Editorial
September/October, 2000
Volume 35, Number 5
The Church of the Brethren began as a visible effort to reconstitute the faith and practice of the early Christian church. To this end, the early Brethren practiced trine immersion (Matthew 28:19), greeted one another with the holy kiss (Romans 16:16), and re-instituted the threefold Love Feast–consisting of Feet Washing (John 13:1-17), the Lord’s Supper (Jude 12), and Communion (Matthew 26:26-30). Many Church of the Brethren congregations will observe the Love Feast sometime this fall. Persons studying the practices of the Brethren note that fewer of us than formerly take the effort to participate in this highest and holiest event of our life together. A study in one mid-western district found that on average, attendance at Love Feast decreased by 15-80% from previous years.
Annual Conference in 1958 granted congregations the liberty to institute “bread and cup” communion in addition to the Love Feast service. It was argued that this would make the Church of the Brethren more open to those of other denominations who were unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the Brethren practice. Supposedly this change-along with accepting persons into membership without requiring New Testament baptism ,..as envisioned as encouraging the growth of the Church of the Brethren. It was suggested that allowing “bread and cup” communion would ‘enrich the Love Feast and communion observance for all” (Minutes of the Annual Conference 1955-1964, page 111).
However, within a few years of these revisions-intended to enlarge the church–the denomination found itself in a membership decline that has yet to be reversed (138,000 members in 1999, down from 200,000 in 1960). Attendance at Love Feast plummeted in many congregations. The attitude of many is “I take the bread and cup; I don’t need to attend the full Love Feast.” Contrary to the example and teaching of Jesus (John 13:14-15), some Brethren would never think of actually stooping to wash another’s feet!
Brethren who love the Lord, love the Word of God, and love the Body of Christ ought to make every effort to participate in the Love Feast service. It is a living, vibrant observance of the life we share together in the church. It ought to be upheld in our pulpits, treasured in our hearts, and experienced in our churches.
The Three Part Feast of Charity
(The Love Feast)
By Harold S. Martin
A number of groups within christendom, especially those with an Anabaptist and a Pietist heritage, practice some distinctive teachings which are largely neglected by other Christian bodies.
One of the areas of distinctiveness relates to the ordinances. A New Testament “ordinance” is a commandment (ordained by God) which requires more than one person to carry out. The command to bridle the tongue, for example, is a mandate which each of us can obey individually–but the command to wash one another’s feet requires a group of Christians if we are to comply and obey. And so guarding the tongue is a simple command which we are to obey. On the other hand, feet washing is a special ordinance, a command that can be obeyed only in a group.
Also, an ordinance is a symbolic act representing an important spiritual principle. Some say the symbol is not really all that important; the principles that it stands for are the important things to remember. But faithful Christians believe that the symbol is important. The American flag, for example, is only a piece of cloth, but it has a rich symbolic significance.
The stripes represent the original thirteen colonies.
The stars represent each state that comprises the union.
Each color has its own special significance.
And so, to trample upon the flag of any nation, or to display it improperly, is to disgrace the nation which it represents. Just so, to trample upon the ordinances of God’s house is to make light of God’s truth, and to treat carelessly the things which the symbols represent. Jesus gave the symbols and commanded us to practice them, because He knew the frailty of our memories, and our inability to think in the realm of the abstract. Each symbolic ordinance is a tangible token that aids us in thinking about some of the deeper spiritual truths.
For many Brethren, the Love Feast service is one of the high points of the church year. The term “Love Feast” is derived from the Greek word “agape“–which in Jude 12 is translated “feasts of charity.” The Love Feast is a re-enactment of our Lord’s Last Supper with His disciples on the evening before the crucifixion. This practice, commonly observed by the early church, was neglected during the Dark Ages, was overlookedby the Protestant Reformers in the sixteenth century, but was reestablished by the Brethren in 1708. There are a few other groups that maintain the practice. Many Church of the Brethren congregations continue the practice one or two times each year.
On the evening before our Lord’s death, He washed the feet of His disciples; He sat at the supper table with them; and He instituted the bread and cup communion service in connection with the other events of the evening. And so the Love Feast service itself consists of three parts–the service of feet washing, the fellowship meal, and the communion bread and cup.
The feet washing service is based on John 13:14-15 and symbolizes humility (modesty toward self), cleansing (purity before God), and service (helpfulness toward our brothers and sisters in the faith).
The fellowship meal is based on the words of 1 Corinthians 11:20, where the word “supper” means “a simple evening meal.” The Lord’s Supper symbolizes brotherhood and peace. It also pictures a great banquet in heaven when Christ comes again and gathers to himself those who have served Him (Luke 12:37).
The communion of the bread and cup is based on 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. The piece of broken bread and the sip of grape juice symbolize the broken body of Jesus which was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5), and the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary for our sins (Matthew 26:28).
