Matt W Cook

It was the best of songs. It was the worst of songs.

Have you ever heard a really bad song? Or a really bad ‘Christian’ song? I think I saw one this morning…but I probably shouldn’t diss it. It’s pretty famous. You’re not supposed to diss famous things.
But I guess I will anyway.

Meeting in the Saviour’s Name,
‘Breaking bread’ by His command,
To the world we thus proclaim
on what ground we hope to stand.

It’s a favorite of the Brethren. Maybe because it mentions Breaking Bread. But I don’t like it. I’ll tell you why.

This song implies that the main way in which we proclaim on which ground we hope to stand – the main method we use to show people how much we hope and delight in Jesus, is by meeting on Sunday morning and breading bread, singing songs and doing ‘church.’

I don’t think this is right. Do you think it’s right? I mean, I love the Lord’s Supper. I think it’s a great thing. A necessary thing for Christians. Some of the greatest moments of encouragement, spiritual clarity and devotion have happened to me during the Breaking of Bread. But it’s not the main way in which we proclaim how much we love and hope in Jesus. Because, the way we do things, the Breaking of Bread is little different from any other religious exercise.

Catholics do their mass. Muslims do their namaz. Evangelicals break bread. As far as the world can tell there is no real difference. If we want to show that we are hoping in something radically different from what the rest of the world is hoping in, then we need to do something radically different from what the world does.

And so I’m going to be starting a little blogging series on this. I don’t know how long it’ll go for. We’ll have to wait and see. I just want to answer the question: How can we thus proclaim on what ground we hope to stand?