Not long ago I met with a student pastor whom I was supervising. He was serving a church in a nearby town. In our conversation we got to talking about who ought to be allowed to come up to the rail for Communion. It seems he had gotten into a disagreement with another pastor in that same town.

The other pastor said that no children should be allowed to receive Communion. The pastor I supervised thought it was OK.

I, being an astute supervisor, and knowing my supervisee was coming up for ordination interviews soon, didn’t give him the answer. Instead, I asked what such a decision might be based on.

His first answer was tradition -- that is, the Methodist churches which this pastor had attended had always served children. But that didn’t mean all Methodist churches did.

His next answer was …