Moravian Messenger March 2019

moravian
MARCH 2019
messenger
Unity Prayer Day
An annual day of prayer in
the worldwide Moravian Church
On the road to Haflong © Sr Roberta Hoey
The Prayer Watch
The Moravian Church is a church in which prayer plays an important role. Very well known is the Unity Prayer Watch, which is in principle the uninterrupted prayer by brothers and sisters around the Unity. Each Province is asked to do a 24 hours prayer watch on a number of days each year. Originally it started in 1727, when the brothers and sisters in Herrnhut, Germany, decided to covenant for an 'hourly intercession'. It was in the days after the 13th of August that a number of brothers and sisters decided to take responsibility for what was understood as a 'holy watch over the congregation'. The inspiration was found in the words 'to pray without ceasing', (1. Thess. 5,17). Members of the congregation in Herrnhut signed up for praying for an hour, and the prayer watch had become a reality. It was known as the 'hourly intercession'. The hourly intercession was exercised in many Moravian congregations until 1825. So this unbroken chain of prayer had been going on for almost 100 years. It has been called the longest prayer meeting in the history of the church. It ceased to exist for a number of years but was reinstated as a service of the Moravian Church to the world, when the 'Prayer Watch' in which Moravians around the world participate, was re-established in 1957, the 500th
anniversary of the Unitas Fratrum. This still continues. The British Province and the South African Province have been asked to take the prayer watch on June 26th to July 9th.
The Unity Prayer Day, the Unity Offering
Another service of prayer, offered by the Moravian Church worldwide, is the Unity Prayer Day. The Unity Synod 1967 decided that the Sunday nearest March 1st should be observed as 'Unity Prayer Day'. The 1st of March is the date for commemoration of the founding of the Unitas Fratrum, the Ancient Unity, which was founded on 1st of March 1457 in the village of Kunvald in the Bohemian mountains. There is a strong symbolism in making the Sunday closest to the 1st of March the Unity Prayer Day. It is an appropriate way of not only commemorating the founding of the Unity, but it is also a living
and vibrant tradition to spend that day in prayer.
continues inside on page 28
My weekend at the URC Youth Assembly
(page 27)
Integrity of Creation
(page 29)
The present bamboo church in Haflong
Sr Clarissa Johnson
(pages 31)
Congregational News Hall Green Ordination of Sr
Lorraine Shorten
(page 33)
© Sr Roberta Hoey