Second Sunday of Lent
“The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in.”
March 1 marks the anniversary of the founding of the Moravian Church, the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren). To be sure, the Unity was founded. To be sure, it was in the 1450s, probably 1457. To be sure, some gathering of people decided it was so. Less surely, the date. March 1 is an arbitrary date . . . like Christmas.
Between Hus and 1457, his followers attacked, retreated, defenestrated, and negotiated. Finding relative peace in the forests of Kunvald, the Unity developed a unique theology, polity, and ethic.
The Brethren’s linden in Kunvald has weathered each of the seasons of want and plenty, drought and deluge, not-enoughness and enoughness. It has marked the going out and coming in of faithful Moravians. It has endured the times of scarcity and reveled in the times of abundance. It has sown seeds and hidden them for other seasons.
The Lord has kept our going out and our coming in: Kunvald and Herrnhut and St. Thomas and Bethlehem and Salem and Star Mountain and Milwaukee and . . . and…and . . . and now back to Prague. I take comfort in the faithful care the Lord has afforded the Unity from generation to generation. I take pride in what the Lord has asked of us and how we have responded to those calls. I aspire to the ideals and values of the Ancient Unity and the Modern Unity.
We have every reason to believe that the Lord will keep our going out and our coming in during the next Moravian Christian era. The Lord will keep us as we persevere. The Lord will keep us as we wait. We have every reason to believe that God will keep our going out and our coming in . . . as long as we go out and come back.
Our Lamb is still conquering our apathy, our indifference, our indecisiveness. Let us follow!
Kerry Krause, pastor
Sister Bay Moravian Church
Sister Bay, Wisconsin