Our Weekend
We had an incredible weekend, which included…
Love Feast and Communion at Our Church
Lots of Loving Words and Flowers For Mother’s Day
Participating in the Make-a-Wish Trucker’s Convoy
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Weekend – Part 1
Love Feast and Communion on Saturday Evening.
Because this is a service that is very special for our congregation, I thought that a few pictures would “speak” better than many words.
Love Feast begins in the kitchen of our church where the deacon’s wives prepare a large amount of roast beef, beef rice soup, and unleavened bread. In the background Mary Kathryn is emptying a cooker, and in the foreground Martha is beginning to dip soup out of the second one.
We need a large amount of food, because our membership is just over 600.
This is the BEST rice soup in the world!
The soup is put into styrofoam bowls and covered with lids.
When we got there, the sanctuary tables had already been set.
Notice each bench was built with a small fold-up “table” on the back.
I decided that I could get a better view of preparations from the balcony. Notice the long line of men and boys? They are passing soup bowls in assembly-line form from the kitchen to the tables. The group of men in the right front – behind the assembly line – are ministers, probably discussing the evening service.
This is an amazing process to watch. By this point they are almost finished. You will notice the table in the front (center-right) is set with the unleavened bread and grape juice.
Tables are set for pairs to eat together. Each person gets a cup of water, silverware, and a bowl of soup. However the stack of bread and bowl of roast beef is shared between the two persons who sit next to each other.
Our love feast is simple and delicious: soup, bread, butter, and roast beef.
The tubs are for the foot washing part of the service.
This is where the photos end, because it does not seem appropriate to take pictures after the evening begins.
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It is amazing to participate in this service, which begins with foot washing. Because of the intimacy of foot washing, and sharing a hug and kiss of charity, the men sit on one side of the church, and the women on the other.
During the evening there is a lot of a capella singing, which is even better than usual because the men and women are on opposite sides of the church. We almost raise the roof when singing certain congregational favorites.
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Add to all that, we were blessed and challenged by thoughts from visiting ministers, Dennis Myer and Kevin Auker.
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