Pastor Joe's Weekly Letter
November 10, 2022
Dear Bethania Moravian Family,
As I said in my sermon on Sunday, we are in the “days of days”. From the
end of October right into the New Year, it seems like the church celebrates one
special day after another. We have Reformation Day and All Saints Day, then
Reign of Christ Sunday and Thanksgiving Day, then into Advent and Christmas
Day and New Year’s Day. This coming Sunday is another one of those important
days- the celebration of Jesus Christ as our Chief Elder.
Between 1732, when the first Moravian missionaries left Germany to share
the Gospel, and 1741, the Moravian Church had spread far beyond the village of
Herrnhut. And as a result the job of Chief Elder, who was both the spiritual and
temporal leader of the Moravian Church, had grown to be too much for one
person to handle. So the Moravian leaders came to the obvious conclusion that
there was no one other than Jesus himself who would be able to fill that
important role.
On November 13, 1742 the Moravian Church officially recognized Jesus
Christ at Chief Elder of the church. And he has remained so to this day. In the
Church Order of the Unitas Fratrum we find this statement: -“Jesus Christ is the
one Lord and Head of His body, the Church. Because of this, the Church owes no
allegiance to any authority whatsoever which opposes his dominion.”
This Sunday we will join with Moravians around the world as we partake
in Holy Communion to remember and affirm that Jesus is and remains the Chief
Elder of our church and our lives.
Pastor Joe
