One Body, One Table: Love Feast in the Shadow of Separation

Left: The Sisters' House, Right: The Saal.

In college, I was a religion nerd. I took every Religious Studies class I could, eager to better understand how people reach for God. My studies often led me beyond the classroom—into churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples—where I observed and engaged with others in worship. I broke a Ramadan fast at an Iftar with Muslims, listened to a Hindu priest recite prayers thousands of years old, shared a Seder with a rabbi, and witnessed the profound mystery of an Orthodox Christian Eucharist, to name a few. But one of the most moving experiences was one that brought me home: Love Feast at the Ephrata Cloister.  
A brief history lesson: Johann Conrad Beissel, a German-born believer, was baptized by Peter Becker—the man who led the Brethren to Pennsylvania—on November 12, 1724. Beissel came from the Radical Pietist branch of the Brethren, shaped by various writers and movements before his arrival in the colony. He worked with and learned from Becker before settling in the Lancaster area, where he was baptized. However, his beliefs carried a distinctly “Inspirationist” character, emphasizing ongoing divine revelation through prophets—an idea that did not align with Brethren teachings, which held that the Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of Scripture but does not alter or supersede it.  
A year after becoming leader of the Conestoga Brethren, Beissel “gave back” his baptism and founded a new community at Cocalico Creek, now known as the Ephrata Cloister. This celibate order of brothers and sisters, supported by householder families, worshiped on Saturdays, practiced celibacy and veganism, and became a center for healing, music, and printing. At its height, the community included about 80 celibate members and 200 householders. But like many utopian societies, it declined after the leader’s death—Beissel passed in 1768, and the last celibate member died in 1813. Today, two small congregations of German Seventh Day Baptists (in Salemville and Snow Hill, PA) remain, while the original Cloister has been preserved as a Pennsylvania State Historic Site since 1941. This is just a glimpse into its remarkable history, and I encourage you to explore it further.  ​

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Interior of the Saal at Ephrata Cloister.

The last surviving householder member of the Ephrata Cloister, Sister Marie Bucher, passed away in 2008. Until then, there was an agreement allowing householders to continue holding Love Feast in the Saal (meeting house), along with their guests. I had the profound honor of being among those guests at one of the final Love Feasts in that sacred space. To wash feet, share a meal, sing the old hymns, and partake in communion where Beissel and Mack Jr. once did was deeply moving. Though the Cloister had once separated from the Brethren, this act of worship continued to tie them to their heritage and to the God who taught them to live. Sister Marie welcomed all—German Seventh Day Baptists, Church of the Brethren, Brethren Church, Lutherans, Mennonites, friends of the Cloister, and the simply curious—gathering as one body despite centuries-old divisions.  
Today, the Church of the Brethren again finds itself at a crossroads. Some have chosen to separate, joining other groups or becoming independent. Each separation is painful, just as it was for Becker when his one-time friend and protégé took a different path. But the question before us is not whether divisions exist—they do. The question is: How will we respond?  
Will we allow our wounds to fester, creating chasms that separate us from those we once called brothers and sisters? Will we ignore the changing landscape and pretend nothing has shifted? Or will we acknowledge what has happened, yet still choose love? Will we still recognize one another as part of Christ’s body? Will we still wash one another’s feet?  

The choices we make now will shape our future. My prayer is that, even in division, we do not forget the bonds of grace that unite us. That we keep the basin and towel close at hand. That we continue to sit at the table together, as long as we are able.  
For in Christ, we are still one.

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I invite you to explore this unique album, featuring a cappella hymns composed by the residents of the Ephrata Cloister, an eighteenth-century celibate community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Among these works are compositions by the solitary sisters of Ephrata, the earliest known female composers in America. This album marks the first professional ensemble performance of this music, recorded in the very room where these hymns were originally written.
You can listen at the video linked here. 

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Reference:
Bach, Jeff. “Ephrata and the Brethren: How Radical Pietists Diverged.” Messenger, January 9, 2025. https://www.brethren.org/messenger/history/ephrata-and-the-brethren/.
Images:
RJWillems. Ephrata Cloister 9730 R1. CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed March 26, 2025. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ephrata_Cloister_9730_R1.jpg
Smallbones. Interior of Ephrata Meetinghouse. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed March 26, 2025. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ephrata_interior_meetinghouse.JPG