Candlelight Lovefeast 2023
by deemcgee44 · Published · Updated
Christmas Candlelight Lovefeast
Sunday, December 17, 2023
7 PM
If you can’t attend, we invite everyone to join our live-stream broadcast on Youtube.
As recorded in the Book of Acts, the early Christians
met and broke bread together to signify their love for Christ
and for one another. In the year 1727, the Moravian Church
revived this practice, establishing the custom of partaking
together of a simple meal in the context of a worship service
known as a “lovefeast”. The Christmas Lovefeast and Candle
Service with its lighted candles, is one of the most beautiful
services of the Moravian Church. The custom originated on
the European continent in Germany in the year 1747, and
spread throughout the Moravian world. In North Carolina, the
candles were used on Christmas Eve for the first time in a
Children’s Lovefeast in 1762.
The Lovefeast is not a sacrament – all are welcome to
participate in this wonderful gathering of friends in Christian
fellowship and song. Among different Moravian churches,
the service may vary from church to church. Here at Union
Cross, we serve sweetened buns and coffee brewed with milk
and sugar. A rarity these days, we make our own beeswax
candles by hand. One night in December, the church gathers
together to trim the candles with the red paper, each candle
carefully prepared for this special worship service.