Tag Archives: table

The Table of the Lord: Fourth suggestion

My fourth suggestion: take a long, hard look at how we distribute the Lord’s Supper. As I said before, everything is set up around efficiency. It almost seems to say “How quickly can we be done with this obligatory rite?” I especially get frustrated with the pressure I feel to quickly down my sip of Welch’s to keep the flow. For a while I was keeping the plastic cup and throwing it away later, just so that I wouldn’t have to speed sip it.

[In Cuba, the church in Matanzas has started 14 congregations in the last two years. Their lead evangelist was asking what to do about the problem of trying to get enough communion trays. Since communion trays are neither in the Bible nor available in Cuba, I told him that I thought they should find another solution. A Cuban solution. I later thought about it and thought that I would encourage each person in these house churches to bring their own cup; I’ll be interested to see what their solution is.]

Personally, I’d like to see tables set up around the auditorium where people would go and get the bread and wine. Older members who could not easily get up and get their own would be served by others; that would bring a new meaning to “serving communion.”

Even if we stick to the trays, let’s consider encouraging people to take their time in eating the bread. And let’s pass the trays for the cups twice, once for people to take a cup, another to put back. Or go back to the old system of people leaving their cups in the backs of the pews.

Whatever we do, let’s keep the Lord’s Supper from resembling a competitive eating event. Slow it down!

The Table of the Lord: Third suggestion

My third suggestion: re-establish a table atmosphere. It’s the table of the Lord. It’s a common meal. It’s communion. Sharing. Time to be aware of the body of the Lord, His gathered body.

Some would say that’s impossible while sitting in pews, but I disagree. I think we have to change some of our ideas about what “decently and in order” means; actually, I know we need to change those ideas. Merely reading that phrase in context will tell you that.

At table, you look at your fellow table participants. You interact with them. Can you imagine someone at a family meal sitting with their head down and eyes closed the entire time? Would you think there was a healthy family relationship there?

We are at table. Together. Let’s look at one another. Smile. Be aware of the covenant bond that joins us. Be aware of the unifying moment we are sharing. The Corinthians missed the boat on this to such an extreme they had to be reprimanded. We speak of gathering around the table; let’s live it.

The Table of the Lord: Second suggestion

My second suggestion is take the Lord’s Supper off the clock. Let’s emphasize spirituality over efficiency, getting closer to God over beating the clock. It’s one of those suggestions that people say, “Nice thought, but it’s not practical in our culture.” Hmmm… how many things in our Christian life are we willing to say THAT about? No, don’t answer… I don’t want to know.

Here’s the extreme example. A friend of mine was at the back of an auditorium as they finished with communion. One deacon announced: “Seven minutes… our best time yet!”

That’s an extreme, but it’s not an uncommon attitude. Time spent on the Lord’s Supper is time away from preaching, or worse yet, time away from the first quarter of the NFL game. Lunch might be delayed. Our nap time could be cramped. We might not make softball or bowling or the soccer tournament.

We need to get over it. Can you serve God and the clock? Is it worth “growing” a church if we have to compromise spiritual activities to do it? Is worship about pleasing us or pleasing God?

In our attempts to streamline the Lord’s Supper, we’ve shown our true feelings toward it. It’s something we feel obligated to do, not because of a heartfelt desire, but because in some legalistic way we feel like we have to do it every Sunday. It’s not important enough to make time for, but we’ve got to do it. Punch the time card. Sign the roll book.

Enough! If we aren’t willing to make time for the Lord’s Supper, why bother taking it at all? As we look at ways to improve our participation at the Lord’s table, “that would take too much time” is not a valid objection. Will we start baptizing people by hosing them off in the parking lot, just to make it quicker and more efficient?

Take it off the clock. Give the Lord’s table the time it needs, however much time that may be.

The Table of the Lord: First suggestion

My first suggestion: Remember that the gospel is good news. As Jesus’ closest friends went around proclaiming His death and resurrection, their emphasis was not on the tragedy of His death, but on what that sacrifice achieved. They could speak of the death of their friend and call it good news. I think we should have a similar attitude at the table of the Lord. Remember that Jesus, when He spoke of the cup, spoke not only of His blood, but of the covenant. He used words from Exodus 24, a context that tells of a joyous meal eaten with God.

Reverence and sadness are not the same thing. Raucousness and joy are not the same thing. One word frequently used in the Bible is thanksgiving; surely that should be the focus of this time.

“He is not here. He has risen!”

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

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.