Watchword: Daily Text
August Watchword:
Daily Text
August 13, 2013
Feast of August 13
Happy
Birthday/Anniversary to the Renewed Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church)
Joshua 24:16-24
Today Moravians and others all over the world will read the
passage listed above. It was listed as an extra passage, because today was a commemoration
of the Renewed Unitas Fratrum dating back to August 13, 1727 in Herrnhut (Saxony)
on the estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf.[1] I am blessed to have a Moravian bakery nearby
so I enjoyed the customary love feast bun and coffee. August 13 was a day to be remembered in
Herrnhut. Herrnhut was Christian feudal community established on the estate of
Count Zinzendorf, for the purpose of allowing respite for persecuted religious refugees,
but there was great diversity among them. The village had been torn apart by
divisions and disagreements that threatened to be the end of it. On May 12, the
Count had met with the villagers and addressed them for 3 hours on the topic of
unity and then had presented a Brotherly Agreement for their signing. Throughout the summer, the Lord began to bless
the members of the Herrnhut community, and they had begun to dwell as a
community rather than the fractured sort of group that had previously existed. It was during this time that Zinzendorf also
discovered a document that dated back several hundred years that nearly matched
his Brotherly Agreement. He linked it to John Amos Comenius, a Moravian minister (one of the Bohemian Brothers of Moravia) of the sixteenth century. This was confirmation
in his mind that the most of the group that existed on his land were of the
Bohemian Brethren. He reported back to
the group who embraced this news with joy.
On Sunday August 12 two young girls were being received as members of
the church. Their earnest confession of Christ as Savior before all present touched many hearts. The next day, the
church was celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
The power of the Lord was so evident in these two events, that the
Hernhuters pledged themselves to live in love and unity with one another and to
live for the Lamb, handling problems in a way that honored Him. The date was August
13, 1727.[2]
Each person – each generation has had to make that same decision.
In today’s daily text, the Israelites are standing with
Joshua once to pledge once again their allegiance to the LORD (Jehovah, the
personal God of Israel). Joshua
repeatedly warns them of their proclivity to go astray from serving their God,
but they maintain their determined stance to serve the LORD. I read a few successive verses and found that
these determined followers were indeed faithful to their word. Scripture
reveals that they were true to the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days
of the elders that followed him after his death[3],
but then things changed. The Old
Testament is rife with stories of idolatry and going astray with moments of
revival until the nation collapses into total apostasy[4]
– the lesson being each person – each generation must decide to keep that flame
alive.
[1] The Memorial Days of the Renewed Church of
the Brethren. (London: Moravian Publication Office) 1895: 80.
[3]
Joshua 24:31.
[4]
Malachi 4 (By the time of Malachi, Israel had degenerated into “going through
the motions” in their worship. This prophet would close the Old Testament era
and they would go into 400 long years of silence until John the Baptist broke
on the scene.)
[5]
Joshua 24:15
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