You hit about a dozen nails squarely on the head here.
Reading through it, I can't help wonder if those still in the institutional church give much, if any, thought to the points you make. How many understand one-anothering? Do they recognize the emptiness of being passive attendees at the main event (love that term)? Does it dawn on them that communion in the brick church bears no resemblance to the Last Supper? I could go on and on, but you covered the base nicely.
Your closing question points to the heart of the matter. Do we even understand what we're passing up?
It's interesting that the use of small cups came from a (mistaken) view that common cups would spread disease. We've made the Lord's table something manageable in a way that sitting at table with real loaves and decanters of wine (all right, grape juice if people worry about alcohol) couldn't be. And our churches "celebrate" the Lord's table more like a funeral than a feast.
I was born again 18 years ago sometime this year it was the 49th year of my physical birth. My spiritual birth I cannot pinpoint the exact hour and day only the year 2007 possibly the season but
even then I’m not sure But what I am sure and confident that I did received the promised HOLY SPIRIT!!!CHRIST now lives not I!!!
Prior to this time I had professed to be a Christian (yet I later learn that according to my vain imagination 20+ years) May 2007 I finally read GOD’S WORD for the very first time my intention to know GOD better BUT GOD’S intention to reveal to me as I read I had never known HIM at all!!!!
I don’t have to tell you brother there is no voice like our GOOD SHEPHERD’S…
This one change would change everything! Awesome article!! Church is not a production, show -- church is a family who has weekly reunions around a table!! Amen and Amen!!
This would be the living demonstration of the Body of Christ to the world: people from all backgrounds, social levels, races, men/women/children -- eating a common meal together with Christ at the center!! Hallelujah!!
That’s a beautiful picture — weekly reunions really does capture it well.
Though I can’t help but smile and think… if we’re family, why wait a whole week to see each other? 😄 Families don’t schedule their love that tightly.
Still, that image of people from everywhere, around the same table, with Christ at the center — that’s the kind of quiet, undeniable witness no stage or production could ever compete with.
Acts 2 — word often read right over — “they were TOGETHER — in their homes, they ate together daily” — the Table is not a once a week thing but a daily thing. One of the fundamental problems in our “churches” is that we are only together for 2 hours on Sunday — and those are not focused on relationships! True worship to Jesus is loving His family!
These kinds of thoughts have been stirring around in my mind for quite some time now. Though my wife and I have gone to smaller local churches, which we prefer, with none of the theatrics mentioned — the Lord's Table has pretty much been the same structure and sequence. We've just accepted it as "this is our way of how we carry it out today.
I could say the same for the routine of the whole the whole "Church service". Why is it done the way it is, with almost no variation no matter which church we go to? Convenience and complacency is what comes to mind.
Thank you, Bo, for this very thought provoking post
Once you step back and notice how uniform the service and the Table are across churches, it really does beg the question of why. When something looks that consistent without any scriptural mandate, convenience and habit start to explain more than theology.
Sometimes just pointing at the pattern is enough to unsettle what we’ve all been taught to take for granted.
The table you describe, with fellow believer’s, in one’s home, reminds me a bit of Shabbat, no? Not celebrating rest on the Sabbath, per se, but a mirror of that table that celebrates the Lamb of God.
This really cuts deep. Plenty of folks argue about the mechanics of the Eucharist (transubstantiation, consubstantiation, etc.), and neglect that those concerns us little if we ourselves are not truly present at the table.
Another excellent piece! Unfortunately, our churches are all about hierarchy, growth, and spectatorship. We need to return to the table. As I look at the state of the church today, returning to the table might be the only real way forward. You’ve given me a LOT to think about…
I am so comforted by the light of God's loving spirit in you, Bo. I am encouraged, in my present isolation, to believe God has something for me and the the rest of my fellow believers.
Thank you, John. I’m really grateful you took the time to respond so thoughtfully — and even more that it moved you to write. What you named about isolation and waiting resonates deeply. There’s something costly about seeing clearly and not yet knowing what comes next. I’m glad we’re not alone in that space.
