About Home Moravian Church

Lent is the forty-day season of reflection and preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus, which are commemorated on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is a time of repentance, of considering Christ’s sufferings, and rethinking Jesus’ presence in our everyday lives.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes with the Maundy Thursday Communion Service (Last Supper). Every Wednesday during Lent, Communion will be held in our Sanctuary.

The last week of Lent before Easter is known as Holy Week, reflecting its significance for our church. Each night of the week there is a reading service held in the Home Moravian Church Sanctuary. The readings cover Christ’s activities, humiliation and suffering during this week leading up to the Crucifixion.

On Good Friday, we hold a reading service focused on the Crucifixion. This service concludes quietly as the clock in the church tower strikes 3 p.m., which is thought to be the hour of the Lord’s death. A Good Friday Lovefeast is a high point of worship in the Home Moravian Church year.

The Easter Sunrise Service begins around the 6:00 a.m. hour on the northeast corner of Salem Square in front of the church, and will be live-streamed.

The 253rd Easter Sunrise Service of Salem Congregation will be held on Sunday, April 20, 2025 at a time to be announced in early 2025.  Presiding at the service will be the 2025 chair of the Salem Congregation Board of Elders.

Parking for the Easter Sunrise service is on streets and lots in and around Old Salem. The Elberson Fine Arts Center lot behind Home Moravian Church is CLOSED except to band members and other participants holding passes, although early-morning parking is allowed along Salem Avenue. Directions to Home Moravian Church.

Regular Sunday Worship is also held on Easter at 10 a.m.

We invite you to join with us for any or all of the services and activities of his important time in our church year, when we are reminded, “Christ the Lord is risen today. Christ the Son of God still lives.”

About the Easter Sunrise Service

The Easter Sunrise Service of the Salem Congregation* begins in front of Home Moravian Church and concludes in nearby God’s Acre, as all Moravian graveyards are called. This service typically draws thousands of Christians from near and far. Many more will worship online. The service is broadcast live on WXII-TV, and on the radio at WSJS 600 AM and 101.5 FM.

The Easter Sunrise Service of the Moravian Church dates back to 1732, when the first service was held in Herrnhut, Germany on the estate of Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf, one of the 18th-century founders of the Renewed Moravian Church. Those early Moravians gathered at the first light of dawn among the graves of their departed brothers and sisters, to hail the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to sing hymns of praise.

Beginning in the early morning hours of Easter, Moravian Band members from throughout the region divide into small units and play Easter hymns across the city. The bands gradually come together and form larger groups until the full band can be heard playing antiphonally in the streets around Old Salem during the hour before the Sunrise Service begins.

The service begins in front of Home Moravian Church, as the presiding minister proclaims, “The Lord is Risen!” then leads the gathered faithful in the Moravian Easter Morning Liturgy, which is essentially a summary of Moravian beliefs and teaching and a confession of faith in the power of the risen Christ.

Midway through the liturgy, the congregation quietly processes two blocks to God’s Acre. There, the full band finally joins for the remainder of the service. The sky brightens, and the service concludes as the sun rises.

*Some of the above was borrowed, with gratitude, from the “Easter Morning Radio Broadcast Commentary” by Brother Gil Frank, a Home Moravian Church member. The Salem Congregation is a group of churches that each began with members associated with Moravians in Salem (now called Old Salem).

The Moravian Lovefeast is a modern version of the “agape” meals held in homes during the New Testament-early Christian era. At Home Moravian Church lovefeasts, we generally serve coffee and a sweet bun while hearing choral anthems and singing hymns based on the theme of the service, such as mission, Christmas, Good Friday, or special anniversaries of the church. After everyone has been served by dieners (German for “servers”), a blessing for the meal is spoken: “Come Lord Jesus, Our Guest to be, and bless these gifts bestowed by Thee.”

Everyone partakes while music is provided. A brief message is usually included as part of the service. On Christmas Eve, lighted beeswax candles are passed to everyone, reaffirming faith in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

Each Lovefeast includes a prelude which generally includes the Home Moravian Church Band, an organ or instrumental prelude, and special music, such as the Gregor BellChor.

Home Moravian Church 2024 Lovefeast Dates

• Sunday, August 18, 2024, 10 a.m. – August 13^th Festival Lovefeast
• Sunday, November 17, 2024, 10 a.m. – 253^rd Anniversary of the Home Church Congregation
• Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 11 a.m. – Christmas Eve Children’s Lovefeast & Candle Service
• Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 2:30 p.m. – Christmas Eve Family Lovefeast & Candle Service
• Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 5 p.m. – Christmas Eve Lovefeast & Candle Service
• Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 7:45 p.m. – Christmas Eve Lovefeast & Candle Service

Martyrdom of John (Jan) Hus (1369-1415) – Father of the Moravian Church

The next celebration of the Martyrdom of John Hus will be held at Home Moravian Church on July 7, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.  The service will include the sacrament of Holy Communion.

This service of Holy Communion marks the occasion of the martyrdom of John (Jan) Hus, whose teaching and preaching in the early 15th century gave rise to what is today the Moravian Church.

On Saturday, July 6, 1415, the town of Constance, situated on both banks of the river Rhine, witnessed the last act of a tragedy. Hus, a Czech priest and preacher, marked as a heretic by Rome, passed the cemetery where his books were being burned and, in the next moment, he suffered the same fate.

In 1400, Hus was ordained to the priesthood and, the following year, elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Prague University. He was especially impressed with the views of Oxford theologian John Wyclif, who stressed the importance of preaching and the necessity of striving for a moral revival of the Church.

In 1402, Hus was appointed a preacher at Bethlehem Chapel. From the pulpit of Bethlehem Chapel as well as at the University, he constantly promoted reform within the Church. The number of his friends increased, as did the number of his adversaries.

Finally, Archbishop Zbynek Zajíc of Hasenburk forbade Hus to continue preaching. Hus did not obey. His message of fidelity to the truth passed on from generation to generation, forms the inner core of his legacy to the Church and his nation.

His message still needs to be heard by all who care for the truth, “Seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, abide by the truth, defend the truth unto death.” (Jaroslav Necas and Vaclav Starý, Master John Hus and the Town of Husinec)

In 1457 followers of Hus established, in what is now the Czech Republic, the Unitas Fratrum, Latin for “Unity of Brethren,” which ultimately became known as the Moravian Church.

The signing of the “Covenant for Christian Living” by our ancestors on May 12, 1727, brought great blessing to the 300 refugees living on the estate of Count Zinzendorf in Saxony. The first communion service of the united community after May 12, was held on August 13 at the village church in Berthelsdorf. So great was the blessing felt during this communion, and so great and lasting was its influence that it has been called the Birthday of the Renewed Moravian Church. The “Covenant for Christian Living” continues to serve as a guide for our life together.

It was also on this memorable day in 1727 that the custom of the Lovefeast in the Moravian Church began. Having returned home to Herrnhut after the communion, the villagers gathered in small groups, continuing to talk over the great blessing they had received. After noon, Count Zinzendorf had food sent to each of them from his home, and they ate, prayed, talked, and sang together, probably in seven different homes. The resemblance of this incident to the ancient “Agape” of the first-century Christians prompted Zinzendorf and others to promote the idea. Thus, the Lovefeast, a simple meal shared in the church in a spirit of fellowship and love, became a custom in the life of the Moravians.

The next worship observances of the August 13th Festival at Home Moravian Church will include a Service of Holy Communion on August 11, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., followed one week later by the August 13th Festival Lovefeast on Sunday, August 18, 2024, at 10:00 a.m.