neljapäev, aprill 13, 2006
Love Feasts from the International Heritage Centre Webzine
LOVE FEASTS
by Major Stephen Grinsted
EIGHTY years ago Salvation Army officers were reminded of the value and purpose of Love Feasts. An anonymous writer wrote in a magazine for officers: ‘Love Feasts, which in former years were held in some corps at fairly frequent intervals, seem to have dropped out of general use amongst us. As a means of promoting the spirit of love and unity, healing breaches and bringing about reconciliation between individuals or groups of persons in the corps, the Love Feast has proved to be blessedly effective.’
Today some older Salvationists, from their dim and distant past, may have vague recollections of Love Feasts. However, most young people will never have heard of such feasts yet alone have any idea of there purpose.
Love Feasts, a development of the Agape, with their emphasis on brotherly love were held in the days of the early Church. They are mentioned in the New Testament but only twice in 2 Peter 2:13 and Jude verse 12. However, these references refer to the way such meetings were being abused. The letter writers Peter and Jude make no comment on the way such gatherings edified the believers.
Describing a Love Feast an early Christian wrote: ‘The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much (of food) is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger: as much drunk as befits the chaste. Afterwards each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either from Holy Scripture (a Psalm) or one of his own composing … As the feast commenced with prayer so it is closed with prayer.’ By the third century this type of meeting had fallen into disrepute because it had developed into a mere charity supper.
Many hundreds of years later, in fact in 1729, the Moravians re-introduced the Love Feast and John Wesley on a tour of America in 1737 witnessed its effectiveness. He then adopted it as apart of Methodist worship, introducing meetings for public testimony at which members partook of bread and water as sign of unity, mutual confidence and goodwill. At first the feasts were held monthly but later became a quarterly feature.
The impact Love Feasts had upon the young William Booth is recorded in Harold Begbie’s Life Of William Booth. At the Love Feast held on a Sunday afternoon men spoke freely of their religious experiences. With its emphasis upon fervent prayer the meeting often led to remarkable conversions.
In the Rules Of The Christian Mission adopted at the first general conference in 1870 there is a short instruction concerning Love Feasts: ‘A public Love Feast shall be held once, at least, in every quarter.’
By the end of the 19th century the Methodist Church regarded the Love Feast as a relic of earlier years but The Salvation Army was commending its value and effectiveness. In the September 1895 issue of The Officer the Field Secretary reminded officers that the Love Feast was not a Sacrament but a simple means to a great end the spreading of the greatest element in the Christian religion – Love. He said: ‘Where sermons, preachments and exhortations have failed to bring that blessed love spirit as it should exist, the simple applications of the Love Feast has, under the blessing of God, brought peace, happiness and healing to many wounded souls and corps.’
He suggests that the knee-drill is one of the best meetings for a Love Feast but they could also effectively be held during the week of prayer preceding Self-Denial, in conjunction with campaigns to make soldiers or a ‘boom for backsliders’.
Officers were to provide on a table at the front of the hall a large jug, with water and glasses, small plates or baskets with an assortment of biscuits. The seats were to be arranged in a semi-circle around the table facing the front of the hall. The spaces between the seats were to be wider than normal to allow the officer and two assistants to move freely while distributing the biscuits and water.
The meeting was to open with a song such as ‘Love Divine’ and then after a prayer the officer in his or her exhortation should explain the purpose of the feast. Then, as the officer quoted suitable verses of scripture and songs, the distribution of the biscuits and water followed.
Those who had harboured in their hearts un-Christlike feelings against anyone who was present were encouraged to renounce those feelings and to signify that fact by breaking a biscuit with the person against whom they had held the unloving spirit. They were then urged to express their changed feelings fully, but only in confession – not advice. While seeking to develop reconciliation and harmony that resulted in joy and‘happy hallelujah’ officers were cautioned to discourage anything in the nature of frivolity.