Thank you for this simple, concise piece. A friend recommended this article to me. I have authored a book where I touch on this topic, too. I had largely dismissed the "meal" because it became another doctrinal must-do in many circles, where attendees believed they had come to "real church" because of the meal.
For a long time I have taken the "meal" to be a symbol of the spiritual reality of John 6:51: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." I feel like the obligation to have church around a meal has become another thing.
It is interesting that the German reformer Caspar von Schwenckfeld instituted what he called the "stillstand" (standstill) among the Schwenkfelders because of the misapprehension of the Lord's Table. My husband and I meet with a network, mostly by phone, but occasionally in person, and he has not felt led to have a Lord's Table in a very long time. Instead, we have a small house where occasionally people come and we have a meal as part of a simple, ordinary get together--a "come on over and see us and we'll have lunch."
So I wonder if this table Paul speaks of wasn't connected to ordinary living, and this is what people ordinarily have: bread and wine. The ordinary was sufficient for the symbolic reminder. Wonder if you have other thoughts on this?
What strikes me in Paul — and in the wider New Testament — is how ordinary it all seems. Bread and wine weren’t special props; they were just what people had. Meals weren’t events; they were how life happened. The table wasn’t staged to carry meaning — meaning emerged because people were already sharing life there.
That’s why I’m less interested in reinstating “the meal” as a practice and more interested in recovering the rhythms of ordinary life: eating, talking, listening, bearing one another’s burdens. When faith lives there, symbols don’t have to work so hard. They’re simply reminders woven into daily existence, not moments elevated above it.
Your “come over and we’ll have lunch” example feels far closer to the spirit of what I see in the text than anything formalized or announced. Ordinary life, shared honestly, seems to resist turning into performance — and that, to me, is the point.
This is the way that YAH speaks to people, but not all listen.
He spoke to me almost 25 years ago during band rehearsal for the upcoming sunday ‘service’. I clearly, audibly, heard the word Shabbat, but the rest of the band heard nothing and laughed it off. Slowly but surely YAH awoke in me the urge to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua (Jesus). He taught on Shabbat, something everyone at that stage was used to - an assembly already arranged by YAH Himself since mount Sinai.
After learning more, my wife and I said farewell to the church (matrix as you call it and I love that expression).
We started a small home assembly, learning from Torah (as per the weekly portions) and drawing the parallel from the front of Scripture to the back, comparing the words and acts of Yeshua with that of His Father, even the prophets.
The group has changed over the years, seeing some leaving, new faces coming on board, but always participating in mutual teaching and no monologues.
We are currently going through Revelation, and what everyone brings to the table (literally) is wonderful. That is where we meet - the table, where everyone has eye contact with one another.
Many years ago I did a series on our radio station entitled “Lies my church taught me”. In the will of YAH, I hope to bring it out in book form shortly.
Thanks for your sober way of putting the truth out there. Blessings in Yeshua!
I love the image of meeting at the table, with eye contact, with everyone bringing something real. That feels deeply human — and deeply biblical — regardless of the labels we attach to it. Life shared, Scripture opened together, no monologues required.
I wish you and your wife well as you continue, and I hope that book finds its way into the world in the right time. Thank you for engaging so thoughtfully and for the spirit in which you shared this.
Thank you, brother, for your kind words. This is one of the reasons that we all need to intercede for each other - irrespective of whether we’ve ever met before. YAH is the judge and He will bless those that truly worship and obey. Blessings to you and all as well.
You hit about a dozen nails squarely on the head here.
Reading through it, I can't help wonder if those still in the institutional church give much, if any, thought to the points you make. How many understand one-anothering? Do they recognize the emptiness of being passive attendees at the main event (love that term)? Does it dawn on them that communion in the brick church bears no resemblance to the Last Supper? I could go on and on, but you covered the base nicely.
Your closing question points to the heart of the matter. Do we even understand what we're passing up?
I think if they got a taste from the table they wouldn't go back to phony substitutes.
