Celebrating Moravians on Independence Day
Today is Independence Day in the United States. John Adams may disagree since I understand he wanted July 2 to be remembered - the day the resolution was passed. But today is the day we celebrate the ideals of freedom and liberty.
This past Sunday our church celebrated this national event with an Independence Day Lovefeast. The back of the bulletin noted the fact that Moravians were the first people to celebrate July 4th as a holiday to thank God for the freedom of our nation. But, more importantly, it was also noted that during the Revolutionary War (why do we capitalize that?) Moravians were pacifists. They were viewed with suspicion by both sides and often paid dearly for their convictions.
I don't know that many in the pews last Sunday paid much attention to that small note on our history, but I did. And I am grateful that the fact of our peace roots can still make it into print.
I don't know much about our Moravian pacifists and what they might have done to prevent war or how they may have preached nonviolence or love of enemy as Jesus taught. Perhaps others will add to this discussion and enlighten me. I have discovered, though, that the war for independence from England may have been unnecessary and that the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence were destined to form a new nation without war.
Peacebuilders everywhere will find hope and encouragement in a little known history book entitled, The Missing Peace: The Search for Nonviolent Alternatives in United States History. The authors, James Juhnke and Carol Hunter, give us another view of history and show that time and time again nonviolent alternatives were available throughout the history of this nation.
Today we celebrate the ideals of freedom and liberty that God wants for all humanity. But we also read everyday of the legacy violent means to those ends have brought to the world. As Juhnke and Hunter point out, successful wars encourage people to resort to violence in the future. It is up to us as peacebuilders and disciples of the Prince of Peace to teach the third way and highlight the successes of nonviolent action.
Just one example from this book: Americans are remarkably well informed of the details of the Boston Tea Party of December 17,1773, while we are quite ignorant about the success of the people in Philadelphia who at the same time were nonviolently persuading the British captain to take the East India tea back to England.
What would America, and the world, be like today if nonviolence had prevailed? Early Moravians seemed to know and Moravians today are called by the same God to lead lives of nonviolence and love.
