public commitment to Christ and could take communion. They were also the same two boys who were fighting, name-calling, and being generally rude....and I was sitting smack dab in the middle of them.

....On the night the Lord Jesus was handed over to his enemies, he took bread. ²⁴ When he had given thanks, he broke it. He said, "This is my body. It is given for you. Every time you eat it, do it in memory of me." ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup. He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do it in memory of me."

 ²⁶ When you eat the bread and drink the cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again.

 ²⁷ So do not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that isn't worthy of him. If you do, you will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

 ²⁸ A person should take a careful look at himself before he eats the bread and drinks from the cup. ²⁹ Anyone who eats and drinks must recognize the body of the Lord. If he doesn't, God will judge him for it. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and sick. That is why a number of you have died.

 ³¹ We should judge ourselves. Then we would not be found guilty. ³² When the Lord judges us, he corrects us. Then we will not be judged along with the rest of the world.

So here was my parenting dilemma.... I am not the Holy Spirit, and I don't typically feel it is my place to tell people where they need to repent. But this wasn't my husband or a co-worker. These were my little disciples - my children, who I'm responsible to shepherd. Did they hear God's Word? Did they understand the weight of it? Did they understand how they needed to be right with each other?

I whispered in one boys' ear:  Were you listening? Jesus doesn't want you to take communion if you are fighting with your brother.

What do I need to do? he asked.

You need to ask his forgiveness and try to make it right. You can do it right now.

He looked at me and thought about it for a bit.

I turned to the other one and whispered the same thing in his ear.

"Well, then here!" and he shoved his cup and cracker at me to take, just as his brother crossed in front of me and apologized and asked for forgiveness.

I was a bit broken-hearted at the hard-heartedness of one boy and his resistance to God's grace - and yet so overjoyed that the other one got it and did the right thing.

....and so it goes on a daily basis. My kids don't always get it. They don't always do the right thing. But I must keep shepherding and rejoice with them in their growth when they make the right choices.

How about you? Had any good teachable moments lately?