Use this Love Feast liturgy with your churches and families during this time of being physically apart. Learn more about a Love Feast.
The people gather around a table (either with those whom they share a household or via social media and/or phone).
Light a candle.
Light and peace in Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God!
OPENING HYMN
“Blessed Be The Tie That Binds” (UMH 557)
OPENING PRAYER
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Be present at our table, Lord:
Be here and everywhere adored;
Thy creatures bless and grant that we
May feast in paradise with Thee.
THE FESTIVE SONG
Charles Wesley wrote the following blessing for the Love Feast. It is sung to the tune TERRA BEATA (“This Is My Father’s World”, UMH 144).
Father of earth and heaven,
Thy hungry children feed,
Thy grace be to our spirits given,
That true immortal bread.
Grant us and all our race
In Jesus Christ to prove
The sweetness of thy pardoning grace,
The manna of thy love.
SCRIPTURE
The lectionary text(s) are read (the gathered people can decide to read them all, or to focus on one reading) and each person is invited to give a personal witness as to what they are hearing from God in the reading.
OLD TESTAMENT READING: 1 Samuel 16: 1-13
PSALM: Psalm 23
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Ephesians 5 8-14
GOSPEL READING: John 9
PASSING OF THE BREAD
As the bread is passed, each person shares what they are hearing from God in the reading, or in their pursuit of holiness.
COLLECTION FOR OTHERS
The gathered can either give online to their faith community, or to an agreed-upon community partner helping others within their parish.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
The gathered pray the litany of intercession, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition. After each prayer, the leader may conclude: Lord, in your mercy, and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Together, let us pray
For the people gathered around this table…
For those who suffer and those in trouble…
For the concerns of this local community…
For the world, its peoples, and its leaders…
For the Church universal- its leaders, its members, and its mission…
In communion with the saints…
THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN
“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (UMH 384)
TABLE BLESSING
Let us pray together:
Bless, O Lord, this food to the nourishment of our bodies,
And our bodies to your service,
And keep us ever mindful of the needs of others. Amen.
The gathered share a meal.
United Methodist Book of Worship: “The Love Feast” (pages 581-582)
*Adapted by The Reverend C. Gregory Moore, Executive Director of New Faith Communities of The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church