We may illustrate the way to begin a meeting with playing basketball. All basketball players know that they need a good start. If they start wrongly, they will lose the game; it is very hard to adjust a wrong start. At the start of a meeting, someone may call Hymn #127 in Hymns, that starts, “Hark! ten thousand voices crying.” This hymn may be too high, so to adjust the meeting to a lower level, another brother may call Hymn #510, that begins, “I’ve found the One of peerless worth.” These two hymns are two different “balls.” One hymn is about the “air force,” and the other is about the “marines”; after being “in the air,” we immediately dive “under the sea.” This is disgusting.
Hymn #127, written by J. N. Darby, is the highest of all hymns. We cannot find another hymn with such a high standard. Therefore, unless a meeting immediately starts in the third heaven, we should not use this hymn. Only once in my life, in 1943, have I been in a meeting that began in such a high way. I can never forget it. When the meeting started, it was very high. All of a sudden we began to sing, “Hark! ten thousand voices crying.” Usually, however, we need to learn not to choose such a high hymn to start the meeting. If we start the meeting with such a high hymn, we will be frustrated; we will not know what to do next. This hymn is good for when the meeting has been going on and on. When the meeting comes to a climax, we can use this hymn; at that time it fits.
A brother may realize that a hymn is too high, so he may have the intention to adjust the meeting and have a new start. However, he may adjust the meeting from the “air” all the way down to the “sea.” If we intend to adjust a hymn with too high a standard, we should not come down too quickly. We need to keep the meeting going in a proper way. After singing a hymn, the best way is to continue by reading, praising, and praying with paraphrases of the verses in order to digest the hymn.
To have a proper meeting is a matter of teamwork. A certain brother may know how to adjust the meeting, but he should not do too much. If he does, he will be the clergy, and the others will become the laity.
As we have seen, in a meeting we all need to learn to coordinate with others, like a team playing ball. We need to realize that we are on a team; we are not playing by ourselves. We should learn to follow others. We should always consider how the meeting has gone on; then we can simply continue on the same line. This is not always easy; it requires exercise and practice. If others are praising the Lord, we need to follow. This will protect us from practicing wrongly.
Some prayers are truly good, but they are given at the wrong time. We should not think that to have a good prayer means we are right. We may have a good prayer but offer it in a wrong way. At certain stages of a meeting we have to follow others to pray in certain ways. Again, this is like playing ball. We may play ball very well, but it may not be the right time to play in a certain way. We all have to learn this. We have had much improvement in our Lord’s table meeting, but we still need to improve more. We still need to learn more and more.
In the Lord’s table meeting, in the section for the remembrance of the Lord, a brother may offer a prayer of praise to the Father. We all realize that this is not fitting and needs to be adjusted.
Another brother may offer a prayer, saying, “Grant us Your blessing and anointing for the time to come.” This prayer indicates that the time of worship is closed and it is now time for fellowship or other matters. After this prayer, however, three more persons may continue with worship. This indicates that the brother served “dessert” before the other “dishes” were finished; while dessert was being served, three more dishes came. On the one hand, it is good for the first brother to wait a little. On the other hand, however, the three brothers should not have hesitated; they should have served their dishes more quickly. If we do not serve our dish quickly before dessert comes, we had better forget our dish. If there is a hesitation, people will think that all the dishes have been served. We all must learn to do the right thing at the right time.
Hymn #495 in Hymns says, “Christ is God’s centrality / And His universality; / He is God’s delight and joy / Throughout all eternity.” This is a good hymn in itself, but the Lord’s table is a weekly remembrance of the Lord. Therefore, all the hymns and prayers offered must keep the thought of the enjoyment of the Lord. A hymn on Christ as God’s centrality and universality may be for our understanding and not for enjoyment, so it is better to use it for a message or testimony. If we read Hymn #495, we can see that there is no thought or sense of enjoyment, and without the sense of enjoyment we do not have the realization that we are remembering the Lord. According to the understanding, it is good, but according to the sense, it does not fit the atmosphere of the Lord’s table meeting. We have many good, spiritual hymns, but they do not fit the Lord’s table meeting because they do not give the sense of the remembrance of the Lord.
After a while we will graduate from our study of the meetings, but after that we must go on to “graduate school” and even get a “Ph.D.” We must continue to learn.