==Breaking of Bread==
* The central service in Brethren assemblies was (and is) a meeting for the Breaking of Bread, sometimes called the Lord's Supper. I love these terms; I like them better than Communion, a more popular term in many places. My earliest memories of church are of the Breaking of Bread at Troost Gospel Hall. I can still hear the creaking of the wooden folding pews. The Brethren liked to arrange the chairs or pews in an irregular square surrounding the table on which the bread and wine were placed. The square was called a circle. Later, we joked that of all the thinkers in history, only the Brethren managed to square the circle. When the Lord's Supper ended, the pews were rearranged for the preaching service. To this day, a similar arrangement is made in nearly every Brethren assembly.
The custom of making a square with the pews had its roots in the King James Version rendering of the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The key words are "gathered together," and "in the midst." Brethren hymns echo nearly every word in that text.