Tag Archives: hindrances

The Table of the Lord: When furniture gets in the way

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I honestly believe that the furniture that we use in most church buildings hinders our practice of the Lord’s Supper. This ties into the last post, since most of our furniture was inherited from other religious groups. Let me explain some of the hindrances I see:

The communion table. The standard communion table isn’t a table. It’s a modified altar. If I set down a big piece of furniture with no legs, no way to sit around it, and then told you it was my new dining room table, what would you think? I know, some modern coffee tables don’t have legs, but still, in any other context we would not call that chunk of wood a table. So how does that get in the way of our taking communion? Well, one of the basic points that I’ve come to see is that the Lord’s Supper is about the table, not the altar. The sacrifice took place on the cross; the Lord’s Supper is about the table fellowship after the sacrifice. There’s a reason why Paul calls it the table of the Lord. Yet our “table” reinforces the idea of a reenactment of Jesus’ sacrifice. [Some churches don’t have tables like that, either having real tables or nothing at all. Consider yourself fortunate. Why spend thousands of dollars on something that hinders our worship?]

Pews. Where did these come from? Some of you that are smarter than I might can fill in the gaps of history for me. Pews hinder our worship in multiple ways, but none greater than when it comes time to “gather around the Lord’s table.” It is extremely difficult to create a table atmosphere when sitting in pews. It’s extremely difficult to create an air of fellowship when sitting in pews. It’s not impossible, but it’s harder than it should be.

Those are the two main problem areas that I see. Feel free to defend our traditional furniture or to point out other hindrances that you see.

The Table of the Lord: When tradition gets in the way

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In looking at our views and teachings on the Lord’s Supper, we need to recognize another outside influence. Besides our U.S. culture, we are also affected by religious culture. The American Restoration movement was not born in a vacuum. It came out of Protestantism which in turn came from Catholicism. Ideally, all of our views came from the Bible and the Bible alone, but that’s just not the case. The fish doesn’t know that he’s wet. It’s hard to see the impact that our environment has on us.

Our assemblies betray us. So much of what we do reflects centuries of church traditions. This in and of itself is not wrong, yet its dangerous to fail to recognize the influence those traditions have had on us. The format of our assemblies, the songs that we sing, the furniture we use, the standardized communion trays… all of these things show an outside influence. Have our views toward the Lord’s Supper remained unaffected? Personally, I think not.

That influence can come from acceptance of what others have done or can come as a reaction to what they’ve done. I think that the Catholic view of the Supper as a reenactment of Christ’s sacrifice has had a strong influence on our making a funeral atmosphere the standard ambience for taking the supper. The view of the Supper as a sacrament has led many to place an emphasis on the act of taking the Supper each week, to the point that many come, take the Supper and leave; we offer Sunday night “make up” communion for those that missed Sunday morning. As for reactions, we can see that the controversies over the elements (are they literally the body and blood of Christ?) have led us to emphasize the symbolic nature of the elements.

Again, I turn to you for help on this point. How do you see us as having been influenced by the beliefs and practices of others concerning the table of the Lord?

The Table of the Lord: When culture gets in the way

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There are some things that get in the way of our efforts to improve our form of taking the Lord’s Supper. One of the big things is our culture. It’s a given that we are going to be influenced by our culture; as Christians we are called to constantly resist that influence.

Here are some cultural things that I see getting in our way:

We’ve lost the concept of table fellowship. In biblical times, there was a real significance to sitting down at a table with someone. Think about how many times in modern society we sit down to eat in a room full of strangers. Restaurants are a fairly new invention and have certainly never been as prevalent as they are now. Some of us eat more meals in restaurants than we do in other settings.

Ancient societies placed great importance on the sharing of a meal. Eating at table with someone placed the two of you in a condition of mutual aid and protection, almost like being family. We see that reflected in Psalm 41:9 — “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” Great importance was placed on who you chose to eat with, which we can see in Jesus’ ministry (how many times was He criticized for eating with the wrong people) and in Peter’s mistake in Galatia (Galatians 2:12).

Even in our homes, we tend to eat our meals and move on, rather than lingering over the table as many cultures do. For many people around the world, the time after the meal is as important or more important than the time during the meal.

We are too time conscious. One anthropologist told of one tribe that called Americans “the people with gods on their wrists.” We make many decisions about what to do and what not to do in our services based on time considerations. Our way of taking the Lord’s Supper is designed more for efficiency than for reverence. Can you imagine if our family dinners had time limits? “Well, we were going to have dessert, but we seem to be short on time, so we’ll save that for next week.” “You know, we would put out butter for the rolls, but we just don’t have time for everyone to use it.”

We distrust spiritual things, preferring rationality. For a people who profess to speak where the Bible speaks, we certainly spend a lot of time calling the bread and the cup “symbols.” And we talk about Jesus being present in our assemblies, yet rarely speak of any real presence of the Lord with us at the table.

Those are a few things that come to mind for me. What other cultural barriers can you see?