Food Fight At The Table

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies."
Amos 5:21

Having just finished reading "One Bread, One Body" by Al Maxey, I thought of the scripture above. The reason behind God despising everything done by His people, was not the perfection or lack of perfection they had in the performance of their acts of worship, but rather the fact of their hearts being far from Him and in my opinion the mockery they made of God by simply going through the motions.

In Al's book, there is a constant calling of God's children back to the family and the reminder that God looks at the hearts of His people. While I did find one use of the word must at the bottom of page 166, I do not believe Al ever intended to leave the reader with the idea he believes we really "must" ask the questions set forth. Instead, in many examples he reminds the reader of things being to his personal taste and not a condition of Christian fellowship. I openly admit that I am a biased reader of Al's and I told him in a message that this was so because what he writes MAKES SENSE!

He starts his book with a poem "Help Them Be One" which I intend to read before communion sometime in the near future. He then goes on to discuss the many abuses and traditions that have crept into something meant to simply have us remember the gift of our Savior on the cross. One of the comments made more than once in his book is the fact that we have often been the children having a food fight at the Lord's table. I would add that he does not limit all of his comments to the Lord's table but we can easily be led to believe that we have not only been having a food fight at the table but have been a pretty bad group of children as we look for ways to fight with our brothers and sisters in God's "house." One expression I learned from Al in some of his writings has been that those with the same Father are brothers and sisters not twins!

The first chapter of this book is worth the purchase if you read no further but I'm sure some of the things will catch your eye and cause you to finish the book. In the Table of Contents he calls the chapter "Brief History of the Lord's Supper" and even though I'm not a theologian, I think it may be the best "Reader's Digest" version of the the history you can pick up anywhere. He covers the many views of what the emblems were actually thought to be and the powers they were believed to possess in the chapter and yet with a simple mind, the item that caught my attention most was the idea that some thought we might cause an infestation in heaven if we allowed crumbs from the bread to be dropped and possibly eaten by mice!

In contrast to the last book I read on the Lord's Supper, I believe Al came up with seven purposes he perceived for the Lord's Supper instead of just one (off the top of my head). In my thinking, the basic premise was that the concept of who Christ was and what he had done for us is more important than the emblems on the table. Having seen in the brief history that we have been having this argument for over 2000 years now, I expect his book will not solve the fighting at the table. I do believe he realizes this but I pray, as does he, that we will at least get a few more children to the table together celebrating God's gift to mankind without the fight.

One of my favorite sections dealt with the timing arguments concerning the celebration of Passover by Jesus and His disciples prior to the actual Passover. I don't know how many times I have read over this section in the life of Christ but I did not realize his presentation and eventual death took place on the day of preparation which means he celebrated Passover on the WRONG DAY. Since I don't believe Jesus sinned, the day must not have been as important as what was done with His disciples. He also discusses the four cups on the table and the controversy this should bring to those who must defend the idea of silence in the bible actually forbidding a practice. It may be in another chapter but the discussion of the question concerning the use of Jewish or Roman time when Paul stayed over at Troas was exceptional. I have thought and mentioned for a few years now how Paul obviously shared communion with the Christians on Monday morning before leaving and with his explanation, I am even more convinced of this being fact.

In one of the chapters, Al devotes time to a request he got from a reader (there are a few of these in the book) concerning the desire of her daughter to have communion at her wedding instead of the unity candle. His response was superb and if I was not already married, I believe I would have communion offered not only to my bride and I, but also the rest of those with me. My only change would be to do so during the meal following the wedding. The way he wrote in the book would be the words used prior to the offering of communion because I don't think it could be said any better.

The book is almost over by the time he introduces the history behind the communion token and yet being near the end of the book was great because the choice was made by Campbell not to use his token because the clergy was deciding who was worthy (my brief interpretation so read the book). A constant theme throughout the book was the idea that he, you and I may have preferences for what we like but we are not charged with the ability to decide who is and is not our brother. Our freedom is a wonderful thing and freedom is not bound by traditions.

The prayer of Jesus for our unity is mentioned several times and while he didn't say it in so many words, I am amazed that we use even one ounce of our strength and time to condemn someone who says they love God. We a tremendous number of people who fully stand against God and yet we (those in many fellowships but mainly mine of the past) want to condemn others claiming to love God to hell while we ignore and stay clear of the evil spread by those claiming no association with God at all.

While it may be a strange concept, I believe we adopt the Father and once adopted, He fully adopts us! To the best of my ability, I am going to accept those who have adopted the Father as my sibling and make every attempt to share His love rather than condemn their individual actions.

In closing, let me encourage you to purchase a copy of this book One Bread, One Body and support Al in his writing. If you are not a follower of his weekly Reflections, I would also encourage to to contact him and get on the email list. Once he has you in his list, the effort to send you a copy takes no more time than it does to send to several thousand others. You are the one missing out if you choose not to read.

You can find his previous Reflections at http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Reflect2.htm

and here is the information once again for his book. I already know you will enjoy both!

One Bread, One Body
An Examination of Eucharistic
Expectation, Evolution and Extremism
A 230 page book by Al Maxey

Order both books from Publish America at:
www.publishamerica.com or (301) 695-1707