The Heart of Discipleship

Central to the Church of the Brethren's understanding of what it means to be church is the Love Feast. The Whitestone and Ellisforde congregations come together in the Spring and the Fall to observe this beloved event.

The founders of the Church of the Brethren, way back in 1708, desired above all to search the scriptures to discover how to live as disciples of Jesus. They dwelt on the words and example of Jesus, and took them to heart. So early on they instituted the Love Feast as a reenactment of The Last Supper, the meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before he was crucified.

It was around that table with his disciples that Jesus summed up and celebrated his everlasting relationship with those who trust in and follow him. And it was in that Upper Room that he lifted up the essential marks of discipleship. So, like Jesus and his disciples, the Brethren do three things at the Love Feast. We eat a simple meal together, the "feast of love;" we partake of communion, reenacting the moment when Jesus broke bread as a symbol of his body broken for all, and passed the cup as a symbol of his blood shed for all; and we wash each other's feet, just as Jesus washed his disciples' feet. Today, recognizing that not all are able to kneel and wash feet, we also provide for washing hands.

Whether washing hands or feet, this simple act reveals the heart of discipleship: the willingness, in all humility, to serve and be served.

In these special moments each year we are reminded again and again that love unwilling to stoop in service is not love at all; but love that serves is love indeed.