Open Table

Hello people! My name is Mike and I went with the Iowa Youth to The 77^th General Convention. The issue that I covered was the open table debate. Throughout the whole time we spent at GC77 I became increasingly interested in the issue. The committee had an interesting conversation on the resolution and kept me on the edge of my seat. For any who don’t know, open table is the practice of inviting all people to the altar for communion even if they have not been baptized. Even though lots of the priests at our churches already do this, it is technically not allowed because of our cannons. C040, one of the two proposed resolutions regarding open table, would allow open table and change the cannons to allow this. This was the one that I felt the most passionate about. Being a youth in the church feels better when you know that people accept you for who you are, regardless of your baptism status. I think that is why I enjoy Happening and New Beginnings so much-everyone is welcome at the table. One of my favorite priests says a great intro to communion and there is one line that means a lot to me “Welcome all who have tried to follow God, and you who have failed.” This always seems to bring everyone together. But back to the debate. At first it seemed that it would be amended quite a bit and might not even resemble the original thing. In the end they amended the other resolution C029 to include the general outline of C040. Then they did not send C040 to the House of Deputies. C029 stated that the church would prefer baptism but acknowledged that in different local contexts people are exercising pastoral sensitivity with those who aren’t baptized. And now I have been informed that C029 has passed the HoD. While I feel like they could have gone farther with the resolution, I am glad that we are taking steps in the right direction. Hopefully I will get to see what happens with this issue at GC78.

 - Mike, Trinity, Iowa City