labor day weekend
Just returned from a weekend trip to Nashville to be with family. As some of you know, my grandfather suffered a minor stroke last week, so it was particularly opportune for us to go and be with him. He has recovered admirably: he had regained all of his speech and motor capabilities within 48 hours, but it shook all of us up nonetheless.
While we were at home, I got to go up to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and spend some time with Dan Greeson. We worshipped with him at a new congo there -- the church at Bowling Green. We were tremendously blessed by our time there on Sunday.
This congo has taken positive steps in breaking some of the bonds of traditionalism and toward revitalizing their worship in meaningful ways. This is particularly apparent with respect to Holy Communion. The Lord's Supper has been a topic that I've spent quite a bit of time on recently, reading everything that I can get my hands on -- both inside and outside of the Stone-Campbell tradition. I've read John Mark Hicks' Come To The Table and some others advocating Lord's Supper reform among churches of Christ and have been intellectually persuaded by what they had to say.
I had never experienced it, however. The church at Bowling Green is the only congo among NI churches of Christ to my knowledge which has thought through and implemented changes in the practice of Communion and last night I got to be a part of that.
It was an amazing occasion to sit around a table with brothers and sisters in Christ and share the body and blood of the Lord and discuss the meaning of the Supper as we were participating in it. Gone was the silent, funerary character of our typical practice of Communion -- in its place was good discussion and sharing about the Lord Jesus Christ and a true meal setting in which these discussions could take place.
More soon...
posted by Chris @ 7:58 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
It will probably only take time until this practice also becomes traditional and we will yearn for something else "non traditional" for the sake of being non-traditional.
It's important to note that Jesus and his disciples partook of the elements of the Lord's supper [i]after[/i] they had eaten the Passover. As long as we don't confuse a common meal with taking the Lord's supper.
Just curious. How do you do this with a congregation of 250? Any sites you can refer me to?
Joel,
You might check Hicks' book. Pages 161ff. discuss how a large congregation in Nashville broke into smaller groups of 4 to 8 families and participated in the Supper in individual homes and the logistics of doing so. As far as online resources, I don't know of any off the top of my head.
Best,
Chris
Thanks Chris. I appreciate it. :)
Joel
I'm not sure what to think about all that. If "doing" the Lord's Supper in that manner is closer to the apostolic practice then one must admit that the church is progressive (i.e. that our understading of apostolic practice gets clearer).
But, if the church is progressive, then it has always been progressive. If its always been progressive then the whole "great apostasy" concept is a dead letter and the "restoration" invalid.
Ken: I would say that the Church is progressive, that there was no alleged Great Apostasy (I posted on this a few months ago), and that the "Restoration" of the early church is an impossible, and undesirable ideal. The Church is inspired with the Holy Spirit, who moves and directs the Church to adapt to the culture in which it finds itself. Like every living thing, the Church must learn, change, grow-up, and progress. With this will come new ways of doing things, and new ways of understanding old things, such as the Lord's Supper.
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