© 1992 Francyl Streano Gawryn
© 1992 The Fellowship for readers of The Urantia Book
Ed. Note: This column is dedicated to reporting rituals and celebrations used by Urantia Book readers and their families. It is delightful to share with each other the many joys of life. Please con- sider writing about your special family rituals and celebrations for this column and send them (along with pictures!) to the Family Life Editor.
“In this work of passing on the cultural torch to the next generation, the home will ever be the basic institution.” (UB 81:6.23)
¶ Our Family Communion
When our twin daughters were three years old, we began a ritual which we called our Family Communion. We have attempted to keep it going on a regular basis, and though we’ve not kept at it weekly, we do still practice it. I’d like to tell you about what we do and why I enjoy it so much.
We begin by first setting up the bread, juice, candles, bell, matches, lesson material, etc., and the girls decorate the table. We then each take a turn at ringing a tone bell, then we each light a candle. We have a “lesson” (which I’ll get back to later). This is followed by a prayer. After the prayer, we share our bread and juice, sometimes silently, sometimes talking about Jesus. When this is finished, we ring the tone bell once more, blow out our candles, and then we sing and play music. (The girls usually dance!)
When we started, it seemed a little odd, since the girls mostly spent their time wondering how soon they could drink their juice and eat their bread, and after this, how soon we would sing and dance. However, as they’ve grown in the three years since that time, they’ve become more and more involved, sometimes offering prayers of their own, often times asking questions (some GREAT questions) and sometimes making suggestions for topics for future communion lessons.
Our lessons have come from a variety of sources. In addition to The Urantia Book itself, there is Bob Slagle’s wonderful book, Tales of Joshua, and many children’s versions of Jesus’ parables and appropriate Biblical stories. Often times we just choose a topic that is relevant to the season (Easter-rebirth) or an issue (forgiveness). Once we did one on “structure,” that the universe is made and patterned by God. I’m amazed the girls still remember this one a year later! One more word about the lesson, often times we would give the girls paper and crayons and encourage them to draw and color a picture of our lesson topic, encouraging them to think creatively.
What I like most about it is that our Communion has given us a definite time when we as a family sit down to discuss topics of a spiritual nature, and the girls feel free to ask questions or not, to agree or disagree, or sometimes just to listen (or not!).
As teachers, mom & dad don’t always come up with the most intriguing and engaging lesson plan, and some lessons go better than others, but the overall effect is that God is a frequent topic as well as a friend in our household and discussions and questions of a spiritual nature are common.
I wish that I could say that I think my children are more spiritual because of this experience, but I don’t think they are. They’re pretty typical (wonderful!) kids. But I do think that our family life has been spiritually enriched by it and because of it, we share a comfortable space and time together as a family recognizing our common spiritual bond with each other and with all of God’s children. And, I think that’s pretty special!