Wonderful article, Bo! I’ve experienced what you described before but sadly, people eventually drifted back to what was “safe” and comfortable 😣
I understand and have experienced that as well. My previous comment is definitely aspirational.
It's interesting that the use of small cups came from a (mistaken) view that common cups would spread disease. We've made the Lord's table something manageable in a way that sitting at table with real loaves and decanters of wine (all right, grape juice if people worry about alcohol) couldn't be. And our churches "celebrate" the Lord's table more like a funeral than a feast.
I was born again 18 years ago sometime this year it was the 49th year of my physical birth. My spiritual birth I cannot pinpoint the exact hour and day only the year 2007 possibly the season but
even then I’m not sure But what I am sure and confident that I did received the promised HOLY SPIRIT!!!CHRIST now lives not I!!!
Prior to this time I had professed to be a Christian (yet I later learn that according to my vain imagination 20+ years) May 2007 I finally read GOD’S WORD for the very first time my intention to know GOD better BUT GOD’S intention to reveal to me as I read I had never known HIM at all!!!!
I don’t have to tell you brother there is no voice like our GOOD SHEPHERD’S…
Thanking GOD for you🙏❤️😘
This one change would change everything! Awesome article!! Church is not a production, show -- church is a family who has weekly reunions around a table!! Amen and Amen!!
This would be the living demonstration of the Body of Christ to the world: people from all backgrounds, social levels, races, men/women/children -- eating a common meal together with Christ at the center!! Hallelujah!!
That’s a beautiful picture — weekly reunions really does capture it well.
Though I can’t help but smile and think… if we’re family, why wait a whole week to see each other? 😄 Families don’t schedule their love that tightly.
Still, that image of people from everywhere, around the same table, with Christ at the center — that’s the kind of quiet, undeniable witness no stage or production could ever compete with.
Amen indeed.
Acts 2 — word often read right over — “they were TOGETHER — in their homes, they ate together daily” — the Table is not a once a week thing but a daily thing. One of the fundamental problems in our “churches” is that we are only together for 2 hours on Sunday — and those are not focused on relationships! True worship to Jesus is loving His family!
These kinds of thoughts have been stirring around in my mind for quite some time now. Though my wife and I have gone to smaller local churches, which we prefer, with none of the theatrics mentioned — the Lord's Table has pretty much been the same structure and sequence. We've just accepted it as "this is our way of how we carry it out today.
I could say the same for the routine of the whole the whole "Church service". Why is it done the way it is, with almost no variation no matter which church we go to? Convenience and complacency is what comes to mind.
Thank you, Bo, for this very thought provoking post
We are stuck in Traditions -- which have become concrete walls! We have merely adapted the Roman Catholic forms for 1700 years now.
Here's some heavy truth to chew on: Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.
and "Come to the Table" by John Mark Hicks
and
https://www.tomwadsworth.com/
I would also add: Eric Svendsen, “The Table of the Lord”
Cork, that’s a sharp observation.
Once you step back and notice how uniform the service and the Table are across churches, it really does beg the question of why. When something looks that consistent without any scriptural mandate, convenience and habit start to explain more than theology.
Sometimes just pointing at the pattern is enough to unsettle what we’ve all been taught to take for granted.
The table you describe, with fellow believer’s, in one’s home, reminds me a bit of Shabbat, no? Not celebrating rest on the Sabbath, per se, but a mirror of that table that celebrates the Lamb of God.
This really cuts deep. Plenty of folks argue about the mechanics of the Eucharist (transubstantiation, consubstantiation, etc.), and neglect that those concerns us little if we ourselves are not truly present at the table.
amen
Another excellent piece! Unfortunately, our churches are all about hierarchy, growth, and spectatorship. We need to return to the table. As I look at the state of the church today, returning to the table might be the only real way forward. You’ve given me a LOT to think about…
thanks so much for journeying with me through this
Make it a vegan meal and I will be there.
Amen!
