Category: Star Newsletter

“The Lord is Risen!”

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 There is no service of worship more characteristically “Moravian” than those based upon our Easter Morning Liturgy. Indeed, so central is it that Moravians often self-identify as “Easter people,” not because they believe they have any special claim to the promise of resurrection, but rather because the celebration of God’s raising of Jesus from the dead embodies the core of our faith and hope. How stirring it is to be among a congregation when the pastor’s profession: “The Lord is risen!” is answered by massed voices responding “The Lord is risen indeed!” I cherish childhood memories of Easter Dawn services outside of Home Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, NC where over ten thousand persons voiced those words. 

 Yet as moving as such collective affirmations of faith are, they are no substitute for our individual experience of relationship with God through the risen Christ. An account of an exchange between Moravian Bishop August Spangenberg and a young John Wesley during the height of a violent storm at sea on the voyage to America brings the matter into sharp focus. Spangenberg asked Wesley, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Wesley replied, “I know he is Savior of the world.” “True,” said Spangenberg, “but do you know that he has saved you?” It is one thing to profess the Lord is risen in a crowd on Easter morning; it is quite another to profess it at home with just as much hope, joy, and faith in the midst of this present storm. Yet that is the challenge – and the gift – of these times. Alone or in small family groups we have the time to ponder what we really believe and to make it our own. 

 It is worth remembering that according to the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene was alone when the miracle of the Resurrection was revealed to her. Though she testified to the other disciples regarding what she had seen, they had to go and see for themselves. Though we traditionally celebrate Easter together, the truth at its heart must be discovered and owned by each of us individually. That truth – that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it; that the power of death, sin, and separation has been broken by God; that hope shall prevail over despair – is not diminished by our inability to gather together. Rather it becomes all the more necessary and compelling. 

 As I write, the flowers spring from the ground, the trees bud and bloom, and life in the natural world goes on. So too, Easter will come. We will celebrate the best we can on the day of Resurrection – remote from one another in body yet close in spirit and heart. Even if there is no one else to hear it, even if unuttered, I invite you to lift your heart to God on Easter morning and know that the Lord is risen indeed!

Easter Blessing to You All,
Pastor Derek

This We Truly Believe

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What we truly believe matters. A true belief is an ideas transformed into action. Our actions shape our lives; collectively our lives shape the world in which we live.

The true beliefs of a society determine not only the quality of life of its members, but also that society’s impact on other societies and – given modern humanity’s unprecedented dominion over the earth – the extinction or survival of entire species and/or ecosystems. True belief has its consequences.

What do you truly believe?

In the past the belief structure of many, perhaps even most, persons was shaped largely by that of their local community. Today this is no longer true. We live in an era of heightened communication and access to information. The internet, radio and television allow us to share as never before in an open ended, free-flowing exchange of ideas and beliefs. Old belief systems are constantly exposed to challenge and alternative belief systems. As a result, most persons find themselves assembling a personal belief structure from a variety of  sources – the internet, television programming, school, work, friends, talk radio, etc.

Unfortunately not all ideas and belief structures are created equal. Without some proven frame of reference the individual has no way of evaluating the information he or she receive. That’s where familiarity with a well established, carefully thought-out worldview such as that of orthodox Christianity can help. You may not agree with all the particulars, but at least you don’t have to reinvent the wheel from scratch.

When thinking about faith many persons are immediately drawn to questions concerning whether a said belief is reasonable, defensible, or factually true. For me, the far more important and interesting question is the function of that belief within the life of an individual or society.

The New Testament describes a vision of a world in which the majority of persons truly believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and Jesus Christ. It is a world at peace, a world where justice abounds, a world filled with righteous persons, a world where resources are shared, rather than fought over or hoarded. It is a world in which persons forgive the sins, the slights, the injuries they have received from others in the same manner in which they hope to be forgiven by God and by others. It is a world of life, love, and hope.  … And all of this flows from a true, lived belief in a loving Creator who gave his only Son to us to save us from ourselves.

“But,” says the agnostic, “what evidence is there to back up your belief.” None, other than that which can only be perceived by faith. To play on a saying about peace: “There is no way to faith; faith is the way.”

“But,” says the agnostic, “ … many persons in the Church don’t act as if they believe this. Further, this is too idealistic ever to work.” Sadly, both true. Yet this is no indictment of either Christ or Christianity, only of the sincerity of Christians and their unwillingness to live out their belief in daily life. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

What do you truly believe? Does your belief make the world a better place?