Gogginsville United Methodist Church

Information about this center is no longer updated. This data was last updated on 26 October 2006.

Phone: 540-483-3626
Email: gginsville@swva.net
Website: http://www.gogginsville.org

Description

The church is relatively small. Almost all of the windows are stained glass, and it is carpeted in a rich red carpet. There are classrooms downstairs in the basement for different age groups' Sunday school.

Food

One of the most important food celebrations at Gogginsville Methodist is its Easter breakfast. On Easter Sunday, the men of the church meet before the first service to cook breakfast for community members. Just as Easter celebrates Christ's ressurection, a sacred reversal from death to life, so too is Gogginsville's Easter breakfast a reversal as it transgresses the traditional gender roles of the community. Because the women normally prepare the food for church events, the festival time of Easter is made sacred in the church calendar. It is only day of the year during which the men cook.

Another important food event which bridges the gap between ferial and festival time for Gogginsville Methodist is "The Lord's Acre Sale." This is a function which takes place in public, community space rather than within the walls of a church. During "The Lord's Acre Sale," churches throughout the county gather in the parking lot of a local high school to sell baked goods, jellies, and crafts. Foods served include doughnuts, fried pies, and other classic American festival foods. Foods are sweet, indulgent, and nostalgic. They are foods which are normally eaten in public, profane space-- at fairs and carnivals, for example. But during "The Lord's Acre Sale," they take on a new, sacred meaning as they are shared in an expression of communitas which transgresses boundaries such as denomination.

Research by:

Natalie Atkins and Genevieve Leaman