Steve Kneale has written here about hedging or fencing the Table. This is a term used in some circles to do with communion. It is particularly associated with Strict Baptists. They are known as such not because they have lots of rules but because they are strict about who is admitted to the Lords Supper, practising what is known as Closed Communion. This is also the approach taken by some Brethren.
Closed Communion essentially says that the Communion service is for those who are part of the Church, part of God’s family. They will be baptised to indicate they belong to Jesus and they will be church members to show that they are part of the local church. There is usually an extension of the invitation to those who are members of other churches and visiting.
In Brethren circles the term “in fellowship” tended to be used rather than “membership”. There was a practice among many of them of requiring a visitor to bring a letter of commendation from their home assembly. One apocryphal story of FF Bruce is that he had been turned away from an assembly because he hadn’t brought his letter. Seeing someone else on their way there he wrote a letter for them and they were allowed in. Whether or not this was true I don’t know.
With open communion the presumption is that the invitation to share communion is open to all who love the Lord with the we emphasis being on them to determine in their conscience whether or not to take communion.
I am not too sure about how helpful the terms “open” and “closed” are. The reality is that first, open communion is not a free for all. It is possible to practice open communion with the expectation that it is for those who are baptised and in good standing with their church and this church. So, I don’t buy Steve’s suggestion that there is an inconsistency when church discipline happens and a person. In sin is told not to take communion.
Rather, I think there is for many of us a default position to presume that believers should be taking communion. I used to explicitly say this to people with tender consciences. They should take the bread and wine unless an elder had explicitly said they shouldn’t. Though again I suspect closed Communion advocates would say the same because they are not saying that you need to wait to be told it is okay every week. You would need a Catholic style confessional for that.
This gets to the crux of the matter I think. The term closed Communion becomes a misnomer unless you have a method for policing it. Really in practice this means that those who truly practice it either have a separate communion service as with the Brethren breaking of bread that you need some form of permission to attend or you need to ensure that the bread and wine isn’t passed along a row but is handed out to each person by a church leader. In fact, it may surprise some to know this but the Anglicans practice a very strict form of closed Communion. In fact, they literally fence off the table with the communion rail whilst Catholics went further and erected “rood screens’.
Fencing or hedging the table isn’t really closing the communion off. It is helping people to know who should and shouldn’t be participating. In fact we need to be careful about the risk of misunderstanding here. We are not guarding the table as though it has some mystical need to be protected from contamination.
I think that fencing or hedging the table can be understood as short hand for putting a hedge round the church family, protecting them. So you want the family meal time to be safe for the family. This is why it is important to examine yourself and make sure you don’t have unresolved issues.
In that respect although I would probably be seen as practising open communion, I would have no problem with the kind of questions Steve suggests. In fact I’ve used them, often adding in
“Don’t use your negative answer as an excuse. The point is not to restrict you from coming to the table but to help you reach the point where you can. If you can get it sorted now, do so. If you are at odds with someone here go and talk to them and say sorry or forgive now. Then take communion. If you are not yet a believer we would love to see you put your trust in Jesus today. We would love to see you joining in communion as soon as possible.”
In that respect, I think the labels are of less importance and even the technicalities of practice. The important question is whether there is appropriate shepherding and care of the flock.
Faithroots 