The Lord's Supper, Vol 7-- What should it look like?

In an effort to locate and identify for myself what the Lord's Supper should look like (maybe some of the time, anyway), I have borrowed from the Passover and my life now.

The Passover ceremony, from which our communion service grew, is remarkably predictive of the mission of Jesus. It seems like a pre-printed guide of ideas, and the parallels between the Passover and Jesus seem to shout :
"LOOK AT THIS, IT'S ABOUT THE LORD'S SUPPER, TOO!"
For instance:
A male lamb or goat ("Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world!")
Without blemish (tempted as we are, but without sin Heb. 4:15)
Blood will be for protection (... the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. I Jn 1:9)
No broken bones (not a bone of him shall be broken. John 19:31-37)
Unleavened bread (take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you..., my body is true bread, and my blood is true drink)
A day of Memorial (do this in remembrance of me)

Given the circumstances and the close parallels between the Passover and communion, I am drawn to think they should be similar in the way we treat them. Unfortunately, I have never experienced a true, Jewish Passover meal as it was experienced 2000 years ago, but the OT does give some clues, as do many books and accounts on the internet. The more I study, the more I am convinced that the Lord's Supper should look more like a Passover meal and less like a quick snack. It may have elements of introspection, but much more of sharing and celebration. We should discuss important things and praise God for delivering us from certain death. I don't have a formal dogma about what it should look like, but I have an idea in my head of an example that seems to fit the picture:

My dad passed away unexpectedly three years ago. All the friends and relatives gathered for the funeral. After the funeral, the church provided a meal for the family and those loved ones who had traveled long distances. We ate and laughed and cried and hugged each other and remembered Daddy. We grieved his passing with support from each other. We told stories of how he helped people, how he served everyone, how he blessed us all, what he had given us, the funny things he did, and celebrated the fact that he was in heaven. This was a sort of a family reunion with a theme.

I think that's what the Lord's Supper should be; a family reunion meal with a theme. The theme is Jesus and all he means to us, and the family is us, the body. The meal is the bread and the cup we share with each other. A family reunion is full of memories and love and connections between people who share the same family lineage. It is inconceivable that a family reunion could happen in silence and introspection and self-examination, at least in my family, anyway.

In the sharing of the Lord's Supper with each other, we allow the Lord to fulfill his covenant of eternal life with us, we recognize our brothers and sisters as family and the body. We remember that God made us to need each other. Finally, we recognize the body for what it is-- a group of individuals saved by the Great Passover Lamb, called out of bondage and delivered to a new life. I have witnessed many times now how the power of the Spirit was strong in the sharing of the Lord's Supper, how lives were changed and people became one. I can testify that the Lord works mightily in the face-to-face give and take sharing of the Lord's Supper, and it is a bit sad to think of all the years I really didn't quite understand it at all.