This was one of the most difficult services or sermons I have ever had to do. I was pretty sure two weeks before the service that the Lord wanted me to do communion or, more appropriately, an Agape Feast. I have assisted in communion many, many times, but I felt the Lord wanted me to do something a little different. During the week before the service, I would sit at the computer and start typing up the sermon and the flow of the service. It wouldn't work. Every time I would start, it seemed like I was condeming a normal communion service which was far from my intention.
I would dwell on the service throughout the day and get a pretty good feel of what the Lord wanted me to do, but every time I would try to type it out, it just didn't work. On three consecutive nights, I would wake up between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning. I would be wide awake, knowing what to do for the service. I would say, "OK, I got it." then go back to sleep. In the morning I would try again to type things out, but it still wouldn't work.
After the third night of waking up and saying, "I got it!", I gave up trying to put anything on paper. I was going to let the Lord lead the service and go wherever he led.
I can't tell you everything I said that evening. I don't know. I used bread and a flavored water for the elements. I walked around through the congregation passing things out and talking. First I gave each person a napkin, then returned with a piece of bread and asked everyone to hold on to it. Then I grabbed some paper cups and passed them out to everyone there. Then I walked around and filled their cups with some of the water.
I was talking the whole time. I remember saying that the paper cups were probably more like the cups used back in the time of Jesus rather than the ornate goblets we use today in communion. I talked about the bread and the drink as being symbols of life and love and that they represented a time of joy and celebration for what the Lord gave to us. I said that these symbols and this celebration was not designed to make us feel bad for all the sins in our life, but were symbols to make us happy for what the Lord had done for us to take away those sins. I talked about how Jesus wanted us to use these symbols to help us remember Him.
It just so happened that this Saturday was the date when my future daughter-in-laws father had been born. He had died about 16 years before and she and her grandmother would usually visit his grave in remembrance of him. The grandmother said that she had wished she could go to a church this year instead of visiting the grave. She had this desire to attend church. So, my future daughter-in-law mentioned to her grandmother that she could arrange that. They both came to the service.
I wound up the Feast by talking about the two of them and how they remembered. One was remembering her father and the other remembering her son. I talked about how this is all that Christ had asked us to do. . . To remember Him and what He did for us.
A few of us cried together and the service ended.
Welcome!
This evening we are going to experience an Agape Feast. It was established in the early church as an alternative to Holy Communion. As churches began to grow, communion suddenly became somewhat restrictive and often excluded those who were not members of the church or those that were poor. To open a communion-like celebration to more people, the Agape Feast was started and flourished for a number of years.
Eventually most churches dropped the Agape Feast, returning back to their more traditional and restrictive practice of Holy Communion. In recent years, the Agape Feast has been experiencing a revival. Our Saturday service is a more open format program and will only celebrate an Agape Feast, a Feast of Love.
Art Yetter,
Lay Pastor
Please pass this bulletin on to someone else when you are through.
Let others know that there is a place for them.
Saturday Service Outline
(Subject to change, revision and additions as directed by the Spirit)
Refreshments and Fellowship.
Entering the Sanctuary. Music – “O Bread of Life” (See Insert)
Lighting of the Candle.
Song: “Share With Us This Bread of Life” (See Insert)
Prayer time.
Bible Reading: (See back of Bulletin)
Song: “I Am The Bread Of Life” (See Insert)
Agape Feast (Continued)
Song: “One Bread, One Body” (See Insert)
Freewill Offering: Song: “Excerpt from: The Depths of a Mystery” (Please only give if you feel moved to give. And, please only give what you can.)
Prayer of Thanksgiving.
Ending and Blessing.
Bible Reading
Taken from “The New Living Translation”
John 6:31-35 (NLT)
After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! As the Scriptures say, 'Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " [32] Jesus said, "I assure you, Moses didn't give them bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. [33] The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." [34] "Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day of our lives." [35] Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst.
John 6:58 (NLT)
I am the true bread from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever and not die as your ancestors did, even though they ate the manna."
1 Cor. 5:8 (NLT)
So let us celebrate the festival, not by eating the old bread of wickedness and evil, but by eating the new bread of purity and truth.
1 Cor. 10:16 (NLT)
When we bless the cup at the Lord's Table, aren't we sharing in the benefits of the blood of Christ? And when we break the loaf of bread, aren't we sharing in the benefits of the body of Christ?
Col. 1:14 (NLT)
God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.
Col. 1:20 (NLT)
and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.
Hebrews 10:19 (NLT)
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
Hebrews 10:22 (NLT)
let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
1 John 1:7 (NLT)
But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.
