Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Communion table and Lord's table are terms used by many Protestant churches—particularly from Reformed, Baptist and low church Anglican and Methodist bodies—for the table used for preparation of Holy Communion (a sacrament also called the Eucharist). These churches typically prefer not to use the term "altar" because they do not see Communion as sacrificial in any way. However, in colloquial speech, the word "altar" is often used interchangeably with "communion table".[1]
The use of a simple table, generally built of wood, instead of an altar made of stone reflects these churches' rejection of the suggestion of sacrifice in the rite: they believe that the Passion of Jesus Christ was a perfect sacrifice for sins made once for all (Hebrews 9:25-10:4).
Many Protestant churches that choose not to use the term "altar" may still have an "altar call", in which visitors who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ are invited to come forward to the front of the church.[2][3][4]
Having or not having a Communion table was a subject of dispute within Scottish Presbyterianism in the 17th century, with the Independents opposing its use.[5]
While some Methodists use the term "altar",[6] the United Methodist Church states, "[s]trictly speaking, United Methodists do not have an altar", because Methodists do not celebrate mass. It advises that the traditional terms are "Lord's table" and "Communion table" for the table upon which the bread and wine are placed during Holy Communion.[7]
The table may be very simple, adorned perhaps with only a linen cloth, or with an open Bible or some receptacle to collect an offering. In modern use many Protestants adorn their tables with candles, though the use of candles was historically rejected among some Protestants. Some Communion tables bear the inscription Do This in Remembrance of Me from the Last Supper (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24) or the words Holy, Holy, Holy.
Such a table may be temporary, being moved into place when there is a Communion Service, but generally holds a permanent (or semi-permanent) position of some prominence in the worship space. Instead of a high altar, the sanctuary may be dominated only by a large, centralized pulpit.[8]
Some bring in a Communion table only when needed.[9] For example, St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral in Sydney does not have a prominent Communion table.[10][11] The strongly Evangelical church leadership decided that the table should be placed in a more forward position in the chancel and that it should be easily portable so that it might be removed when not required for Holy Communion, to clear a space for presentations and musical performances.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Communion table and Lord's table are terms used by many Protestant churches—particularly from Reformed, Baptist and low church Anglican and Methodist bodies—for the table used for preparation of Holy Communion (a sacrament also called the Eucharist). These churches typically prefer not to use the term "altar" because they do not see Communion as sacrificial in any way. However, in colloquial speech, the word "altar" is often used interchangeably with "communion table".
The Eucharist ( YOO-kər-ist; from Koine Greek: εὐχαριστία, romanized: eucharistía, lit. 'thanksgiving'), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion, giving his disciples bread and wine. Passages in the New Testament state that he commanded them to "do this in memory of me" while referring to the bread as "my body" and the cup of wine as "the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many". According to the synoptic Gospels, this was at a Passover meal. The elements of the Eucharist, sacramental bread—either leavened or unleavened—and sacramental wine (among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox) or non-alcoholic grape juice (among Methodists, Baptists and Plymouth Brethren), or water among the Latter-day Saints are consecrated on an altar or a communion table and consumed thereafter. The consecrated elements are the end product of the Eucharistic Prayer. Christians generally recognize a special presence of Christ in this rite, though they differ about exactly how, where, and when Christ is present. The Catholic Church states that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ under the species of bread and wine. It maintains that by the consecration, the substances of the bread and wine actually become the substances of the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation) while the form and appearances of the bread and wine remain unaltered (e.g. colour, taste, feel, and smell). The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches agree that an objective change occurs of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Lutherans believe the true body and blood of Christ are really present "in, with, and under" the forms of the bread and wine, known as the sacramental union. Reformed Christians believe in a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Anglican eucharistic theologies universally affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, though Evangelical Anglicans believe that this is a spiritual presence, while Anglo-Catholics hold to a corporeal presence. Others, such as the Plymouth Brethren, hold the Lord's Supper to be a memorial in which believers are "one with Him". As a result of these different understandings, "the Eucharist has been a central issue in the discussions and deliberations of the ecumenical movement."
A pulpit is an elevated stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum (platform or staging). A traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessible by steps, with sides about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a canopy known as the sounding board, tester or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker, normally in wood. Although sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, but can have a useful acoustic effect in projecting the preacher's voice to the congregation below, especially before the invention of modern audio equipment. Most pulpits have one or more book-stands on which the preacher can rest his bible, notes or texts. The pulpit is generally reserved for clergy. This is mandated in the regulations of the Catholic Church and several others (although not always strictly observed). Even in Welsh Nonconformism, this was considered appropriate, and in some chapels a second pulpit was erected opposite the main one for lay exhortations, testimonies and other speeches. Many churches have a second, smaller stand called the lectern located in the Epistle side, which can be used by lay persons, and is often used for other Scripture lessons and regular announcements. The traditional Catholic location of the pulpit to the left side of the chancel or nave has been generally retained by Lutherans and many Anglicans, while in Presbyterian and Baptist churches the pulpit is located in the centre behind the communion table. Many modern Roman Catholic churches have an ambo that functions as both a pulpit and lectern. Equivalent platforms for speakers are the bema (bima, bimah) of ancient Greece and Jewish synagogues, and the minbar of Islamic mosques. From the pulpit is often used synecdochically for something which is said with official church authority.
The North Christian Church is a building and former congregation at 850 Tipton Lane in Columbus, Indiana, United States. Designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1964, the 192-foot-tall (59 m) structure originally housed a Protestant Disciples of Christ congregation of the same name. The interior designer Alexander Girard, the landscape architect Dan Kiley, and Saarinen's associate Kevin Roche assisted with various parts of the design. The building has been owned by the Bartholomew County Public Library since 2024. The design has received praise over the years, particularly for its spire and iconography, and was frequently compared to the First Christian Church, designed by Saarinen's father Eliel Saarinen. In addition, the building is designated as a National Historic Landmark. The church building is set on 13-acre (5.3 ha) grounds designed by Kiley. The grounds include a berm surrounding the building, with entrances accessed by driveways to the west and east, as well as various trees arranged across the site. The building has a hexagonal floor plan. Above a glass curtain wall, ribs divide a slate roof into six sections supporting the central metal spire. The base of the spire includes an oculus that admits light inside. The interior, designed by Girard, is split across two main levels, accessed by a narthex on an intermediate level. The lower level contains classrooms, an auditorium, a kitchen, and a chapel. The bowl-shaped sanctuary, on the upper story, consists of a central communion table, surrounded by pews on five sides and a pulpit, organ, and choir loft on the sixth. The North Christian Church congregation was founded in late 1955, and one of its early members, the industrialist J. Irwin Miller, helped the congregation acquire a plot of land in 1958. After interviewing various architects, the congregation's building committee hired Saarinen in 1959, and the plans were finalized shortly before his death two years later. A groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1962, and the building hosted its first service on March 8, 1964. Over the years, the congregation made numerous modifications to the building and expanded the grounds. By the early 21st century, the congregation faced dwindling membership and was unable to maintain the building. After the congregation was disbanded on July 16, 2022, the Bartholomew County Public Library took over the structure. The library system renamed the building The LEX: the Library of Experience, intending to renovate it into a library branch.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
