Easter eggs on the communion table.

The children’s ministry director was handing out rewards and surprises, using the communion table—with the Bible open on it—as, well, a table. Toys, trinkets, papers, notes, water bottle—whatever the leader needed—were piled on top of the large, decorative bible. Literally tossed onto the open pages of Psalms. And, adding perhaps the ultimate insult to the ultimate injury, next to the Bible, on the table of sacrament—a carton of brightly colored plastic Easter eggs. Colorful plastic eggs filled with candy for the children, amassed on the table whose single purpose is to signify the unquantifiable suffering of our Lord, His body broken for us, His blood shed for our sin. And when I spoke to the senior pastor about it, he defended the practice, saying, "We no longer set tables before God," an incomprehensibly stupid point of view, but this was a guy who routinely took the opposite view of any opinion I had, no matter how indefensible his position. And this is how ignorant we are.

How foolish we are.

A communion table is not magic, is not sacred. There's nothing uniquely special about the wood itself. But what that table represents is the very core of our belief system. and while I think Church Folk tend to go overboard, treating the communion table like a religious talisman (and thus offending God, Who explicitly condemns the worship of objects (or statues—note Catholicism), seeing these pagan symbols casually displayed upon it offended me terribly. Your eggs and your rabbits and your pagan practices demean and impugn the dignity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So does your gossiping, your backbiting, your pettiness, your meanness, your Church Folk foolishness. Roll your eyes and call me extreme if you want, your idolatry spits on the cross of Calvary and crucifies Christ over and over again.

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