These three parts, along with a preparatory service, known as “the examination sermon” (1 Corinthians 11:28) comprise the Love Feast service. Jesus said on the evening of the Last Supper before His crucifixion If you know these things (plural), happy are you if you do them” (John 13:17).
The Love Feast service was kept up in the primitive church for 400 years, but as the church grew in numbers and in wealth-it left its first love, and the feasts of love were generally discontinued. Preparation for the Love Feast was a lot of work, and so it was gradually dropped–and today most churches observe the communion service alone-usually on a Sunday morning. But in the beginning it was not so.
Dr. Philip Schaff (a most respected church historian) says: “At first the communion was joined with the Love Feast, and was then celebrated in the evening, in memory of the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples” (Volume 2, page 239).
At another place, Schaff says, “The Lord’s Supper was observed in the evening, and was connected with a Love Feast, and also with feet washing“(Volume 3, page 402).
The Beacon Dictionary of Theology (Beacon Hill Press, 1983), says, “The observance of the Love Feast was widespread until the time of Augustine. The Eastern Orthodox church persisted in the practice–which then was taken up by the Moravians from whom John Wesley borrowed it for the early Methodists” (page 324). The Brethren discovered the practice from a careful reading of the New Testament, and from searching out early church history.
Elder J. H. Moore, in his book entitled New Testament Doctrines, says, “The Love Feast continued as the common practice of the church nearly all over christendom until the Council of Laodicea (363 AD), when it was decided to drop the Love Feast altogether and celebrate the communion alone“ (page 123).
When Brethren began their work in 1708, they restored the original Love Feast of apostolic times, and today many concerned Brethren follow the example of Christ, and the practice of the early Christians.
But what is the meaning of the Love Feast? Why observe the Love Feast? What are its spiritual values?
THE NEED FOR SELF-EXAMINATION
The text says that we are to examine ourselves, and then we are “to eat of that bread and drink of that cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). One of the reasons we need to engage in self-examination is because every one of us “shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). Our hearts are still beating, but one of these days they will forget to beat, and each of us will have an inescapable interview with God.
When Hezekiah the king was sick, Isaiah the prophet said to him: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live” (Isaiah 38:1). We are to look carefully at our lives, and if we find that which is sinful and wrong, we are to judge and condemn and correct it–so that we might avoid the judgment of God. If we are willing to judge sin in our lives, we will not be “condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31-32).
Here are some sample examination questions:
1. How do I use my leisure time?
2. What is it that I tend to laugh at?
3. Do I ever try to create the impression (in the minds of others) that I am a better person than I really am?
4. Do I pass along to other persons that which was told to me in confidence?
5. Am I a slave to faddish dress, overeating, sexual fantasizing?
6. Do I take time to have daily personal devotions?
7. Do I insist on doing some things about which my conscience is a bit uneasy?
8. Am I jealous, critical, irritable, touchy, and hard to please?
9. How do I treat those who are unkind or unreasonable toward me?
10. Am I quick to acknowledge a fault and ask forgiveness?
11. Is there anybody whom I dislike, disregard, or hold resentment against?;
12. Do I enjoy taking time to pray and to be alone with God?
All of us must confess failure in at least some of these areas. None of us has always done absolutely all that God has commanded us to do. And if we once see ourselves as God sees us, we will not come to the Lord’s Table lightly. Instead, we will be inclined to say with Moses, “Behold, I am unworthy”-and with Isaiah, “Woe is me, for I am undone.”
The remedy for sin and failure is confession. And confession is not simply mouthing a few words in prayer. Confession includes taking sides with God against ourselves, acknowledging that we have been wrong, seeking grace to cultivate the virtues of Jesus, and if we have wronged another person, going to that person and making an apology, saying, “I was wrong; will you forgive me?” All of us have failed on some points, and so all of us are unworthy to come to the Communion Table. But the Scripture doesn’t say that it is dangerous to come to the Lord’s Table if we are “unworthy.” All of us are unworthy–that’s why we come! The Scripture does say that it is a dangerous thing to participate in the communion service “unworthily” (an adverb)–meaning to come “in an unworthy and irreverent manner,” and thus not discerning the Lord’s body in the emblems.
We should come to the Lord’s Table with a deep sense of our sinfulness and our need for a Saviour. Our hearts should be filled with a godly fear, and we should marvel at the grace of God which reached down into the pit of corruption, and brought salvation to unworthy persons such as we are.
The warning against “eating unworthily” is not meant to scare anyone away from the Communion Table. The Scripture says, “Let a man examine himself…and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.”
It is a command that we come to the Communion Table. Jesus said of the small piece of bread, “This is my body which is broken for you.” And of the cup, He said, This cup represents the new covenant in my blood.” Jesus then said, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25).
