wfn.org | Celebration Honors Lutheran-Moravian History and Future

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 3, 2000

CELEBRATION HONORS LUTHERAN-MORAVIAN HISTORY AND FUTURE
00-25-FI

     WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.(ELCA) -- Two parallel histories converged here
Jan. 27, when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and
Moravian Church in America celebrated their new agreement, "Following
Our Shepherd to Full Communion."
     After six years of dialogue and study, two provinces of the
Moravian Church in America passed the agreement in 1998 followed by the
ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 1999.
     Full communion is not a plan to merge; it commits the churches to
the possibility of sharing in their mission work locally and
internationally and to procedures whereby clergy in one church body,
under certain circumstances, may serve as pastors in the other church
body.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA,
Chicago, said Lutheran history and Moravian history have been on
"parallel tracks" in the United States since colonial times.  "We
celebrate a reunion of sorts," he told a luncheon gathering at Salem
College.
     The Rev. Hans-Beat Motel, chair of the Unity Board, the governing
body of the world's 19 Moravian Provinces, came from Germany to
participate in the historic occasion.  He said the "full communion"
agreement reached in the United States will reverberate internationally.
     "The Moravian Church around the world is dealing with its
'essentials,'" said Motel.  "Perhaps we can use 'Following Our Shepherd
to Full Communion' as a starting point for our theological studies."
The significance of such study is illustrated in the motto of the
Moravian Church: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; and
in all things, love."
     The day began with tours of Old Salem in the historic section of
Winston-Salem surrounding Salem College.  Moravians settled in the area
in the late 1700s and founded Salem, which joined Winston in 1913 to
form Winston-Salem.
     Moravian and Lutheran influences in U.S. history were explored
during an afternoon panel discussion at Home Moravian Church.  Dr. C.
Daniel Crews, Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Dr. Gary Freeze,
Catawba College, Salisbury, N.C.; Dr. Nola Reed Knouse, Moravian Music
Foundation, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Dr. Susan W. McArver, Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., served on the panel.
     The Rev. Leonard H. Bolick, bishop of the ELCA's North Carolina
Synod, delivered a sermon during a late afternoon Moravian "lovefeast"
at Home Church.  He identified the new Lutheran-Moravian relationship
with a marriage proposal he overheard recently in a restaurant.
     "What a surprise!" was the young woman's first response to the
proposal, said Bolick.  "Where's the ring?" was the next.  "I need a
symbol of our love."
     Lutherans and Moravians have enjoyed a long relationship as
Christian friends, and yet full communion comes as surprise, said
Bolick.  The agreement is a symbol of the love Lutherans and Moravians
share in Jesus Christ.
     "Where will we go on our honeymoon?" the young woman asked,
according to Bolick.
     "We can decide that together," was the answer.
     "The couple left ... their relationship changed forever," said
Bolick.  "We don't know the future; God knows the future."
     The lovefeast combined music, prayer and Scripture readings with
the sharing of "a simple meal."  Servers or "dieners" gave each person
in the congregation a roll made of sweet bread and a cup of coffee,
specially brewed with cream and sugar, to enjoy as a sign of fellowship.
     The Rev. Gerald R. Harris, pastor of Home Church, called the
lovefeast "a reminder of the social nature of the gospel and of the
social being of Jesus Christ."
     Lutherans and Moravians completed the celebration with the Lord's
Supper.  Joint worship and the sharing of the sacraments are part of the
full communion agreement.  The Rev. Lane A. Sapp, pastor of Calvary
Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, presided during the service at Augsburg
Lutheran Church, Winston-Salem.
     The leaders of the ELCA and the two Moravian provinces verbalized
the terms of the full communion agreement while opening the worship
service.
     "We gather to recognize in one another the one, holy, catholic and
apostolic faith as it is expressed in Scriptures and confessed in the
Church's historic creeds," said the Rev. R. Burke Johnson, president of
the Provincial Elders' Conference of the Moravian Church, Northern
Province, Bethlehem, Pa.
     "We gather to recognize each other as churches in which the gospel
is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered
according to the Word of God," said Anderson.  "We gather to recognize
our mutual ministry and to claim as valid the proclamation of the Word
and the celebration of the sacraments by our ordained ministers."
     "We gather to strengthen one another in head and heart, to
recognize our mutual Baptism, and to encourage the sharing of the Lord's
Supper among our members," said the Rev. Robert E. Sawyer, president of
the Provincial Elders' Conference of the Moravian Church, Southern
Province, Winston-Salem.  "We gather to pledge ourselves to live under
the gospel in mutual affirmation and admonition, that respect and love
for each other may grow."
     Anderson based the evening's sermon on a common Moravian theme --
Christ, the Good Shepherd.  "Jesus knows us, and yet he loves us," he
said.  "He still lays down his life for us."
     "There is a wideness in God's mercy," said Anderson.  "Continents
of people were brought into the widening circle" as Christians spread
the gospel around the world, work that Lutherans and Moravians have done
and can do together, he said.
     "I appreciated Bishop Anderson's sermon so much," Sawyer said
afterward.  "To have a broad cross-section of people from different
traditions in what truly was a service of unity and glory was just a
rich experience for me."
     Lutheran and Moravian congregations across the United States may
be planning similar worship celebrations based on "Guidelines and
Worship Resources for the Celebration of Full Communion: Lutheran-Moravian" 
used for the Jan. 27 service.
     The Moravian Church -- or Unitas Fratrum -- was organized in
Europe in 1457 and is considered the oldest of the Reformation churches.
It traces its origin to the teachings of the Czech reformer, John Hus,
who pre-dated the German reformer, Martin Luther, by about a century.
     The ELCA has 5.2 million members in the United States and
Caribbean.
     The Southern Province of the Moravian Church is based in Winston-Salem.  The province
includes about 25,000 Moravians with congregations
in three states in the southeastern United States.  The Northern
Province includes about 30,000 Moravians in 14 states, the District of
Columbia, and two provinces of Canada.
--- --- ---
"Guidelines and Worship Resources for the Celebration of Full Communion:
Lutheran Moravian" is located at
http://www.elca.org/DCM/worship/guide-lm.html on the World Wide Web.
--- --- ---

Photos of the celebration are located at
http://www.elca.org/co/news/images.moravian.html

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html