Topics à  Worship

Todd Clippard

I suspect the practice of offering the Lord's Supper on Sunday night is fairly recent since Sunday evening services are a relatively new concept in American religion.  My parents and grandparents never worshiped anywhere that even conducted Sunday evening services until around 1960 when they "moved to town."  Increased affluence and mobility made Sunday evening services possible, so it seems obvious (at least to me) the practice is fairly recent.

Also, the increase in the number of people who work in service industries (medical/emergency/police/fire, restaurant/grocery) that now are open on Sunday has also created a situation where more and more members of the church are not able to attend the regular Sunday morning services.

I would assume all these situations created the need to meet on Sunday evening, and thus it only seemed logical to allow those who could not attend on Sunday morning to observe the Lord's Supper on Sunday evening when they were able to worship.

The authority to offer the Lord's Supper is seen in the example of the church observing the Lord's Supper each week.  If a Christian were unable to attend the Sunday morning assembly, why would anyone wish to deny them the opportunity to commemorate the Lord's death as he instructed?

Some point to 1 Corinthians 11:33 to forbid a second (evening) observance of the Lord's Supper.  The text reads: "Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another."  However, the CONTEXT is that some Christians had perverted the Lord's Supper, turning it into a common meal wherein those who were affluent were eating without those who were less affluent (vv 20-22).  They were not being considerate of one another, and in fact were attempting to shame those who were poor.

In offering an opportunity on Sunday evening for the Lord's Supper, brethren are actually doing the opposite of the Corinthians.  They are showing their love for their brethren and for the Lord by enabling and encouraging every member to complete his weekly worship obligations.

An Old Testament example of this principle is found in Numbers 9:6-14.  Some men came to Moses, upset that they were unable to observe the passover because they were unclean by reason of a dead body.  They earnestly desired to keep the feast, and came to Moses for his judgment on the matter.  After consulting with the Lord, Moses commanded "If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's Passover."  Provisions were made for those unable to observe the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month.  God wanted his children to keep his feasts, and made a way for those unintentionally hindered to do that very thing.

I believe God wants his children to keep the Divine feast we know as the Lord's Supper, and it is interesting (at least to me) that the passover is a shadow of the Lord's Supper, wherein the blood is remembered and deliverance is commemorated.  "For whatsoever things were written for our learning . . ." (Rom 15:4).