Should all be served at the Memorial to count as celebrating it?

architect

At my Memorial the servers and the speaker didnt get served, Is this right?

I always thought it funny how they make a big production of passing the bread and wine to the speaker and the "passers" (is that a word?). Whe you get to the last two people they transfer their plates to each other like as if there was some special significance to the actual act of "passing."

I do remember one year when I was a passer (agan, is that a word?). We were in a big auditorium and there was one brother way in the back in charge of the sound system. He was not "passed" the bread and the wine. At the time I was really concerned that he was not "passed" the bread & wine.

rootofallevil

All should be served, according to the WT.

But this passing back and forth of the wine and crackers between the servers and speaker has turned into a ritual more than an opportunity to be served. Its funny after the cong has been sereved they serve the speaker, the servers sit, and the speaker serves the servers. TOO RITUALISTIC!!!

Not to change/hijack your topic but a have a question along the same lines.

Should a DF'd person be served? After all, everyone gets served because no one "knows" if there might be a new member (LOL) of the 144000. But as far as a DF'd person goes, he is DF'd by the cong. Everyone knows his "status". How can he be served under the pretense that "well, we just don't know"? Is there any possibility he may be an annointed DF'd person? I have never heard of annointed DF'd person, unless this is "new light".

By the way, this happened last night in the cong I attend (less and less as time goes on) and the DF'd person was not in the middle of a row so that he would be served by default. He was in a corner by himself with his DF'd wife. So they went out of their way to serve him!!!!!

inbyathread

By serving the emblems to a DF'd individual would allow the elders to see this persons response. Partaking would show an unrepentant attitude. This would certainly give the BOE more ammunition to keep the person from being reinstated. During a reinstatement meeting, the convening committee would ask about his partaking and the reasons for it and how it was wrong. Sorry. Can't pass Go. Try again in 6 months.

Scully

Last time I went to the Memorial™, a big production was made out of the Attendants™/servers going up on the platform to Pass™ the Emblems™ back and forth amongst themselves and the Speaker™.

Yet, I was at the back of the hall, with a baby in my arms, at the time I was suffering from postpartum depression, and they refused to Pass™ the Emblems™ to me. Next day I was in hospital wanting to kill myself and save Jehovah the trouble of destroying me at Armageddon™. Whether they intended it or not, that event triggered a nervous breakdown. And that's why I will NEVER go to another Memorial™ - some @$$holes get the impression that they have the right to dispense or withhold acceptance to people in attendance, without considering that someone just might be in a completely fragile state of emotional health and can be tipped over the edge by their unkindness.

Anyway, to answer your question, Passing™ the Emblems™ is couched in semantics: they call it Observing the Lord's Evening Meal™. Partaking™ of the Emblems™ is referred to as Celebrating™.

serendipity

At our Memorial, the speaker even noted that ALL present get passed the bread (and mentioned it againwhen they passed the wine). I'm assuming he was trying to emphasize all have a part in the observance even if they partake. Can you say RITUAL?

Poztate