On behalf of the Moravian Church, Southern Province, you are invited to participate in a traditional Moravian Lovefeast on Saturday, December 9 at 4:00 pm at Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. A Moravian band prelude will begin at 3:30 p.m. and a love offering will be received in support of the Jefferson County Family Resource Center. This service of Lovefeast is a gift to the greater Birmingham community and we encourage you to join us as we
celebrate our unity in Christ.

The Lovefeast originated in the first gathering of Christians after Pentecost. The early believers met and broke bread together, thereby signifying their union and equality. These meals of the church family were associated with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which followed them. They were called agape, from the Greek word for love, that is for the highest type of spiritual love. The Lovefeast of Apostolic times was rusticated in its original simplicity by the Moravian Church in 1727.

Though the Lovefeast is not a sacrament it is still celebrated in Moravian congregations throughout the church year to renew our love for Christ and one another. During Advent and Christmas, the Moravian Lovefeast is often accompanied by a candle service, representing Christ, the Light of the World. Each candle is made of beeswax, considered the purest of all animal or vegetable waxes, suggesting the purity of Christ. Candles are trimmed with red crepe paper to signify the sacrificial love of Christ for a broken world.

This will be the very first Moravian Lovefeast ever held in the state of Alabama. We hope you will join us for this special celebration of hope this Advent as we joyfully proclaim that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it!