Expanding the Communion Table

by Billy Strother

In our dining area sits a perfectly round oak dining table.  As empty-nesters, it is mostly just me and my lovely wife, Ms. Carol, at that table. 

There is nothing fancy about our round oak dining table.  We bought it years ago in an estate sale.  We got eight chairs and the table for a song.  It has been my favorite place since.  The unspectacular regular-sized round oak table has some scars from dining wars, sweaty glasses, and from multiple occasions of being transformed into a project table.  It has four oak claws at the base, but most of one of the claws disappeared over the course one summer to the delight of a German short-haired pointer puppy.  The dog is long gone to dog heaven.  (I saw a cartoon movie once that claimed “All Dogs Go to Heaven.”  I am not sure of the theological veracity, but it would be nice to see my first dog “Duke” there.  When I was eight, my parents took Duke “to the farm,” whatever that meant.)   

We have eaten at the table.  We have laughed at the table.  We have worked with laptops on the table.  We have cried at the table.  It is just a table, but several times a year it undergoes a marvelous transformation, mostly at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.   

The old oak table can be pulled apart, divided exactly in two parts.  Then, we can extend the old oak table into a much longer oval shape.  It has not one leaf, but two leaves (which are as heavy as tree plank). 

So much more wonderful happens when we expand the table:  more food, more persons, more joy, more laughter, more healing … more prayers. 

What would happen if we leaders and elders expanded the Lord’s communion table?  By that I mean, what if it no longer was “elders only” leading communion devotions?  What if we, as elders, expanded the circle of who might give a communion devotion? 

We could use the expansion of communion devotions to coach and train up-and-coming leaders in our church.  Maybe small group leaders or Sunday school teachers might have something fresh and meaningful to say. Perhaps there is a ministry team leader who might have a helpful devotion on their heart.  When communion devotions are limited to current or former elders only, at times, not all the time, but sometimes, the communion bread might be fresh, but our communion devotions might get stale. 

As a leader, look around your congregation.  Are there a few people who are not nor have ever been elders ready to share a communion devotion?  Perhaps your congregation has already made that ecclesiological leap.  Great.  May I encourage you to look around again?  Perhaps there is someone who is new to the congregation or who has spiritually grown to add to the communion devotion list. 

As leaders, we need to coach them a bit.  No “from frying pan into the fryer” philosophy will serve our King.  We need to coach every willing, yet inexperienced heart. 

Allow me to share a few communion devotion coaching guidelines, guidelines for best practices.  Our goal is to lead the hearts of persons to remember Jesus and his willing sacrifice on the cross. 

Guideline 1:  Keep the whole devotion to less than three minutes. 

Refrain from preaching a second sermon.  (I once heard a communion devotion so long it felt like the devotion giver started in Genesis, quoted a Scripture from each of the next 65 Bible books, and ended with a PowerPoint of one of the maps in the back of the Bible!) 

Guideline 2:  If you are including Scripture, pick one biblical text, most probably centered on Jesus.   

More than one Bible text per communion devotion will distract rather than serve meaningful focus. 

Guideline 3:  If you choose to tell a personal story or retell a biblical story, choose only one story. 

For communion devotions, choose only one story or illustration, and even then, keep it brief. 

Guideline 4:  Land the end of your devotion at the foot of the cross. 

When I hear a communion devotion that does not stick the ending at the cross of Jesus, I just scratch my head and wonder, “What was the point of the devotion?”  Without the cross, a communion devotion becomes, at best, a confusing distraction. 

Guideline 5:  Do not forget to pray over the symbolic emblems! 

Have I ever done that?  Guilty!  There should be no mic drops at the Lord’s table.  It is the prayers at the table which most prepare congregants’ hearts for partaking of communion in a meaningful way. 

Consider expanding your communion table.   

Leaders, open spiritual eyes beyond the list of those now leading the devotions and look around your congregation.  With a little coaching, and expanding the communion table, we may become privy to some unexpected, extraordinary communion devotion moments from persons who were never-before included in the weekly spiritual adventure with Christ.