WS Chronicle

Wake Forest University held Lovefeast services in Wait Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. This is the second year the university has offered two services.  The 4:30 p.m. service was slightly abbreviated. Rather than a sermon, the Christmas story was told. Wake Forest called it its 2017 Family Lovefeast; the other one was the Traditional Lovefeast.

The Lovefeast at Wake Forest began when Moravian student Jane Sherrill Stroupe (’67) organized the first Wake Forest Lovefeast in December 1965. Two hundred students gathered to celebrate the traditional meal. Since then, the Wake Forest Lovefeast has grown to be the largest Moravian-style lovefeast in North America, and one of the favorite features of Wake Forest tradition.

The Wake Forest Lovefeast meal consists of a sweetened bun and creamed coffee, which dieners (German for “servers”) serve to participants. During the meal, music from the Wake Forest Concert Choir, Handbell Choir, Flute Choir, and the Messiah Moravian Church Band filled the air. During the service of song and Scripture reading, everyone receives a handmade beeswax candle decorated with a red paper frill. A warm glow filled the chapel as the candles were lit while worshipers sung the final hymns.

The first lovefeast was served in Germany on August 13, 1727, following the renewal of the Moravian Church.

“Lovefeasts nourish the soul, give us pause and inspire. They transport us to sacred realms and add beauty to our often complicated lives. Wake Forest’s Annual Lovefeast can be captured in a single word – love,” the university says on a website: http://lovefeast.wfu.edu/history/.