It was as a teenager at Preston some 35 years ago that I first experienced a Love Feast. The corps officer Brigadier Attenborough led it. In my second year at the International Training College the Chief Side Officer for men Lieut-Colonel Alfred Holmes arranged a Love Feast in a Wednesday evening side class. There was a tremendous sense of God’s presence as the colonel moved along the rows and as he took our hands he said, ‘In name of Jesus Christ I offer you the hand of fellowship’.
by Major Stephen Grinsted
EIGHTY years ago Salvation Army officers were reminded of the value and purpose of Love Feasts. An anonymous writer wrote in a magazine for officers: ‘Love Feasts, which in former years were held in some corps at fairly frequent intervals, seem to have dropped out of general use amongst us. As a means of promoting the spirit of love and unity, healing breaches and bringing about reconciliation between individuals or groups of persons in the corps, the Love Feast has proved to be blessedly effective.’
Today some older Salvationists, from their dim and distant past, may have vague recollections of Love Feasts. However, most young people will never have heard of such feasts yet alone have any idea of there purpose.
Love Feasts, a development of the Agape, with their emphasis on brotherly love were held in the days of the early Church. They are mentioned in the New Testament but only twice in 2 Peter 2:13 and Jude verse 12. However, these references refer to the way such meetings were being abused. The letter writers Peter and Jude make no comment on the way such gatherings edified the believers.
Describing a Love Feast an early Christian wrote: ‘The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much (of food) is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger: as much drunk as befits the chaste. Afterwards each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either from Holy Scripture (a Psalm) or one of his own composing … As the feast commenced with prayer so it is closed with prayer.’ By the third century this type of meeting had fallen into disrepute because it had developed into a mere charity supper.
Many hundreds of years later, in fact in 1729, the Moravians re-introduced the Love Feast and John Wesley on a tour of America in 1737 witnessed its effectiveness. He then adopted it as apart of Methodist worship, introducing meetings for public testimony at which members partook of bread and water as sign of unity, mutual confidence and goodwill. At first the feasts were held monthly but later became a quarterly feature.
The impact Love Feasts had upon the young William Booth is recorded in Harold Begbie’s Life Of William Booth. At the Love Feast held on a Sunday afternoon men spoke freely of their religious experiences. With its emphasis upon fervent prayer the meeting often led to remarkable conversions.
In the Rules Of The Christian Mission adopted at the first general conference in 1870 there is a short instruction concerning Love Feasts: ‘A public Love Feast shall be held once, at least, in every quarter.’
By the end of the 19th century the Methodist Church regarded the Love Feast as a relic of earlier years but The Salvation Army was commending its value and effectiveness. In the September 1895 issue of The Officer the Field Secretary reminded officers that the Love Feast was not a Sacrament but a simple means to a great end the spreading of the greatest element in the Christian religion – Love. He said: ‘Where sermons, preachments and exhortations have failed to bring that blessed love spirit as it should exist, the simple applications of the Love Feast has, under the blessing of God, brought peace, happiness and healing to many wounded souls and corps.’
He suggests that the knee-drill is one of the best meetings for a Love Feast but they could also effectively be held during the week of prayer preceding Self-Denial, in conjunction with campaigns to make soldiers or a ‘boom for backsliders’.
Officers were to provide on a table at the front of the hall a large jug, with water and glasses, small plates or baskets with an assortment of biscuits. The seats were to be arranged in a semi-circle around the table facing the front of the hall. The spaces between the seats were to be wider than normal to allow the officer and two assistants to move freely while distributing the biscuits and water.
The meeting was to open with a song such as ‘Love Divine’ and then after a prayer the officer in his or her exhortation should explain the purpose of the feast. Then, as the officer quoted suitable verses of scripture and songs, the distribution of the biscuits and water followed.
Those who had harboured in their hearts un-Christlike feelings against anyone who was present were encouraged to renounce those feelings and to signify that fact by breaking a biscuit with the person against whom they had held the unloving spirit. They were then urged to express their changed feelings fully, but only in confession – not advice. While seeking to develop reconciliation and harmony that resulted in joy and‘happy hallelujah’ officers were cautioned to discourage anything in the nature of frivolity.
It was as a teenager at Preston some 35 years ago that I first experienced a Love Feast. The corps officer Brigadier Attenborough led it. In my second year at the International Training College the Chief Side Officer for men Lieut-Colonel Alfred Holmes arranged a Love Feast in a Wednesday evening side class. There was a tremendous sense of God’s presence as the colonel moved along the rows and as he took our hands he said, ‘In name of Jesus Christ I offer you the hand of fellowship’.
