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2000-036

Celebration honors new relationship between Lutherans and 
Moravians

by Frank Imhoff

     (ENS) Two parallel histories converged in Winston-Salem, 
North Carolina, on January 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 Moravian 
provinces passed the agreement in 1998 followed by the ELCA 
Churchwide Assembly in August 1999.

     The ELCA voted at the same assembly to enter into full 
communion with the Episcopal Church.

     Full communion is not a plan to merge but it does commit the 
churches to the possibility of new ways to share 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, 
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."

God knows the future

     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.

     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, 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.

Strengthening one another

     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 of Bethlehem, president 
of the Provincial Elders' Conference of the Moravian Church, 
Northern Province.

     "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 
of Winston-Salem, president of the Provincial Elders' Conference 
of the Moravian Church, Southern Province.  "We gather to pledge 
ourselves to live under the gospel in mutual affirmation and 
admonition, that respect and love for each other may grow."

     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 January 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 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.

     Photos available at:

     http://www.elca.org/co/news/images.moravian.html

---Frank Imhoff is associate director for News and Information 
for the ELCA.