Love Feast An Ecumenical Service on Thursday April 1, 2021 6 pm

Albany Methodist Church, Faith Lutheran Church, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, St. Albans Episcopal Church

Fresco of a banquet from the Catacomb of Saints , Via Labinica, Rome

Introduction

Welcome to our ecumenical Love Feast. I am Pastor Lura from the Albany First . Feel free to eat during this time since eating together is part of the Love Feast. I encourage you to mute the speaker on your device when you are not speaking so that we do not hear everyone’s background sounds. Does anyone need us to explain how to mute your speaker?

The Love Feast, or Feast, as it is sometimes called, comes from the early church. It is a Christian fellowship meal that recalls the meals Jesus shared with his followers and others during his ministry. It expresses the community, sharing, and fellowship enjoyed by the Christian family. The Love Feast is referred to in the in Jude 1:12, and by some of the early leaders of the church, such as .

The Love Feast is a time of fellowship and community. The Love Feast and Holy are two distinct services. The Love Feast is more informal, and everyone can be part of the discussion. It often includes prayer, scripture, and hymns, as well as discussions related to spiritual matters. While all our churches take part in the Lord’s Supper, the Love Feast is less common and may be new to most of you. It seems especially appropriate on this when we remember Jesus’ , the last meal he shared with his disciples.

Tonight’s service is a blending of traditions. We are using the United Methodist ritual for the Love Feast, incorporating the who have footwashing as a central theme, and using some of the Episcopalian and Lutheran traditions around Maundy Thursday. Since tonight's meal is being celebrated in the middle of a pandemic, we are adapting these rituals and traditions to our current time and reality.

While we are physically separated, this evening as we worship and eat together, as we share and pray together, we are united by the Spirit. We come from different congregations and denominations, but we are all part of the and united by the love of God.

Gathering Prayer

Be present at our table, Lord; Be here and everywhere adored; Thy creatures bless, and grant that we May feast in paradise with Thee.

Charles Wesley (an important leader for the Methodists) wrote the following prayer specifically for the Love Feast. We will say it together now:

Father of earth and heaven, Thy hungry children feed, Thy grace to our spirits be given, That true immortal bread. Grant us all and our race, In Jesus Christ to prove, The sweetness of thy pardonning grace, The manna of thy love.

“Embrace” by Peter Wever 1950

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is an important part of God's kingdom. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus implores his followers: “When you are offering your gift at the , if you remember that your sister and brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:24 – 25)

Reconciliation is a central part of our relationship with God and each other. Martin Luther, who warned his followers against looking at good works as necessary for salvation, still emphasized that they were a crucial part of community, saying: “God doesn't need your good works but your neighbor does.” Similarly, our communities, have emphasized caring for the stranger and neighbor as a way to be reconciled to each other.

In some traditions, Maundy Thursday is the start of the Great Three Days (or Triduum), one of the oldest liturgies/practices of the church. The three days: Maundy Thursday, and the comprise one service over three days (with large breaks inbetween). The Maundy Thursday portion begins with a declaration of forgiveness. There are two reasons for this.

First off, these services are the holiest time of the Christian year, the time when we remember Christ's death and resurrection. Secondly, the worship begins with a confession of sin. Uniquely among our services, it does not include a declaration of forgiveness. It is instead in some ways a hanging confession, waiting until Maundy Thursday. The Triduum begins with a laying on of hands and anointing, where all hear: “In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.”

Our service tonight will contain a number of opportunities to worship together in smaller groups, to converse and to commune. The first of these is focused on reconciliation:

Scripture:John 20:19 – 23

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

We are going to be using breakout rooms – a pop up will come up on your Zoom screen, telling you to go to a breakout room, simply accept and you will be able to have sub discussions.

After introducing yourselves to each other, each member is invited to say to each other: “In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” and to use each other's name.

Breakout Room Questions • What does forgiveness mean to you? • Is it hard to forgive someone else? Is it hard to accept forgiveness?

Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles by Meister des Hausbuches 1475

Footwashing

Scripture: John 13.1-10 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table,* took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples ’feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7Jesus answered, ‘ You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet. ’Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,* but is entirely clean. And you* are clean, though not all of you.’ 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’ 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants* are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Reflection With the commonplace tools of a basin of water and a towel, Jesus has revealed to us what love looks like: service. Love is service. It is taking the time to acknowledge the humanity, the pain, the brokenness in another and then strengthened by the grace of the Spirit, using your own hands, your own heart to soothe their weariness. Footwashing is dirty and awkward and uncomfortable for both recipient and giver; and yet what a most holy time, a time of intimacy and vulnerability and love.

