I have been thinking about Moravian “firsts.” I wish we could have avoided the new first of canceling so many public services, even the Easter Service in God’s Acre. I am glad it will be streamed online from the Home Church. Here is a link.

So, too, I am glad that, people at Fries Memorial Moravian, including Michael Westmoreland, are working to prepare some on-line versions of the Holy Week Services. That will be a first, though I wish we might have avoided it. That said, one of the positives brought about by the pandemic is that it forces all of us to embrace life in the 21st Century creative new ways. That which does not kill us, as individuals, as a church, as a society will make us stronger. St. Paul affirms this for Christians in Romans 5.

I pray that you will all “take-care.” I don’t need to tell you to pray for your friends, neighbors, church, nation and world. You are doing that.

While you are self-isolating, turn to page 2 using the buttons below, and consider a few of the important Moravian firsts from times gone by. They are from a paper I am currently revising for use in classes at church entitled “The Moravian Experience.”