The Love Feast service consists of three major parts:
1. THE FEET WASHING — participating in Christ’s Love
The Bible is altogether clear in stating that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and that He gave them an example commanding them to do as He had done (John 13:14).
The feet washing ordinance speaks of humility. The disciples had seen servants washing their master’s feet, but for the Creator of the universe to gird himself with a towel and get down on His knees in front of an uneducated fisherman and wash his feet, was unheard of.
Our besetting sin is often to feel that we are above others. We tend to think that we discipline our children properly, and we are honest and upright, and if everybody lived like we do, this world would be a wonderful place! The fact is, all of us need a service that will bring us on one common level.
The feet washing ordinance speaks of cleansing. John 13:10 says “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet.” The person who has been washed from his sins in the blood of Christ (as symbolized in water baptism), doesn’t need to be saved all over again when his feet become soiled as he walks through life. Some of the filth of the world rubs off on all of us, and thus we need repeated cleansing. The feet washing service symbolizes the fact that we have not reached perfection. We still need cleansing from daily defilement.
The feet washing ordinance speaks of service. When we engage in feet washing, we are promising to show in daily life what we practice during the ceremony in symbol. We are making a new commitment to help a fellow human being to clean up the mud when disaster strikes, to nurse a wound when accident comes, and to sit by the bedside when sickness invades the body.
Jesus says, “If I then your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).
2. THE LORD’S SUPPER — a prophecy of Christ’s Coming
It was from “supper” (John 13:4) that Jesus rose to wash the disciple’s feet. The word “supper” is translated from “deipnon,” a Greek word meaning “a simple evening meal.”
The Lord’s Supper is not the Jewish Passover. The Supper which Jesus instituted was eaten before the time of the Passover. The Supper was all over when the Passover was still future (cf. John 18:28 and John 13:1). True–the meal was called the Passover before the disciples engaged in it, but not after the meal was over. Then, after the Supper was completed, the disciples knew it had been something different. The manner of preparation and the concluding circumstances were altogether different (cf. Exodus 12:22 and Matthew 26:30). For example, at the conclusion of the Passover, none was to leave until the next morning; at the Supper, the disciples sang a hymn and left the same evening.
The Supper, like the other ordinances, is symbolic. The Supper is a symbol of brotherhood and peace. Eating together has always been an act of friendliness, and the Lord’s Table pictures the doctrine of Christian love. When we sit down at the Lord’s Table, we show the world that we are not only one with Christ, but we are also one with each other. The Supper is also typical of the Great Supper at the end of the age. The Scriptures speak of it as “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). The Lord’s Supper points forward to that great Table in Glory when Jesus will gird himself “and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37).
3. THE COMMUNION SERVICE — a memorial of Christ’s Death
The beautiful climax of the Love Feast service is the Communion of the bread and the cup. It is the high point of the service because these elements symbolize the central fact of the Gospel.
The word “communion” itself implies that a union in heart and belief and life must exist among those who engage together in the observance. The Communion Service is not the “Lord’s Supper.” A little piece of unleavened bread and a sip of grape juice could hardly be called “the evening meal.”
The Communion Service, like the other parts of the Love Feast, is a symbolic ordinance. The piece of broken bread and the sip of the fruit of the vine—are observed in remembrance of Christ’s broken and bruised body, and of His shed blood (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). When we partake of the Communion elements we are remembering Calvary. We are thinking about how our Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross.
The Love Feast Communion Service should bring before our hearts and minds a picture of the suffering Saviour. We picture Jesus enduring the pain and brutality of the Cross. We can see the nails driven into His quivering hands, the thorns tearing the flesh on His forehead, and the hot sun beating down upon His bruised body. His whole body was racked with pain; His features were swollen and bruised; His back was lacerated from the scourging. We can see the trickle of blood from the gaping holes in His hands, draining down to His elbows, and dripping off to the ground below.
Jesus said, “This is my body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
Christianity does not consist merely in observing ordinances (symbols). On the other hand, the symbols we discussed in this message are perpetual reminders of great Christian truths, and so we need to emphasize more than is often done–the meaning of the ordinances which God’s Word commands us to observe. People seem to go for symbols in our day-the peace symbol, a cross on a chain around the neck, the wedding band–but our responsibility is to-observe the symbols the Lord has chosen. Why should we tamper with them and try to change them?
The ordinances observed in connection with the Feasts of Charity–the feet washing, the fellowship supper, the communion of the bread and cupwere all instituted by the same Lord, at the same time, and with the same authority. Jesus said of them, “if you know these things (plural, because there are three parts), happy are you if you do them” (John 13:17). Surely the observance of the three part Love Feast in a reverent way brings glory to God and exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.
