Bridge of Reason

Jehovah’s Witnesses have this month gathered in Kingdom Halls around the world for their annual Nisan 14 celebration. This article, looking at the Memorial Meal from an outsider’s perspective, appeared in the April 2017 Reachout newsletter, Bridge of Reason.   Communion It’s known by different names in different traditions; the Lord’s Table, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, the Breaking of Bread, Holy Communion. Mormons call it ‘the sacrament’ which seems strange since it is a sacrament. Even in Mormonism, however, it isn’t the only sacrament since they also have baptism, as well as rituals of anointing. In my church we Acall it communion and I regard it as very precious. I was interested, then, in what the Jehovah’s Witnesses do with it, how they regard it. To Jehovah’s Witnesses it is a ‘Memorial Meal’ and, while Christian churches celebrate this sacrament frequently, Witnesses mark it annually, on the Jewish Passover which, in 2017, will be Tuesday 11 April. My wife and I wen...