Guidelines For A Contemporary Model Of The Lord’s Supper

The following is an example of the Lord's Supper as it might be conducted in a contemporary church such as a creative or a praise-and-worship assembly. It presupposes careful preparation on the part of the minister and people. A bulletin insert may provide the order of service, the responses, and Communion hymns. The service is a single whole and is to be celebrated without announcement and in the spirit of celebration and joy. General Guidelines Below are six guidelines for those who lead Table worship without the use of a book of prayer and/or a set form. 1. Examples of the eucharistic prayer should be received in the same spirit in which Hippolytus set forth the first known eucharistic prayer. He exhorted his readers to view the eucharistic canon as a model but not one to be slavishly followed. 2. Each pastor and local congregation of the nonliturgical traditions should study the content of the Table prayers and freely develop a form most suitable to their own local customs a…