Click on the photograph to enlarge the view!
(Pictures are courtesy of Earline Pryor, a member of Calvary Moravian)
Click on the photograph to
enlarge the view!
(Pictures are courtesy of Earline Pryor, a member of Calvary Moravian)
These pictures were taken at the Christmas Eve Lovefeast and Candle Service held at Calvary each Christmas Eve at 11:00 a.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The early Christians met and broke bread together to signify their union, fellowship and love. In 1727, the Moravian Church revived this practice, and it has established the custom of celebrating the great church festivals by partaking together of a simple meal known as a "Lovefeast" within the context of worship. The first Lovefeasts of the Moravian Church in North America were held in Savannah, Georgia, during the years 1735 to 1740. The first Lovefeast in Wachovia was held on the evening of the arrival of the first Moravian colonists in North Carolina, November 17, 1753, at Bethabara.
The Christmas Eve Lovefeast, with its lighted candles, is one of the most beautiful services of the Moravian Church. The custom originated on the European continent at Marienborn in the year 1747, and spread throughout the Moravian world. The first Christmas Eve Lovefeast held at Bethabara was in 1753, and at Salem in 1771. In North Carolina, the candles were used for the first time in the children’s Lovefeast of Bethabara and Bethania in 1762. Every person is given a lighted candle to remind him that Christ said, "I am the light of the world", and "ye are the light of the world – let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The red trim on the beeswax candle reminds us of the blood of Christ and his sacrificial death for us on the cross.
Holy Week and Easter
During Holy Week, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Day, Moravians gather daily for Holy Week reading services. A Readings for Holy Week manual, containing a compilation of the gospel narratives of Christ’s last week on earth is read each day, with hymns interspersed as a response between readings. On Maundy Thursday we gather for the Holy Communion as we walk with Christ to the Garden. On Friday, two services are held, one at the hour of Christ’s death in the afternoon and another, a Lovefeast, is held in the evening. On Sunday, the congregations of the Salem Congregation (of which Calvary is a member) join together in sponsoring the...
Easter Sunrise Service of the Moravian Church
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The Sunrise Service of the Moravians in Winston-Salem is an old service, rich in deep spiritual significance. It originated in Herrnhut, Saxony, a village which had been established in 1722 on the estate of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf by a band of religious refugees, descendants of the Ancient Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church). On Easter Sunday in 1732, before dawn, a group of earnest young men met by special appointment on "God’s Acre" to sing appropriate hymns and to mediate upon the great fact of Christ’s death and resurrection. To these young men, as they stood among the simply marked graves, singing their songs of hope and faith, watching the rising sun drive darkness from the hills and valley, there came a deeper appreciation of the resurrection truth than they had ever before experienced. With this simple beginning, the holding of a sunrise service on Easter morning became an annual feature in the worship services of the Moravian Church.
In Winston-Salem, this service, with little variation from the traditional and liturgical form, has been held since 1772, under the auspices of the Salem Congregation Churches. It is in no sense one of spectacular appeal or pageantry, but is held as a service of true worship, centering attention on the great underlying fact of the Christian faith. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, through which God placed a seal of approval on Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and established the truth of the claims of our religion. The service offers each one who attends an opportunity to renew faith in the Risen Christ, in "the communion of the saints" in "the forgiveness of sins" and in "the life everlasting."
The last portion of the service is held in...
God’s Acre
The site for the graveyard was selected April 21, 1766; the avenue bordering the graveyard was laid out in the year 1770; and the first body, that of John Birkhead, one of the eight men who first came to the settlement, was interred June 7, 1771.
The Moravians still call their graveyard by that significant and ancient name used by their fathers- "God’s Acre." It is a "field" in which the bodies of loved ones are sown in faith as "physical bodies," in due time to be raised as "spiritual bodies."
A feature of God’s Acre is the recumbent stones, symbolizing the Moravian belief in the democracy of death and making it impossible to distinguish between the graves of rich and poor. The burial of members according to "choirs" or station in life (married men, married women, single men, single women, etc.) rather than by families, is another distinguishing feature, carrying out the departmental system which was introduced into the Moravian Church over two hundred years ago by Count Zinzendorf.
The Church Band
Music was from the beginning assigned a prominent place in the Moravian Church, both for its cultural value and as an aid in the expression and development of religious life. Congregational singing is made a feature of its services, and the Band is used to helpful advantage in outdoor services, on festival occasions, and in the Moravian funeral service. Particular emphasis has been placed on the development of the Band, which had a small beginning with six members over two hundred years ago. It has grown from that small beginning to more than five hundred members and is composed of parents, children and grandchildren. About two o’clock on Easter morning, all the Moravian musicians who play in the Band assemble in groups to go throughout the city playing chorales, partly to remind all listeners of the Resurrection, and partly to awaken people for the Sunrise Service. The first chorale played by each group is "Sleepers, Wake!"
The Service is broadcast live each year by WSJS radio 600 on the AM dial. The time of the service varies since Easter falls both before and after daylight savings time. Please call the Calvary Church office prior to Easter to find out the exact time of the service.
This page was last updated on:
Monday, August 30, 2004 01:21:47 PM -0400