Saturday before Easter - on the verge of something new. Easter is a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but first comes this day in between Good Friday and Easter. In some respects it seems the Church of the Brethren is also in this in-between time.
Linda Logan who wrote the Whatza Wissahickon? heritage curriculum for children in 1992 includes the following reminder in her closing chapter:
In some ways the church has changed a lot since 1708 when we had only eight members. We no longer dress plain. We live like everyone else in America. Most of us were German in the early days. We lived on farms and had country churches. Now we have 150 thousand people and we are white, black, hispanic, and Asian, a rainbow of wonderful people. We are poor and rich, country people and city people. We have big churches and little churches. ... we welcome people of all colors, cultures, and languages. We believe that God wants us to live, work, and worship together. Remember that Paul said our bodies have many different parts. We are not all legs or all arms or all heads. As the Church of the Brethren body grows in variety, it looks more and more like a real body with many different parts. This is how God wants us to be.
Even though the church has changed in 300 years, many things stay the same. We still believe that Jesus is our example and redeemer, that God guides our every decision. We still believe in feetwashing, love feast, simple living, no force in religion, the priesthood of all believers, and peace.
The stories of your lives will be the stories that Brethren in the future tell their children. You are the church today and you are tomorrow's heritage. ... How would you like to be remembered?
