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		This page below will explain: a] why Christians break bread; b] what this signifies; and c] why this is important.
		Each Sunday morning at Collier Row Gospel Hall, we meet together as a church to "break bread". This is something the Lord Jesus requested of His followers, saying,
			"This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19-20)
		The mood of the "breaking of bread" is generally quiet and reflective, the bread and the wine being eaten and drunk as symbols of Jesus's body and blood.
		In the days of the Old Testament, a believer would sacrifice animals from his flock to the Lord. He and his family would then 'partake' of this sacrifice—i.e. eat it—so that their sins would be 'covered' by its blood. However the New Testament believer is no longer required to sacrifice animals.
		On the night of the Passover, the Jews sacrifice a Passover lamb in memory of the night they escaped from Egypt. That night (back in 2000BC) was the night in which the tenth of Moses's plagues came upon the land of Egypt. God had promised He would send His Angel of Death through the land, smiting the first born of every family whose house was not covered with the blood of a freshly-slain lamb.
		2,000 years later, however, whilst the Passover lambs were being examined to ensure they were pure (i.e. fit for sacrifice), the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) was pronounced guiltless by Pontius Pilate. And then, later that night, as the blood of the lambs was being applied to the doorframes of the Israelites' houses, the blood of Christ was shed on Calvary's cross.
		The sacrifice of Christ, however, cannot be repeated. Nor is there any need to repeat it. Instead, the believer is to remember Christ's sacrifice by "eating His body" (taking bread) and "drinking His blood" (taking wine).
		... why did he need to die? ...
		For the Christian, Christ's death on the cross is the focal-point of all history. It speaks of the time, place and manner in which God, having been born a man (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:35), paid the price for the sin of His creation. But what was this price? And why couldn't we pay it ourselves?
		Man has a habit of biting off more than he can chew. As a flight instructor at a well known training school once said to his pilot: "Son—your ego's writing cheques your body can't cash". The situation is the same with mankind and his sin against his maker.
		The Bible defines sin as the transgression of God's Law (1 John 3:4). And, just as there is a penalty for breaking civil law, there is a penalty for breaking God's Law. The penalty for breaking God's Law, however, is death, since sin has the effect of separating us from the One who gave us life, and is the sustainer of all things. This punishment is not a matter of policy. Rather, it is the nature of righteousness is to judge (and separate itself from) sin.
			God's work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice (Dt 32:4)...of purer eyes than to behold evil. (Hab 1:13)
		This means God is caught in something of a dilemma. Whilst His love desires to take us to Heaven, His justice demands we be sent to Hell.
		... the price is paid ...
		Man's sense of justice is finite. Offending human justice therefore carries a finite penalty. A man guilty of murder, for instance, can spend X years in prison, after which time he is considered to have 'paid his debt to society'. God's sense of justice, however, is infinite. It demands infinite payment for even the slightest transgression. For finite man, this means an eternity in Hell, where "the fire shall never be quenched" (Mark 9:45).
		God's judgement therefore demands a penalty which it would be tragic for man to pay. This is why, 2,000 years ago, God came to Earth in the form of a man named Jesus of Nazareth and paid the penalty for the sin of His own creation.
		Think of it like this:
			A man is found guilty of a number of crimes. The judge turns to him and says: "It's either £500,000 or life imprisonment". The man has nowhere near that amount of money. The bailiff begins to walk him out of the courtroom, when suddenly the judge intervenes, stepping down from his platform and saying, "Let him go! I'll pay his fine myself!". An unlikely scenario perhaps. Yet, in effect, this is precisely what happaned on the night of the Passover night in 30AD. Christ's death satisfied the demands of a holy God in order that we might be freed from the consequences of having broken His Law.
			"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
		The Bible tells us that "[Jesus], by the grace of God...taste[d] death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). He was "wounded for our transgressions...and bruised for our iniquities...and the chastisement for our peace was [laid] upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5). In three hours of blackness and agony, God's Only-begotten tasted not just physical death, but spiritual death, crying out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me" (Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1), as "His soul [was made] an offering for sin" (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus suffered the punishment that we, as sinners, deserve. Now, having defeated sin and death by rising from the dead, He stands at the right hand of the Father, crying,
			"I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life...If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John 14:6; 7:37). "If any man enters by Me, he will be saved" (John 10:9).
		We welcome anyone who has been born again through God's message of salvation to break bread with us on a Sunday morning. Of course, non-Christians are welcome too, but we'd prefer you not to partake of the bread and wine, since God isn't interested in people performing rituals for the sake of it. We also ask that ladies wear some kind of head-covering, since this seems to be the teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:3-16:
			"Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonours his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved" (1 Corinthians 11:4-5)
		During the service, hymns are sung, prayers and Bible-teachings are offered by the men, and a collection is taken at the end (although no-one is obliged to give. In fact, if you don't regularly attend our church, we'd prefer you not to).