Good News and Good Food: Love Feast Returns to Cox Chapel
June 25, 2024 by Rev. Tripp Gulledge
Join us in person or online this Sunday, June 30, for a Love Feast at 8:30 am in Cox Chapel. We will enjoy music, testimonies, food, and fellowship as we “feast” on the love of God. If you have questions, reach out to Rev. Tripp Gulledge, MCLN Resident, Cox Chapel & The Feast, at gulledget@hpumc.org or 214-523-2236.
Cox Chapel is up to something again…
On Sunday, June 30, we’re not receiving Holy Communion like we would normally do! Instead, for the second year in a row, we will celebrate a lesser-known tradition called the Love Feast. We will still sing plenty of hymns and read plenty of Scriptures, but the preaching and Communion portions of the service will have a twist.
What is a Love Feast?
Love Feasts are services of worship that center around a time of testimony by the congregation and end with refreshments and fellowship. This time of fellowship is distinct from Holy Communion because its exclusive purpose is to gather around food and celebrate the loving community that the church is called to be. Last year’s Love Feast was a joyful occasion! Cox Chapel congregant Dana Harkey, one of last year’s testimony leaders, says, “The Love Feast was a wonderful opportunity to share the good news that God shows up for everyone, no matter what.” Last year’s testimonies also lifted up God’s deliverance through times of medical trial and God’s providence in using community to offer healing.
When did the tradition begin?
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, first experienced a Love Feast in the early stages of his public ministry. This special worship service undoubtedly laid the foundation for the monumental shift by which Methodism became what he called a “religion of the heart.” Wesley experienced a Love Feast among a group of Moravians after dinner one night in 1737. As pietists, the Moravians put a strong emphasis on the importance of one’s relationship with God, and their confidence in their individual relationships with God had caught Wesley’s eye on a previous occasion—when they were utterly unphased by a terrible storm at sea because they were just that confident that God would deliver them. Wesley longed to have that kind of faith in God and his later adoption of the Moravian Love Feast played a big part in how he cultivated that faith among his followers.*
What makes Love Feasts special?
As a clergyperson, one of my favorite things about the Love Feast is how every piece of its liturgy can be carried out by laypersons. It’s a wonderful reminder that all Christians are called to ministry through their baptism and that church leadership is not exclusive. Just like last year, all of this year’s testimonies will be given by congregants who are not licensed or ordained to preach. Anyone can proclaim good news by testifying to the ways that God is at work in their life. We hope that the testimonies in this year’s Love Feast will help you be more attuned to these movements of God so that you, too, can testify. It makes me so proud to serve this community! As you probably know, the empowerment of laypersons is absolutely crucial to the heritage of HPUMC and the broader Wesleyan tradition. We are proud to take another step on that path this week.
*The United Methodist Book of Worship 1992 (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992) p. 383.
Eighteen years ago, the now Reverend, Ramsey Jay was practicing law in Dallas when she started attending Highland Park United Methodist Church. Soon after, she felt a spiritual renewal where her faith was on fire for the first time in a long time. She also heard a calling from God that changed her life’s path.
“One day when I was in Cornerstone, in worship, I heard God say, ‘You need to go to seminary,’” Ramsey said. “I thought that was ridiculous and I chuckled out loud but heard the voice again. So, I mentioned it to a couple of people who were close to me, and they all said I should pursue that. This led to a whole period of time where I said, ‘Ok God, if you really want me to pursue this, open the doors. If not close them and make it clear.’ Then God just kept opening, opening, opening, more doors.”
She then attended SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, where after one year, HPUMC Senior Minister Rev. Mark Craig and his Senior Associate, Rev. Steve Matthews offered her a job as the Jesters (now Spotlight Musical Theatre) Coordinator and Cornerstone Associate.
“I just wanted to work here, as it was a dream to serve on staff at HPUMC,” Ramsey said. “So I was ready to take whatever they offered me,” Ramsey said.
Throughout her thirteen years at HPUMC, Ramsey has served in many roles including the Jesters Coordinator role, Director of Pastoral Care, Sanctuary and Cornerstone Associates, and Associate Minister to The Feast and Belong Disability Community. But one thing many people do not know about one of her roles is that in the summer of 2015, God called on Ramsey again, but this time to start something new, HPUMC’s Belong Disability worship service, The Feast.
“One day I was getting ready when the Holy Spirit struck me,” she said. “I heard it say, ‘You need to do a worship service with the disability community.’ At that time, when I heard that call, I had been involved with that community and I had just become a licensed local pastor, which meant I was technically a reverend and could do Communion and autonomy/authority to lead a worship service, so that was just another opened door.”