Evendays

Yesterday morning Wife and I picked up Dr. Olbricht, one of our professors from ACU days, at the Geneva airport. He was in good shape after 3 flights and a night spent in London’s Heathrow Airport waiting room. He’s come to give a 10 hour seminar on Colossians in Marseille and then teach in Stuttgart, Germany. The Lausanne church was blessed by listening to him teach this morning. His text was from Luke 24 since we have been dealing with the Lord’s Supper these last few weeks. He just made two points as we sat around the table: That any correct hermeneutic of the Bible must make our hearts burn and that our communion together recognizes the body of Christ in his death and resurrection, but also in his Church. Let me add two things: 1. Several of the people had tears in their eyes during the sermon; 2. Dr. Olbricht’s voice would often break when talking of Jesus and when speaking of the Body of Christ (us!). I certainly hope that my heart will become more tender as the years go by, and that the word of Christ will burn in my heart even more as I grow older, much like Dr. Olbricht.

We placed the carpenter table in the middle of the sanctuary-church-worship hall-auditorium, two rows of chairs on either side of it… Several rows of chairs at the end of it. People (can) look at each other as they sing. They can see what’s going on in the other when there’s the prayer request. The singing’s better. The prayers are about the same, I guess. But the table… There’s been a marked improvement, even if it’s just for now, just because of the change. Visually now, Jesus is inviting us to his table to celebrate a meal that he’s prepared. And we all are sitting, perhaps too quietly, around his table amazed that we were invited to dine with him. There is no greater invitation than that which leads to life. There is no greater food than communion with Christ. There is no greater celebration of life than that which takes place around the table of Christ. Errr, except for the party we’ll have in the future when we will be like him… Thanks for stopping by.

Wife’s father enjoyed a good symbol. He helped me appreciate them more, even though I grew up in an assembly that has a huge rock mosaic called “the fountain of life” towering in the front of the sanctuary-church-worship hall-auditorium. Big symbol. And I think, within certain limits, being attentive and respectful to what is communicated through symbols is healthy for the church. Reformed Church pulpits were BIG and placed in the center of the churches. They visibly demonstrated their attachment to the Word of God. The altar is the center of Catholic cathedrals, making visible the need of an intercessor (or intercessors) between people and God. (But just give me Jesus). Then some churches have a stage as the focal point of the sanctuary, and some of us just might miss the “symbols”. Back to Wife’s father. Years before we came to Lausanne, he purchased the table below for the church.He said it was Jesus’ first table: a carpenter’s bench. He’d seen a picture of a church in Nazareth with one, so he bought it for the Lausanne church. Now he’s gone, but the table’s still there. And Jesus is still at work.