“Where have we been and Where are we going?”
A message from the young adults of our Moravian Church worldwide.
Last July, Katie Stehly and Beth Dexter-Rice, two members of Central Moravian Church and college students, journeyed with other young adult Moravians throughout the world to rediscover their spiritual roots in Prague and Herrnhut, Germany. Below is an excerpt from Katie’s message she delivered to Central on August 12th, 2007. Katie will be a senior at Elizabethtown College, pursuing a degree in secondary education in social studies.
Beth and I bring greetings from the roots of the Moravian Church in the Czech Republic and Herrnhut, Germany. From July 1 – 9, the Young Adult Convo 2007 set off on “a journey home to find our future.” First, I would like to thank BAM, the Northern Province, Central and the congregation for the monetary and spiritual support to allow Beth and I to go on this pilgrimage back to our homeland. This Convo actually marked the 50th anniversary of Convos. All 108 young adults and leaders met in Bethlehem to begin this pilgrimage to discover the roots of the Moravian Church. The familiar faces of Otto Dreydopple and Bishop Blair Couch gave a tour of historic Bethlehem and we all worshiped together at College Hill.
Way before Germany and after Bethlehem, the group arrived in Prague to learn about the history of the country as well as where the Moravian church sprouted from. When we visited the Bethlehem chapel where Jon Hus preached, we all stood in the church and sang “Jesus makes my Heart Rejoice,” breaking into 4 part harmony in true Moravian fashion. We saw the spot where Hus was burned at the stake, but unfortunately his statue in the town square was under construction so all we got to see was a large blue tarp! Prague is a beautiful city and I was truly impressed by the magical feel of the city as well as the architecture as any of my friends and family can tell you after viewing about 300 pictures of just buildings that I thought were “pretty.”
Our next historical site was Kunwald. Kunwald was the birthplace of the church and the first permanent settlement of the Bohmenian Brethren who came from Prague. Comenius preached here and the house in Kunwald has been restored to a museum and upstairs there is a flag dedicated to the Moravian Church in the Northern Province and a picture of Central and Lititz are on it. While in Kunwald, we hiked to the Linden tree that Comenius preached under when there was no church. This was probably my favorite moment because of the connection to nature and the earth. To know that on Sunday’s we come to this beautiful church in this quaint little town and all the way back in 1457 in quaint little Kunwald, Comenius preached under this tree before there was a church.
We moved onto Germany making a stop at the Chalice Rocks where our ancestors worshipped when public worship was banned. Pictures cannot do justice to this glacial formation or portray just how big these rocks actually are. The Moravians lived among these rocks and just a little trivia—Thomas’ house in the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia, was filmed here.
We continued on our way to Herrnhut and managed to be in three countries in one day. our. Our two busses rounded the bend into Herrnhut and as soon as I saw the town before me, I felt like I was seeing Bethlehem. There is a striking resemblance and rightly so.
While in Herrnhut, the youth pastor and some of the youth from the church threw us a picnic and taught us some dances and games. We attended a Singstundte at the church and the pastor wanted us to sing some of our songs. We gladly brought out our guitars and some of our contemporary music, but we did close with “Sing Hallelujah, Praise the Lord” and the congregation later commented that we sounded like a well-practiced choir.
We did manage to fit in a little free time where all 108 of us ran to the approximately 5 open stores in the small town. We went to the Comenius Bookstore and the star shop, which I am being paid to say that Pastor Reifinger’s star and candle shop is far superior!
Now, it is amazingly fitting that I should end today by recounting the last day of our trip in Berthlesdorf, where the August 13th experience occurred. This event marks the rebirth of our church, and led to the mission movement that sent members of this small faith community around the world. We walked to Berthelsdorf, which is only about a mile away from Herrnhut. We stopped at the Zinzendorf Castle and shared a lovefeast and then walked over to the Berthelsdorf Lutheran Church where the August 13th event actually occurred. We had a lovely worship service with a poignant message delivered by Bishop Sam Grey. How appropriate that today is August 12th and we are celebrating the moment that took place 280 years ago in a small town in which Bethlehem is modeled after. WOW!
To close I would like to answer Convo’s theme question of, “Where have we been and Where are we going?” I have been on every continent except Antarctica within the past five years, most recently I took this pilgrimage to Europe to trace the history and discover the roots of the Moravian Church and find out where our ancestors have been. Where are we going? The Moravian church is expanding its borders from the small town of Herrnhut, Germany to the far reaches of Nepal, Africa and Costa Rica. We are going, going, but certainly not gone and I now know more than ever where I am going--- wherever God takes me! I am set to graduate in May as a social studies teacher, but through my travels and especially this pilgrimage to our homeland, I know I want to go places and do things in the name of the Moravian Church and in the name of God just as our ancestors in Herrnhut did nearly 300 years ago. Amen
Beth Dexter-Rice, a sophomore at Cornell University, was unable to speak on August 12th in church, but she adds these comments:
During the whole pilgrimage I became increasingly proud to be a member of the Moravian Church, after learning about all the difficulties our founders overcame in order to ensure our church’s survival. It was a very powerful feeling to be able to stand at the same spots where the first Moravians worshiped, and to realize that the same beliefs, traditions, and ideals had been passed down through generations of Moravians to reach all of those Convo participants—and it wasn’t always easy to ensure that the Moravian religion survived and spread throughout the world as it has today.
The Convo was filled with inspiring, interesting, and diverse people who were filled with ambition and ideas. I was amazed at how different many of the participants were, but also at how easily we bonded and came together through the music and traditions of the Moravian church. I was also amazed at how easy it was to find other people with similar values to me. Many of the people I met were involved in missions, the environment, or were pursuing a career dedicated to helping people. All of the young Moravians were dedicated to help making the world a better place in their own ways. After spending a week getting to know the future generation of Moravian leaders, I am confident that the church will be headed for a bright future.