Following is a poem that paints a picture of a particular community’s foot washing journey:

The Foot-Washing

“I wouldn’t take the bread and wine if I didn’t wash feet.” Old Regular Baptist

They kneel on the slanting floor given back clean before feet white as roots, to Sunday shoes and hightops. humble as tree stumps. Men before men This is how to prepare for the Lord’s Supper, women before women singing and carrying a towel to soothe the sourness and a basin of water, bound in each other’s journeys. praying while kids put soot Corns, calluses, bone knobs in their socks—almost as good all received and rinsed as nailing someone in the outhouse. Jesus started it: He washed feet flesh warped to its balance… after Magdalen dried His ankles Lord of the bucket in the well. with her hair. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” George Ella Lyon All servants, they bathe

Closing Prayer O God of love, as your Son washed the feet of his disciples, he revealed his undying love that would lead him to the cross. May the remembrance of this simple act be a call to live out our love for one another, and to serve our neighbors and all those in need, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Questions for Conversation 1. Have you ever participated in a service of foot washing? What did it feel like? If you haven’t, what do you imagine it would feel like? 2. During this time when we can’t wash each other’s feet, what might be another way for you to show love through vulnerable service? 3. Does it make a difference that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet on the night he was betrayed? Why or why not?

The Sacrament of the Last Supper by Salvador Dali

Communion/

Communion is a term that is familiar to many people in society, but especially among those who have or have had a connection with some Christian congregation. In fact, “connection” is one of many ways in which to think about communion. One of the things that has come to my mind frequently, though, are the words of the religious poet’s lines in the hymn “The Church’s one foundation.” These lines are “and mystic, sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” That verse begins by talking about God, the Trinity, and how we know God. It goes on to emphasize how we can experience an intense closeness not only with God, but also with those who’ve gone before us. We have sweet communion with the universe and its Creator. On this day, however, we focus on Communion in terms of the relationship we have with Jesus and those who put their trust and hope in Him. We remember, in our minds’ eyes, that Last Meal Jesus ate with all who were especially close to Him. We remember that He took two of the most common elements of the table, elements that would be present at just about every table, yet which also symbolized God’s care for human beings through history. Jesus took bread, and He took wine, and He said, “This is My Body, this is My Blood.” , who was not present that night but who was told all about it by those who were there, added that as often as Jesus’ friends take the bread and eat it, take the wine and drink it, they show forth Jesus’ Love, His death and his resurrection until He comes again. Jesus, knowing how difficult life is, gave these symbols to humans for all time. Until time itself ceases, bread and wine can and should be to us symbols of Love and Communion which even torture, abuse and death cannot take from us. One of the most difficult aspects of the pandemic has been the physical distancing we’ve had to endure, especially from those who’re important to us. Yet the symbols still remain. We miss gathering as a community around a common altar or table. But the Bread, the Wine, are still there, if not at every meal that we eat, most likely at at least one meal each day. Nothing can take from us the Communion Jesus wishes for us. So, wherever we are, with whomever we are, or are not, Jesus’ Presence repeats through the Bread and the Wine, “I am with you, even to the end of the world … no matter what. THIS is the Communion which we are called to celebrate today, and always. Amen.

Mark 14:12 – 25 12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ 13So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, 14and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” 15He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.’ 16So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. 17 When it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.’ 19They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, ‘Surely, not I?’ 20He said to them, ‘It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ 22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ 23Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’

Let us pray. Be present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of bread; who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS:

1 How in our individual lives do we experience Communion with God and our sisters and brothers in Christ? 2 What can make Communion more difficult? 3 What can make Communion more easy? 4 Are there any in our lives with whom we find it difficult to experience Communion? 5 What can we do about this?

A New Command

Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin mandatum meaning command. It recalls that Jesus gave his disciples a new command in John 15:12: to love one another, as he has loved them. It seems appropriate to us to gather near the end of the service and share a little bit of time as a group.

Closing: Stripping of the Altar and Reading

The Maundy Thursday time (not the lovefeast) ends with the stripping of the altar. Our service will end with that as well. It prepares us for the continuation of the service on Good Friday.

Scripture Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 3 Yet you are holy, Why are you so far from helping me, from the enthroned on the praises of Israel. words of my groaning? 4 In you our ancestors trusted; 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not they trusted, and you delivered them. answer; 5 To you they cried, and were saved; and by night, but find no rest. in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, 6 But I am a worm, and not human; my life from the power of the dog! scorned by others, and despised by the 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! people. 7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their From the horns of the wild oxen you have heads; rescued me. 22 8 ‘Commit your cause to the LORD; let him I will tell of your name to my brothers and deliver— sisters; let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’ in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! 9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. stand in awe of him, all you offspring of 10 On you I was cast from my birth, Israel! and since my mother bore me you have been 24 For he did not despise or abhor my God. the affliction of the afflicted; 11 Do not be far from me, he did not hide his face from me, for trouble is near but heard when I cried to him. and there is no one to help.

25 From you comes my praise in the great 12 Many bulls encircle me, congregation; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; my vows I will pay before those who fear 13 they open wide their mouths at me, him. like a ravening and roaring lion. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live for ever! 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember it is melted within my breast; and turn to the LORD; 15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and all the families of the nations and my tongue sticks to my jaws; shall worship before him. you lay me in the dust of death. 28 For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. 29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the My hands and feet have shrivelled; earth bow down; 17 I can count all my bones. before him shall bow all who go down to the They stare and gloat over me; dust, 18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and I shall live for him. and for my clothing they cast lots. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, 31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet 19 But you, O LORD, do not be far away! unborn, O my help, come quickly to my aid! saying that he has done it.

The bare altar at Albany Methodist Church

Blest Be the Tie That Binds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFAkaQh3QoI