Making Bread for the Lord's Table

To prepare for my bread making I put some spring water into my electric teapot and heat it up but hot tap water will also work.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and also preheat a sheet pan inside the oven.

Make one bread at a time and start by measuring out 1/4 cup of flour and 2 tablespoons of hot water.  This unbleached flour comes from Trader Joes and I think works better, is healthier & tastes better than the bleached kind.

Place the flour and water in a mixing bowl.

Stir flour and water together with fork.

Gather up dough into a ball which you then knead back and forth in your hands (the more the better) until it is nice and pliable.

Dust a cloth covered rolling pin and pastry cloth with unbleached all-purpose flour which you smooth around a bit covering all areas where the dough might touch.  Then set the dough ball in the center atop the cloth.

Note dusting of flour on the rolling pin and pastry cloth.

Roll into a thin circle of dough a little larger in diameter than a salad plate (about 8 inches or so).

Find a pot lid about the size of a salad plate (this one is 7 3/4 inches in diameter). Place it  on top of and within the perimeter of the dough circle and press firmly like you would with any cookie cutter.

Trim around the lid with a dull knife.

Use the same dull knife to trim away any remaining unwanted dough.

Place bread in preheated oven on preheated pan.

Bake bread turning when edges curl up or when the first side looks a light brown.  Keep a close eye on it as it burns easily near the end and remove the pan from the oven when both sides have achieved a lovely light golden color.

Remove bread from hot pan to cool.  Notice the nice golden color and the slight dome it achieved - both desirable features.

Allow the hot bread to cool on a wire rack.

A cloth lined basket with a lid helps keep your freshly baked bread/s safe during transport to the meeting. Other options I've tried that work well  include:  a gallon size plastic bag, an appropriately sized plastic storage container (like a tupperware pie holder), or a metal tin.

Books, purse & bread all ready to go.

Happy Birthday Rabbit!! Rabbit is 15 years old today.   After giving him a long walk & his favorite breakfast I say goodbye with a reassuring pat on the head.  I usually find him sound asleep when I get back home.

This is the side table where an extra bread is kept on a white plate just in case it is needed.  Extra wine, napkins, baskets and cups are also on hand here.

"Each time in the Lord's table meeting with the bread and the cup, we receive the life supply of the Lord and review the redemption through His blood.  On the cross the Lord's body was broken for us so that He could be distributed as bread to us.  This signifies His giving His body on the cross that we may obtain Him as our life.  Through the breaking of His body on the cross, he released the life of God from within Him to impart it into us. When we receive His broken body, we partake of His life.  Christ gave His body as the bread of life for our life supply and our enjoyment." from The Lord's table Meeting by Witness Lee 1990 Living Stream Ministry

"The significance of eating the bread and drinking the cup is actually the significance of the Christian life; the Christian life is a life of daily eating, drinking and enjoying the Lord.  We remember the Lord by praising and thanking Him... We must learn to know the hymns and know how to apply them at the appropriate time.  By starting a section of the meeting; by strengthening, enriching, prolonging and uplifting that section; by following the atmosphere of the meeting; and by speaking the hymns, we may reach a point where someday a Lord's table meeting will reach a glorious conclusion having used only one hymn!  -  The Lord's Table Meeting by Witness Lee 1990 Living Stream Ministry

There are 2 minor aspects of the Lord's Table one of which is to display the Lord's death.  In the Lord's supper which is included in the Lord's Table we display the death of the Lord, rather than remember it. This means that we announce and proclaim His death to the entire universe: to the demons, to the angels, and to human beings. Displayed separately on the table (as seen in photo above) the bread (symbolizing the body) and the cup (symbolizing the blood) signify the death whereby Christ terminated 12 items on the cross: 1) the angelic life  2) the human life  3)Satan  4) the kingdom of Satan 5)sin  6)sins 7)the world  8)death  9) flesh  10)the old man  11)self and finally 12) all things or creation.  By His death all negative things have come to an end which is displayed openly.  Symbolized also by the bread and wine at the Lord's Table is the fact that we can receive the Lord into ourselves. With the old creation ended and the new creation begun He now mingles Himself with us and enables us to live by Him.  In the 2nd minor aspect we express our hope.  This hope points to a coming kingdom which Christ will receive (at His 2nd coming) & establish to be God's administration of the Universe.  Thus by these 2 minor aspects we see the 2 comings of Christ: his first coming to accomplish an all-inclusive redemption and his second coming to establish the Kingdom of God.  Christ's death in his first coming produced the church which will bring in the kingdom with His 2nd coming. When we declare the Lord's death until He comes we are declaring the existence of the church for the bringing in of God's kingdom.  The church is a highway connecting the Lord's death with His coming back. - The Lord's Table Meeting by Witness Lee 1990 Living Stream Ministry

There are two major aspects to the Lord's table one of which is the eating of the Lord's supper unto the remembrance of Him which means remembering the Lord's person (Christ Himself) not His death or work.  In the 2nd photo above three brothers break the bread unto the remembrance of Him. When the bread and cup are being distributed it is better if thanks is given to the Lord and a living word concerning their significance is spoken.   The 2nd major aspect of the  Lord's table is  for us to have fellowship with all the other members of  Christ's Body.  The blood of Christ shed on the cross symbolized in the cup, removes all the barriers between the saints while the individual body of Christ which is symbolized by the bread which we eat together, comes into us to make us one bread.  By eating one bread and drinking one cup mutual fellowship is implied.   In the Lord's Table we eat the bread first and then drink the cup because the Body which is symbolized by the bread  is the original purpose of God and it is through this Body that God is expressed and Satan is defeated.  The cup symbolizes redemption which was to recover us for God's eternal purpose. - The Lord's Table Meeting by Witness Lee 1990 Living Stream Ministry