The Web of Life

Love Feast Meditation by Torin Eikler

In pockets around the Midwest there are people who hold to the old ways of the Church of the Brethren.  They are called the Old Order German Baptist Brethren, and I grew up near one of their churches.  My classmates wore plain clothes and prayer coverings.  They came to school in black cars with the chrome painted over.

Once, I went to a Love Feast at an Old Order church … not the whole thing, but the part that mirrored what we do tonight.  You see, Love Feast in the older tradition is a week-end long event.  People come from other congregations nearby and stay in guest rooms, barns, and even tents.  They gather every day for worship, meals, and fellowship together.  And in the middle of the celebration, on Saturday night, they come together in the church building for what we call Love Feast.

It is a solemn occasion, the men and women sitting on different sides of the room around long tables.  Ministers rise and speak throughout the evening, recounting the passion of Christ and encouraging reflection and earnestness.  The footwashing takes place in silence.  The simple meal is blessed and shared from common bowls and common cups … in silence.  The communion is blessed and distributed – long strips of unleavened bread and a single cup shared around by the people … in silence.  The oldest minister rises to give a final word of encouragement to continue in the life of discipleship, the congregation sings a simple hymn from memory, the congregation passed the holy kiss.  Then they depart for the evening to return the next morning for worship.

 

Just a little different from our Love Feasts here.  We sit with our wives and husbands, and we’ve got jeans and children and laughter.  … We even have our own cups to drink from.  But in the ways that are most important, we are connected with those brothers and sisters who hold to an older way:  we all celebrate this night in reverence and community

 

We Anabaptists are not sacramental.  Baptism, communion, anointing … these are special moments in our lives but not because they give us any special measure of grace. We do not believe that grace is granted to us through any particular rites or rituals.  Grace comes freely from God, and, often, it seems easier to receive … more fully experienced when it comes through the hands and hearts of others.

That’s when the Body of Christ takes on life, when we serve one another in love.  You can hear it in Eric’s poem which we read at the beginning of the service.  ‘Hands surrounding boney, swollen, callused toes, washing the debris of life away, … warm soup, cheese, dates, and nuts waiting to be shared with friends, … cups and bread waiting to be broken in the candlelight, … families gathered to wash and be washed, to serve and be served, to eat and be consumed.’ 

When we wash one another’s feet, when we share the simple meal of love, when we break the bread and take the cup together, when we practice all these things that we have learned, then we take on the Christ life … we become the Body of Christ … together.

 

So tonight, as we pray, eat, and serve one another, let us do so together.  Let us embrace the Christ life as we resurrect the Body of Christ among us.