Dear Edgeboro Family & Friends,

I noticed that the last few times I’ve written for The Envoy, I’ve been consistently identifying which season of the church year we’re entering into and the impacts that has on our ability to see God working in our midst. We’ve already been through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, and now, as of May 23, we’re in Pentecost. Named after the Greek word for “fiftieth”, this season starts 50 days after Easter and is marked by the event when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples (Acts 2). We are in the season of the Holy Spirit, and since the Holy Spirit is known for giving gifts (1 Cor. 12), inspiring us to live in fruitful ways (Gal. 5:22- 23), and instilling within us power, comfort, and holiness, we should be especially mindful of these things during this season.

Among those gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are wisdom and love, or to use other words, discernment and community. While discernment and community are prevalent in many ways in the life of the church, they will certainly be evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit during our upcoming District Synod and Provincial Synod.

Synods of various sizes have been taking place for nearly 300 years in the Moravian Church. It’s how the church establishes and/or selects doctrine, theology, legislation, financial and ministry plans, protocols, and leadership. While each area of the Moravian Church handles synods a bit differently, Edgeboro is represented in three synods based on location – Unity, Provincial, and District.

All of the Moravian churches located east of the Indiana and Michigan borders make up the Eastern District. The Eastern District Synod is the highest judicatory in the district and takes place every four years (originally scheduled for 2020, rescheduled for June 25- 26, 2021). Based on church membership, Edgeboro will be represented by me and three delegates elected at the church council meeting in January 2020: Lacey Bacon, Andrew Miller, and Craig Neiman. Among other items of ministry, we will be electing a new president of the Eastern District Executive Board. (Please thank Dave Bennett when you see him for his service in this role for the last 13 years. His final term expires at this synod.)

All of the Moravian churches located in Washington D.C., Alberta, Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Arizona, and California make up the Northern Province. (Note: We no longer have churches in some of these areas). Like the District Synod, the Northern Province Synod is the highest judicatory in the province and also takes place every four years. (The next regularly scheduled provincial synod will be in 2022.) This year, a special provincial synod has been scheduled for July 10 to discuss the possibility of exploring some kind of working relationship between Moravian Theological Seminary and Lancaster Theological Seminary. Based on church membership, Edgeboro will be represented by me and two delegates recently elected by the Joint Board: Kyle Borowski and Carole Schachter.

All Moravian churches in the world make up the Moravian Unity. Like the District and Provincial synods, the Unity Synod is the highest judicatory in the Unity and takes place every seven years. (The next Unity synod will take place in 2023.) The Northern Province is represented by three delegates – two are elected at provincial synod and one is elected by the Provincial Elders’ Conference.

Though each of these synods does a lot of legislative, financial, and administrative work, synods have always been Spirit-filled and Spirit-led events by design. From a 2018 article on moravian.org, “Unlike delegates to a government legislative session, however, Synod delegates are not given the mandate to vote a certain way or “represent” the views of their congregation. All delegates should be open to how the Holy Spirit guides them and not be beholden to opinions coming in to Synod.” This is done so that our gathering together in community (love) can lead to and work with discernment (wisdom) as a collective body brought together by the Holy Spirit. From the same article, “Synod helps us discover God’s leading for the church … Our time together gives God an opportunity to speak to us and through us, and for us to listen to God and one another in discerning the future direction of the church.” (Betsy Miller, President of the Provincial Elders’ Conference of the Northern Province) In other words, the Holy Spirit will most definitely be at work during these synods.

Two synods in one summer is a rare occurrence, which is why I thought there was a need to write a bit about synods. Please be in prayer for Edgeboro’s delegates and our fellow Moravian brothers and sisters of the district and the province on June 25-26 and July 10 as they participate in these Spirit-filled events.

May the presence of the Holy Spirit surround you all in this season of the Spirit that we are in.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Dan