On-site Church Scheduling and Programs have been suspended until further notice. For this reason, United Methodist Church Casa Grande (UMCCG) is having Worship Service online.
Join us each Sunday for service at 10:00 AM. Click Here!
Virtual Coffee using Zoom!!
Let’s have a virtual coffee time on Sundays and Wednesdays. Make you favorite coffee or tea in your homes and just spend time together chatting and enjoying a fellowship time “Together”.
It is free for users to attend meetings and installs quickly on your smart phone, tablet or computer.
Sunday 11:00 AM Click Here! or Wednesday 10:00 AM Click Here!
The Love Feast Celebration!! Sunday, 02 2020 at 10:00 AM
History!!
The Love Feast, or Agape Meal, is a Christian fellowship meal recalling the meals Jesus shared with disciples during his ministry and expressing the koinonia (community, sharing, fellowship) enjoyed by the family of Christ.
Although its origins in the early church are closely interconnected with the origins of the Lord’s Supper, the two services became quite distinct and should not be confused with each other. While the Lord’s Supper has been practically universal among Christians throughout church history, the Love Feast has appeared only at certain times and among certain denominations.
The modern history of the Love Feast began when Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians in Germany introduced a service of sharing food, prayer, religious conversation, and hymns in 1727. John Wesley first experienced it among the Moravians in Savannah, Georgia, ten years later. His diary notes: “After evening prayers, we joined with the Germans in one of their love–feasts. It was begun and ended with thanksgiving and prayer, and celebrated in so decent and solemn a manner as a Christian of the apostolic age would have allowed to be worthy of Christ.”
It quickly became a feature of the Evangelical Revival and a regular part of Methodist society meetings in Great Britain and throughout the English–speaking world. As Methodists immigrated to North America they made Love Feasts an important part of early American Methodism. The Love Feast is most naturally held around a table or with persons seated in a circle; a home is an appropriate location.
One of the advantages of the Love Feast is that any Christian may conduct it. Congregational participation and leadership are usually extensive and important, especially involving children. Most Love Feasts include the sharing of food. It is customary not to use communion bread, wine, or grape juice because to do so might confuse the Love Feast with the Lord’s Supper. The bread may be a loaf of ordinary bread, crackers, rolls, or a sweet bread baked especially for this service. If a loaf of bread, it may be broken in two or more pieces and then passed from hand to hand as each person breaks off a piece. Crackers, rolls, or slices of bread may be passed in a basket. The beverage has usually been water, but other beverages such as lemonade, tea, or coffee have been used. Early Methodists commonly passed a loving cup with two handles from person to person, but later the water was served in individual glasses. The food is served quietly without interrupting the service.
I looking forward to sharing this Love Feat with you on Sunday.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Mark