In one letter, he wrote that he has scarcely seen anyone 'worship' in the church in the sense that it means in the New Testament Greek or Hebrew. The Greek word, as well as the Hebrew word, according to his brother, refer to prostrating with the head to the ground. He believes that early believers would prostrate during their church services.

Some would say "but we are to worship God in Spirit and in truth." he points out that when we use the phrase "pray in the Spirit, that does not mean that we expect no outward expression.

The verse in Revelation 3 makes a lot more sense where Christ tells the believers that he would cause those who resisted them to come and 'worship' at their feet, If worship, proskeno (sp?), means to bow down, this makes perfect sense. Somewhere along the way, one of the words in one of the languages that influenced Bible translation probably shifted to refer to something internal the language. I don't know how we ended up with 'worship' as the translation for proskeno. (sp?)

_Toward a House Church Theology_ says that the NT never states that the purpose of the church meeting is to worship. This book casts the meaning of 'worship' and 'proskeno' (sp?) to refer to something internal, rather than an outward act of bowing down.

But if you think about it, saying that the purpose of the church meeting is not prostration, that would not be a controversial statement at all.

I think the Greek Orthodox still bow down at the presentation of the Eucharist.

About the issue of communion, my internet friend feels that if a group is to have partaken of the Lord's supper, they must have passed around the cup after the meal.

I don't know if I agree completely with that, but I know one of the gospel accounts I read was very clear that the cup was passed around after the meal. Paul mentions this point in I Corinthians 11 as well.

If, in Corinth, the rich were arriving early, eating,breaking bread, and passing around the cup at the end of their meal, before the poor arrived- or after the poor arrived but before they had eaten their meal, one could see how this could be a disrespect!
ful and divisive thing to do.

Some like to point out that in the New testament, believers partook of a single loaf, not fragmented crackers. Fragmented crackers don't portray the unity of the one loaf that we all partake of that Paul writes about in I Corinthians 11.

But what about 'the cup which we drink.' Didn't Jesus pass around one cup at the dinner, after everyone had eaten? Didn't He tell them 'drink ye all of it?" In "IC's" tiny plastic shotglasses are often passed around with the tiny white pieces of bread. !
Shouldn't we all be drinking of one cup?

i remember once when I was a child, when I was at a church with my parents, a single cup was passed around the large congregation. This was with a group of 100 or so people. Those who do not like to drink after others may not enjoy the idea of everyone drinking from the same cup, though from what I see in the gospels, it is what the disciples and Christ did in the upper room. Maybe if the wine were fermented, some would be a little less squeamish- if it weren't for the effects of the temperance movement on attitudes toward alcohol.

I attended a house church a little over a month ago when I had the chance when I was in the US. Communion was a meal set on the table. People divided into small groups, like my experience of a family reunion. One loaf was on the table. There was no pomp or circumstance about communion. Someone just pointed out to me that the loaf and bottle of wine were from communion, and everyone partook as they wished, just as they did with the spinach casserole.

Imo, the spiritual 'dinner party' approach is probably more like what Jesus did at the last supper. I think they were all gathered together around a table, and could speak to the people sitting next to them (the disciples speaking to one another about how would betray Him, and each leaning over and asking Christ 'is it I.) But at certain times one would address the group (actually it was Christ who did this.)

I went to a home meeting once to do a reenactment of the Passover sedan. The final part of it was communion, and we drank the last cup (individual poured, as communion. While it lacked one on one interaction, in a lot of ways I think this was a rather Bib!
lical communion. In fact, some say that the Rabbinic Jews, who stopped having Passover celebrations after the destruction of the temple adapted the ceremony back from teh Christian/Messianic Jews who were still a part of the community. Perhaps this is to explain the symbolism of Christ in the middle matza- of the three matza's (pieces of bread)- that is broken.

My own personal view of a Lord's supper is like this. All gather together, if into at one table then at tables gathered together. People are allowed to share one with another, and from time to time someone in the group shares something with the crowd- exhortation, prophecy, etc.- just as in the sharing part of the meeting. At a certain point, the loaf of bread is broken and distributed. After everyone has eaten, the cup is passed around, and everyone partakes of it.

Maybe some foot-washing could be thrown in at some time during the meeting - at least from time to time if not every time.

I didn't go into the fact that, according to my friend 'supper' in "the Lord's supper' does refer to the meal served around evening. (Maybe that is why some believe the meeting in Acts 20 took place at night.)

I wonder if Paul didn't teach before breaking bread with the disciples in order to allow time for all to arrive, an issue he addressed in Corinth? From a pragmatic point of view, having a time of sharing first- rather than only doing everything during the meal does allow time for late-comers.

I am wondering how others on the list practice communion when they gather with other believers. I know some minimize the importance of such things, especially in certain 'IC's,' but the Lord's supper was very important to the early church, and, while i do!
n't find a lot of details in the gospels about the 'how-to's' of a sharing in church, I do find details about the Lord's supper, and the continuation of it in the other New Testament writings.

Until some time ater the reformation, communion was the focus of church meetings, even if the love feast had been turned into eating a cracker from a priest's finger. even among the Lutherans, it remained a major focus, though in some parts of the American!
church, it isn't a focus at all.

What do you do in your house churches? What do y'all get from these passages of Scripture about the Lord's supper? How has God led you in regard to these things?