I weep inside hearing your outrage at this evil system we have been bound to. I weep inside for those I love still bound there. I posted something on this same topic in response to this post. (https://johnbrusseau.substack.com/p/a-response-to-bos-post-this-is-not)
I am so comforted by the light of God's loving spirit in you, Bo. I am encouraged, in my present isolation, to believe God has something for me and the the rest of my fellow believers.
Thank you, John. I’m really grateful you took the time to respond so thoughtfully — and even more that it moved you to write. What you named about isolation and waiting resonates deeply. There’s something costly about seeing clearly and not yet knowing what comes next. I’m glad we’re not alone in that space.
Waiting with you...
Thank you for this simple, concise piece. A friend recommended this article to me. I have authored a book where I touch on this topic, too. I had largely dismissed the "meal" because it became another doctrinal must-do in many circles, where attendees believed they had come to "real church" because of the meal.
For a long time I have taken the "meal" to be a symbol of the spiritual reality of John 6:51: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." I feel like the obligation to have church around a meal has become another thing.
It is interesting that the German reformer Caspar von Schwenckfeld instituted what he called the "stillstand" (standstill) among the Schwenkfelders because of the misapprehension of the Lord's Table. My husband and I meet with a network, mostly by phone, but occasionally in person, and he has not felt led to have a Lord's Table in a very long time. Instead, we have a small house where occasionally people come and we have a meal as part of a simple, ordinary get together--a "come on over and see us and we'll have lunch."
So I wonder if this table Paul speaks of wasn't connected to ordinary living, and this is what people ordinarily have: bread and wine. The ordinary was sufficient for the symbolic reminder. Wonder if you have other thoughts on this?
What strikes me in Paul — and in the wider New Testament — is how ordinary it all seems. Bread and wine weren’t special props; they were just what people had. Meals weren’t events; they were how life happened. The table wasn’t staged to carry meaning — meaning emerged because people were already sharing life there.
That’s why I’m less interested in reinstating “the meal” as a practice and more interested in recovering the rhythms of ordinary life: eating, talking, listening, bearing one another’s burdens. When faith lives there, symbols don’t have to work so hard. They’re simply reminders woven into daily existence, not moments elevated above it.
Your “come over and we’ll have lunch” example feels far closer to the spirit of what I see in the text than anything formalized or announced. Ordinary life, shared honestly, seems to resist turning into performance — and that, to me, is the point.
This is the way that YAH speaks to people, but not all listen.
He spoke to me almost 25 years ago during band rehearsal for the upcoming sunday ‘service’. I clearly, audibly, heard the word Shabbat, but the rest of the band heard nothing and laughed it off. Slowly but surely YAH awoke in me the urge to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua (Jesus). He taught on Shabbat, something everyone at that stage was used to - an assembly already arranged by YAH Himself since mount Sinai.
After learning more, my wife and I said farewell to the church (matrix as you call it and I love that expression).
We started a small home assembly, learning from Torah (as per the weekly portions) and drawing the parallel from the front of Scripture to the back, comparing the words and acts of Yeshua with that of His Father, even the prophets.
The group has changed over the years, seeing some leaving, new faces coming on board, but always participating in mutual teaching and no monologues.
We are currently going through Revelation, and what everyone brings to the table (literally) is wonderful. That is where we meet - the table, where everyone has eye contact with one another.
Many years ago I did a series on our radio station entitled “Lies my church taught me”. In the will of YAH, I hope to bring it out in book form shortly.
Thanks for your sober way of putting the truth out there. Blessings in Yeshua!
I love the image of meeting at the table, with eye contact, with everyone bringing something real. That feels deeply human — and deeply biblical — regardless of the labels we attach to it. Life shared, Scripture opened together, no monologues required.
I wish you and your wife well as you continue, and I hope that book finds its way into the world in the right time. Thank you for engaging so thoughtfully and for the spirit in which you shared this.
Peace and blessings to you.
Thank you, brother, for your kind words. This is one of the reasons that we all need to intercede for each other - irrespective of whether we’ve ever met before. YAH is the judge and He will bless those that truly worship and obey. Blessings to you and all as well.