Their first communion, East Asia style

I support traditional faith practices. I see the wisdom in belonging to a denomination (accountability, leadership, reference, to name a few). But when you live in an international community of believers on the other side of the world, things get interesting.

We don't have a pastor over here, for one thing. Actually let me rephrase that, we have hundreds of pastors, but none of them wears a tie or gives the weekly benediction. So when our kids get saved, we baptize them ourselves in our bathtub. And when they ask, as Gene and Zion did last Sunday, "Can we take communion today, Mom?" we take them into a corner of the "sanctuary" (which is an old restaurant in which Americans, Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Asians gather to worship) and Daniel explains what communion means with respect to the strong faith they already have. They are as ready as they'll ever be.

So we let them dip the cubed baguette into the dish of grape Fanta. And we whip out our phone for a few pictures. And there you have it, first communion for Rupp Boy #1 and Rupp Boy #2.

Sure it's unconventional. So is peeing over a trough with no bathroom doors, but we do that all the time. Our whole lives are unconventional.

The point is JE#US.

And we're pretty sure our kids are getting the point.