FROM THE ECUMENICAL OFFICER - MARCH 2021
On February 10, a virtual worship service marked the tenth anniversary of the full- communion agreement between the Moravian Church, Northern and Southern Provinces, and the Episcopal Church. Being virtual enabled participation from throughout Canada and the United States. Moravian full-communion agreements with the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church have made sharing of clergy, in both directions, much easier.
But these agreements are less important in themselves than in their pushing us to think of the church differently. Denominations have their own gifts, often rooted in some lack in the Christian church at the time of the denominations’ beginning. These agreements tell us that, whatever our denominational labels, we are part of a larger company of followers of Jesus Christ, in whose life and teaching we see God, speaking to us and shaping our values and actions.
In the period since our last provincial synod in 2018, we have been aware of a special Moravian focus on the issue of race in the United States and Canada. We may have mixed feelings about this. Certainly, race has become more central in public discourse in our society. In addition, however, Moravians have come to a fresh understanding of our own history. We know now that some Moravians did own slaves. We know that Count Zinzendorf encouraged Moravian slaves to accept that status. We know that Spangenberg, the Moravian leader after the death of Zinzendorf, wrote in 1778, “The comfort of poor slaves, who sigh under such a yoke, lies properly in this, that it is the will of God” (Idea Fidei Fratrum, p. 325). The bishop who ordained me, in his history of the Moravian Church, noted proudly that few Moravian slaves in the British West Indies were involved in slave rebellions before official emancipation in the 1830s.
My response to this is concerned less with Moravians of the past than with the extent to which our values and actions are shaped by the culture around us, rather than by Jesus Christ. One way congregations might respond to this is to seek to relate to a different racial group in our own community. About one seventh of Northern Province Moravians are not white, most concentrated in the New York City and Washington metropolitan areas, and most with Moravian roots in Central America or the Caribbean. (When we include the Moravians in Labrador, the majority of Moravians in Canada are not white.) Moravians—as a white-majority denomination, at least in the United States—have never formally sought full-communion relationships with predominantly non-white groups, but we might profit from seeking local relationships across racial divisions.
Jesus, our Lord and Chief Elder, we thank you for the world church, which includes the Moravian Church. In a world fractured in many ways, we are thankful that the church is “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne” (Revelation 7:9).
Amen.
Hermann Weinlick, Ecumenical Officer
Moravian Church, Northern Province
But these agreements are less important in themselves than in their pushing us to think of the church differently. Denominations have their own gifts, often rooted in some lack in the Christian church at the time of the denominations’ beginning. These agreements tell us that, whatever our denominational labels, we are part of a larger company of followers of Jesus Christ, in whose life and teaching we see God, speaking to us and shaping our values and actions.
In the period since our last provincial synod in 2018, we have been aware of a special Moravian focus on the issue of race in the United States and Canada. We may have mixed feelings about this. Certainly, race has become more central in public discourse in our society. In addition, however, Moravians have come to a fresh understanding of our own history. We know now that some Moravians did own slaves. We know that Count Zinzendorf encouraged Moravian slaves to accept that status. We know that Spangenberg, the Moravian leader after the death of Zinzendorf, wrote in 1778, “The comfort of poor slaves, who sigh under such a yoke, lies properly in this, that it is the will of God” (Idea Fidei Fratrum, p. 325). The bishop who ordained me, in his history of the Moravian Church, noted proudly that few Moravian slaves in the British West Indies were involved in slave rebellions before official emancipation in the 1830s.
My response to this is concerned less with Moravians of the past than with the extent to which our values and actions are shaped by the culture around us, rather than by Jesus Christ. One way congregations might respond to this is to seek to relate to a different racial group in our own community. About one seventh of Northern Province Moravians are not white, most concentrated in the New York City and Washington metropolitan areas, and most with Moravian roots in Central America or the Caribbean. (When we include the Moravians in Labrador, the majority of Moravians in Canada are not white.) Moravians—as a white-majority denomination, at least in the United States—have never formally sought full-communion relationships with predominantly non-white groups, but we might profit from seeking local relationships across racial divisions.
Jesus, our Lord and Chief Elder, we thank you for the world church, which includes the Moravian Church. In a world fractured in many ways, we are thankful that the church is “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne” (Revelation 7:9).
Amen.
Hermann Weinlick, Ecumenical Officer
Moravian Church, Northern Province