Communion At Riverside- We do this every week here at Riverside. Why? It’s just the way we do it. It’s our tradition. Some churches do it once a month, others once a quarter, some only once a year- we do it every week. It's not the only way to do church. It's not even necessarily the best way to do church. It's just the way we feel like God is asking us to do church here at Riverside so that's what we do.
Who can celebrate communion with us at Riverside? Anyone who considers themselves to be a follower of Jesus is welcome to join us. While a video plays on screen a plate of crackers and a tray of small cups of juice will get passed around. Just take a cracker and a cup and pass the plates on. You don’t need to wait for everyone else… just eat the cracker and drink the juice and hold on to the cup and throw it away on your way out. If you’re not sure what all of this is about, explaining the whole meaning behind communion/Lord’s Supper would take all day (I've been studying it for 35 years and just when I think I'm getting to the bottom of it I realize I'm only scratching the surface).
Suffice it to say that Jesus asked us to do this to remember Him- so that’s what we do. He didn't say how to remember Him (I've been to churches where communion was quiet and meditative almost like a funeral and I've been to some where people were remembering Him by shouting and blowing a rams horn and running around with flags shouting His Name). We generally fall somewhere in the middle depending on the day, the crowd and the service you find yourself at (Saturdays are generally the quietist and the 11:30 AM service on Sunday is generally the most rambunctious) but it's ALWAYS our highest goal to honor Jesus during this time and honor those gathered with us celebrating His life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension to His throne. If you want to take this time to remember Jesus then we are delighted for you and your family to join us.
If you’d rather not, just take the trays as they’re passed your way and pass them on. Sometimes we have young men and women who help pass the trays, if they try to hand it back to you just shake your head and they’ll get the picture. More than anything we want you to feel at home here.
Kids & Communion- Sometimes we get the question, “what about my kids? When should/can they take communion?" At Riverside we don’t have a policy on this (you’ll come to learn we don’t have too many policies on anything around here other than encouraging everyone to do their best to honor Jesus with their lives)- we let each family decide for themselves. Some parents let their kids take communion. Others have their kids wait til they get baptized. It’s totally up to each family. The way we tend to look at it is, communion is a family event at Riverside. Our kids are part of the family. So if they take part in remembering Jesus, that’s just fine with us.