The Background for the SPC Maundy Thursday Love Feast

This service is an attempt to blend Moravian and Church of the Brethren traditions.  As we prepare our hearts and minds for the Love Feast or as we reflect on this experience, the following background material about the traditions of the Moravian Church in America and the Church of the Brethren will prove helpful for those not already familiar with the history and the meaning of the meal.

THE LOVE FEAST (Church of the Brethren Tradition)

Historically the love feast has been the high point of Church of the Brethren liturgical life.  In preparation for the love feast the deacons would conduct the annual church visit to each home asking whether the members were still in the faith, in peace and union with the church, and still willing to labor with the Brethren for an increase of holiness.  Large crowds gathered for a weekend event including hospitality, food, lodging, preaching, singing, and prayers around a three-to-five-hour love feast.

In the twentieth century the weekend love feast has been replaced by shorter meetings, often on World Communion Sunday and Maundy Thursday.  These services are designed to dramatize anew the central events of the Upper Room basing the love feast on a literalistic piecing together of the biblical narratives concerning the Last Supper.  The first part of the service is based on the thirteenth chapter of John — with foot-washing, or sometimes in modern times, hand-washing — and the second part comes from the primitive practice of an agape meal, a common meal around the  tables.  During the entire love feast, hymns are sung, prayers are offered, silence is observed, and scriptural passages are read and interpreted.

THE LOVEFEAST (Moravian Church Tradition)

The Moravian  Lovefeast finds its roots with the earliest gatherings of Christians who often met for devotions and spiritual growth and in the process would share a simple meal to demonstrate their unity and equality.  As the early church grew and gained acceptance, these meals began to lose their importance, and soon were forgotten altogether.

August 13, 1727 marked the return of this simple meal to the significance it once had with the earliest Christian.  Accepting the invitation of the Lutheran Pastor Rothe in nearby Berthelsdorf, the members of the Herrnhut congregation joined in the service of Holy Communion.  During the service the members experience what could only be described as “the outpouring of the Holy Spirit”.  Following Holy Communion, the members stayed together to discuss the spiritual events that had occurred.  The excitement of the communion so affected them that they refused to stop talking, even to go home and eat.  Feeling the importance of what was happening among the members, Count Zinzendorf provided a meal for them that was shared in true Christian love.  This event reminded those involved of the agape meals of the early church, so inspiring the members to use Lovefeasts for special events in the community.  Initially used in small or private groups for events such as weddings and funerals, Lovefeasts were not used in congregations until 1737.

Today the Lovefeast is used in two forms, a Communion Lovefeast and a Festival Lovefeast.  The Communion Lovefeast precedes the Communion service to prepare members by eliminating the desire for food, so that the Communion may be devoted to matters of the spirit.  The Festival Lovefeast commemorates special events of the Christian Church year and certain occasions of Moravian history, such as the Great Sabbath before Easter and August Thirteenth.

Hymns and prayers are selected for the Lovefeast service with a devotional progression that mirrors the thought of the day, be it an anniversary of the congregation or a religious holiday, so that while singing, the message can be shared without a sermon or address.  The dieners (leaders who serve) then bring in an easily distributable food and beverage — which is served quietly, without interrupting the singing.  While the congregation partakes, anthems are sung by the choir and conversation, guided by the diener, related to the thought of the day may occur.