“We need to learn how to enter into the particular atmosphere of each Lord’s table meeting and stay on one line. Once the meeting begins, we should sense the atmosphere and follow it. We should not have more than one beginning by trying to change the atmosphere or direction of a Lord’s table meeting well after it has begun. There should be a smooth transition from one hymn to the next. We should not take this word in a legal way, but we need to exercise our spirit and our mind with its function of understanding to recognize, enter into, discern, and taste the flavor and atmosphere of a meeting. This requires learning.

We should not call hymns and offer praises in a [Lord’s] table meeting according to our personal feeling but should follow the corporate flow and atmosphere. In a particular Lord’s table meeting, someone may call Hymns, #86, which is not high but is deep and tender. This hymn praises the Lord for His human living. Many Christians do not know how to enter into the feeling of such a hymn because they do not know how to appreciate and praise the Lord for His human living. There will be a lack of continuation if soon after we sing this hymn in a Lord’s table meeting, someone calls a hymn such as Hymns, #142, which begins, “Crown Him with many crowns.” After a hymn has been called, we should spend some time to taste and digest the hymn. At least four or five prayers of praise are needed to digest most hymns. The dishes in a feast are not served in rapid sequence; instead, there is time between each dish for enjoyment. To call a hymn with a different feeling soon after another one has been sung is to not sense the atmosphere but only take care of one’s personal feeling. Our hymn calling should build up a proper spirit of remembering the Lord in His presence. We all need to learn, but no one should be discouraged or take this fellowship as a legal regulation.”

(CWWL, vol. 1, 1979, Fellowship During Various Lord’s Day Meetings, ch. 5)