On Sunday, February 22, eight or so members of Home Moravian Church attended the 9:00 a.m. service at St. Paul’s, Winston Salem, NC  .  The following Sunday a similar number of our parishioners attended Sunday worship at Home Moravian.  Both of these visits are part of the ongoing dialogue, entitled, Getting to Know You, between the Episcopal and Moravian Churches that was approved by the General Convention last August.  Similar to the covenant we now have with the Lutherans, this agreement is intended to bring our churches closer together and encourage the sharing of Communion.

Ann Cross graciously agreed to coordinate St. Paul’s group, which consists of Anne Butler, Roane Cross, Temp Elliot, Catherine Hendren, Philip Van Horn, Mike Sprinkle, Ann Timmons, and George Whitaker.  Craig Atwood, Theologian-in-Residence at Home Moravian (similar to Fred Horton at St. Paul’s), is the Coordinator for Home Moravian, and the group includes Brenda Dalton, Beth and Gil Frank, Jim and Roberta Pettit, Charles Turner, Jack White, Betsey Willard and Bob Williams.  The groups will meet together six times in addition to sharing each other’s worship.  Obviously, some time to discuss the worship after experiencing it in both traditions is an important part of the dialogue.

In the other six sessions the groups will study the history of each congregation and each tradition, church structure, theology, ministry (both ordained and lay), and then make some plans for full communion with one another.  How blessed we are to be in this area, one of the major concentrations of Moravians in the country, where we can appreciate the history and tradition of our sister communion.   In my class at Yale Divinity School in the early 1970’s, my first encounter with the Moravian Church came through a fellow seminarian named Gary Harke, and he is now Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches and quite active in the Moravian/Episcopal Dialogue.  Everything I have learned from Moravians since has confirmed the first positive impressions that Gary gave me.  Join me in looking forward to more interactions with our Moravian brothers and sisters.W