*Crunch* I felt it underneath my black Oxford shoes and heard it clear as day, looking around to see if anyone else noticed. I crushed a Cheerio under my shoe. It didn’t seem that anyone noticed, I didn’t want to interrupt the pinnacle moment when starving thirsting sinners come to be fed by Christ’s body and blood. That Cheerio brought a smile to my face. It was dropped by a child who had come up to the Lord’s Table with his parents. 

Now I know, there may be some who might not find it appropriate for children to come to the Lord’s Table and there are a variety of reasons that are valid. It is a holy place, after all, and one that should be approached in reverence. The last will and testament of Christ is nothing to take lightly, and we should instead take it seriously, deathly serious. Christ is truly present in flesh and blood. He is there, not just in spirit but in some wonderful mystery Christ is present physically as well. Yet, there was something beautiful about that Cheerio at the Lord’s Table. It was something so ordinary in the midst of the extraordinary (I know, so is the Lord’s Supper, normal bread and wine, body and blood: just go with me here.)

That Cheerio was a reminder. A reminder that contrary to some opinions, the Lord’s Table is where the Lord’s children gather. It was a reminder that while not all are welcome to partake in Christ’s Body and Blood, all are welcome to draw near to Christ. The table is for children and adults alike. After all, we are all God’s children regardless of age. That Cheerio was a reminder that Christ is for all people, the children in particular according to Jesus. Christ comes for the gifted and the clumsy. Christ comes for the wise and for the morons. Christ comes for the simple-minded child and the brilliant adult. Christ comes for the extraordinary and for the ordinary. Yet regardless in the eyes of God, we are all the same. Beloved children who can’t help themselves. 

That Cheerio reminded me that sometimes it is good to remember that we are all children. Unable to provide for ourselves, unable to breathe by ourselves, and unable to save ourselves. All of it, everything comes from God. All of it, everything, is given to us. The father provides for His children, not only the precious body and blood of Christ but the cheerios too. That food may not be spiritual food, nor does it offer the forgiveness of sins, but it calls to the simple things in life that God provides us with. God gives us all things. As Luther writes in the Small Catechism, “He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” (SC, First Article) There at the Lord’s Supper, there was an intersection of worlds, the ordinary and the extraordinary. Both are given by God, and both are gifts from God. I don’t normally expect to see a Cheerio at the Lord’s Table. I don’t expect much of what God gives me. And often, I don’t often acknowledge it is Him who gives it, particularly the ordinary things. Yet God gives all of those too.