piritual transformation.is striking to look at the term closed communion. It implies that admission to the table is restricted to members of the local church, baptized as believers by immersion ... and extended only to visitors commended as similarly qualified. However, John Henson argues that such approach is an indication of assumed superiority. According to my observations, such situation is wide spread among the Ukrainian Baptist communities. It seems as special sacred ritual only for the selected people. I have heard as many church leaders explained this by the need for protection of the sacredness of the Lord s Table. However, Jesus does not wish and does not need to be protected ... To exclude anyone who wishes to come to the Table from so doing, amounts to thinking that we are in a different category in relationship to God s grace than they are. The moment we do that, communion ceases. I would like to turn an investigation to another angle. Here I am going to attempt to make a connection between the Eucharist and architecture. Every shape provokes in us a special kind of perception. Consequently, every architectural shape and arrangement has a big influence on our feelings and perception of the environment. According to my own observation, people in Ukrainian Baptist communities, especially among the church leadership, pay a very small attention on this big connection.the contrary, early Christian communities paid a special attention on the design for their gatherings. It is striking that the room was designed in the way that all people were literally gathered round the altar-table in an orderly and theologically sound manner: the altar-table was the immediate focus of attention on entering such a church, and the whole of the service could be seen and heard by everyone present. This special arrangement has its roots in the weekly Eucharistic meal which early Christians had. This table with the Eucharistic meal can be considered as a spiritual altar. It can imply a centrality in itself around which early Christians were gathered. From my point of view, this idea of ??a spiritual altar can lead us to the much deeper consideration of what Baptist, particularly in Ukraine, really put in the center.to my own observations, many Baptist communities build their rooms for gathering around the pulpit. It shows the centrality of it for many of them. Gilbert Cope explains that such way of designing is an attempt to provide for the maximum audibility of the preacher to a large congregation. However, Ukrainian Baptists should reconsider their main focus. It should be turned to the focus on Eucharistic liturgy and its architectural arrangement. The term liturgy means the work of the people. It brings the dimension of corporate relation in sharing meal on the common table. Cope agrees, If our Eucharistic worship is to be experienced as a corporate action, it follows that ... [communities] ought to be designed that this liturgical function is most suitably provided for. From my point of view, in the context of Ukrainian Baptists this approach requires a real revision and search for the new alternatives. Faith communities should consider of what kind of message and function brings their architectural arrangement. Ukrainian Baptist communities should start to think more architecturally toward sharing meal in the Eucharistic liturgy.view of the above considerations, the faith communities at the Ukrainian Baptist context really need to rethink and to reanalyze their approach and understanding of the Lord s Supper. As I see, for many Christians it became simply the process of Eucharistic ritual without any meaningful attitude of united koinonia in the body of Christ. They have lost the important accents of it. I think that one of the reasons of it is that people lost the crucial meaning of sharing extended meal which flowing from the sharing of the covenantal meal.Pohl agrees that nowadays many faith communities have a big gap of understanding between the shared meal and the Lord s Supper. From the very beginning the Eucharist and the sharing agape meal goes together. It has its roots in the early Christian church s practice to gather together for sharing meal. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts (Acts 2:46). They experienced koinonia which transformed them. Contemporary liturgical theologian Hoyt Hickman said, Whatever the Lord s Supper is, it is everything that eating is. The act of communion implies the meal which has the nourishing character. Without this extended sharing meal it is difficult to get whole meaning of the Eucharist. It should be a real supper around the common table, supper of fellowship which unites people around Christ. Still, the process and ritual of eating and drinking together is glue for creating community.
1.2.2 Implication of th...
