When a supply priest isn’t available to celebrate the Eucharist with the English-speaking part of Ascension Cranston’s congregation, the parish uses the liturgy of the word. But Jean Field, a licensed preacher and member of the congregation, wondered what might “feed the hunger” that she perceived on Sundays without Eucharist.
Bishop Knisley, who was formerly a priest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where ties with the Moravian Church in America are strong, suggested a Moravian Agape meal, which is also called a lovefeast. The Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church have been in full communion since 2011, and Agape meals are one way that Moravians seek to strengthen bonds and fellowship within their church. An Agape Meal—the Greek word is used in the New Testament to describe self-giving love, and the practice has its roots in the early church—is not a Eucharist and doesn’t require a priest. (A Moravian order of service and a United Methodist order of service are available online.)
As she planned the meal in Cranston, Field decided to refer to it as a gathering rather than a service and held it in the church hall rather than in the nave. “We didn’t want it to look like a ‘pretend’ eucharist,” she said. “We wanted it to look like a gathering around a table.”
In Cranston, the agape meal included traditional and contemporary hymns from the 1982 Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, and Wonder, Love and Praise, along with more contemporary praise music. Two lessons were drawn from the day’s lectionary readings, and participants shared their reflections as part of the liturgy. The Prayers of the People, from Form II in the Book of Common Prayer, were expanded so that people could add their own petitions.
“I wrote some key questions that people might bounce off because I was worried people might not respond to the scriptures, but they did,” Field said. “The gospel for the day [July 14] was Herod and the beheading of John (Mark 6:14-29). One of the lines saying that Herod didn’t want to do this was what one of our members picked up on; such a great reflection. She said ‘I wish that he had followed his heart.’ There’s a sermon in that one sentence!”
Another woman responded to the Old Testament lesson about David dancing by noting that she was from Africa and she misses dancing during the service.
“People’s lives opened up bigger than they had to each other.,” Field said. “It was awesome.
“Part of what the Agape meal did for us was that it brought us face-to-face with our faith,” she said. “Very often, faith is put in our face: we’re listening to someone talk about our faith rather than letting it well up from what we hear and what is within our hearts. In an Agape service, you pray from your heart. We used a standard form of prayer, but then we opened hearts and people poured out their concerns and their love.”
The parish held another lovefeast on August 11 and plans to hold them sporadically in the future. Field appreciates that Agape meals provide opportunities for congregation-wide participation, noting that Ascension’s ushers and altar guild served the meal and other members were readers, musicians, or offered reflections and prayers.
“The meal needs to be hosted,” she said. “People need to be guests at an agape table.”