| The Hagerstown Church of the Brethren |
| Tercentennial Minutes - February 2008 by Pastor Frank Ramirez of the Everett, Pennsylvania congregation |
| Hagerstown Church of the Brethren 15 S. Mulberry Street Hagerstown, MD 21740. Telephone: 301-733-3565. Fax: 301-733-3598. Office hours: Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. - noon & 1:00 –4:00 p.m. |
| MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Hagerstown Church of the Brethren is to celebrate the love of Jesus Christ and glorify the Lord by striving to live as Christ lived, experiencing the power of God's healing in our lives. We seek to nurture our faith community through prayer, music and the proclaimed Word, while enthusiastically reaching out to others with compassion, respect and love for everyone so that we may grow in faith and commitment together. VISION STATEMENT Journeying with Christ Serving Our Neighbors Uniting at the Master’s Table |
In continuing celebration of 300 years of the Church of the Brethren we are including a “Tercentennial Minute” in
each worship service. Written by Pastor Frank Ramirez of the Everett, Pennsylvania congregation, these short
articles highlight our Brethren history and challenge our deeper discipleship. I hope you enjoy them as much as I
do. We are including them in the Tidings for those who missed and those who want to hear it again. - Pastor Ed
each worship service. Written by Pastor Frank Ramirez of the Everett, Pennsylvania congregation, these short
articles highlight our Brethren history and challenge our deeper discipleship. I hope you enjoy them as much as I
do. We are including them in the Tidings for those who missed and those who want to hear it again. - Pastor Ed
Tercentennial Minute
Christopher Sauer prints his first book
In 1725 the German born Christopher Sauer (1695-1758) became an immigrant to the New World.
Though he came as a tailor he soon learned the skills of a clock and watch maker, joiner, bookbinder,
pharmacist, surgeon, and botanist. Eventually he became a printer, teaching himself the skills of
bookbinding, editing, along with the drawing of lead and wire. He made all his own printing tools, ink,
and even operated his own paper mill.
Soon after his arrival he wrote back to friends in Germany about the many wonders and opportunities
in the new world, and especially the freedom from European ways: “Now we are here in a well-blessed
land. There are neither guilds nor burdens from the authorities.” Indeed, things are going so good he
notes “My wife is getting very fat….”
In February of 1739 he printed his first book, a hymnal for the Ephrata Community. His newspaper was
very popular and brought him into direct and successful competition with Benjamin Franklin. He
became the first to print a Bible in America in a European language. His German bibles are still
famous. He printed materials in English as well, and did work for people of all religious backgrounds.
Though he was not Brethren he maintained friendly relations with them. His son Christopher Sauer II
would be baptized Brethren.
However at first Sauer found the Brethren less than friendly. He wrote: “The Brethren have erected a
fence around themselves; they admit and expel, and are jealous and quarrelsome with others.”
Sauer’s comment reminds us that we may see ourselves one way, and strangers may see us in quiet a
different light!
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 10, 2008.
Used with permission.
Christopher Sauer prints his first book
In 1725 the German born Christopher Sauer (1695-1758) became an immigrant to the New World.
Though he came as a tailor he soon learned the skills of a clock and watch maker, joiner, bookbinder,
pharmacist, surgeon, and botanist. Eventually he became a printer, teaching himself the skills of
bookbinding, editing, along with the drawing of lead and wire. He made all his own printing tools, ink,
and even operated his own paper mill.
Soon after his arrival he wrote back to friends in Germany about the many wonders and opportunities
in the new world, and especially the freedom from European ways: “Now we are here in a well-blessed
land. There are neither guilds nor burdens from the authorities.” Indeed, things are going so good he
notes “My wife is getting very fat….”
In February of 1739 he printed his first book, a hymnal for the Ephrata Community. His newspaper was
very popular and brought him into direct and successful competition with Benjamin Franklin. He
became the first to print a Bible in America in a European language. His German bibles are still
famous. He printed materials in English as well, and did work for people of all religious backgrounds.
Though he was not Brethren he maintained friendly relations with them. His son Christopher Sauer II
would be baptized Brethren.
However at first Sauer found the Brethren less than friendly. He wrote: “The Brethren have erected a
fence around themselves; they admit and expel, and are jealous and quarrelsome with others.”
Sauer’s comment reminds us that we may see ourselves one way, and strangers may see us in quiet a
different light!
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 10, 2008.
Used with permission.
Tercentennial Minute
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever was printed in the February 26, 1921 issue of The
Gospel Messenger and earned its author seventy-five cents.
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever was also a case of making lemonade when life hands
you lemons. The author was an accomplished musician who was robbed of her ability to play by
crippling arthritis that confined her to a wheelchair. She turned to writing poetry by grasping a pencil
in each gnarled hand and striking the keys of her typewriter with the erasers. And that’s how Myra
Brooks Welch (1878-1959) of LaVerne, California, came to write “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.”
This story of the battered violin whose value goes from three bucks to three thousand after a master
draws a wonderful tune from the instrument was soon reprinted the world ever, often without the
author’s name. It’s been set to music, made into a film, and reprinted thousands of times.
Why was it so popular? That’s hard to say. Maybe many people have lives that are out of tune, feel
they have been sold short by the world, or think that their souls are slipping away, going, going,
gone. Maybe the author herself said it best,: “I think God took it as he did the little lad’s loaves and
fishes and blessed it to his own praise and glory.”
Whether it’s the voluminous poems and writings of Alexander Mack, Jr., the wonderful history books
and source books printed by Brethren Press, the theological writings of giants like Peter Nead, or the
journalism of Henry Kurtz and James Quinter – none of these have had even a fraction of the impact
of this simple poem.
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 17, 2008.
Used with permission.
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever was printed in the February 26, 1921 issue of The
Gospel Messenger and earned its author seventy-five cents.
The Most Famous Bit of Brethren Writing Ever was also a case of making lemonade when life hands
you lemons. The author was an accomplished musician who was robbed of her ability to play by
crippling arthritis that confined her to a wheelchair. She turned to writing poetry by grasping a pencil
in each gnarled hand and striking the keys of her typewriter with the erasers. And that’s how Myra
Brooks Welch (1878-1959) of LaVerne, California, came to write “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.”
This story of the battered violin whose value goes from three bucks to three thousand after a master
draws a wonderful tune from the instrument was soon reprinted the world ever, often without the
author’s name. It’s been set to music, made into a film, and reprinted thousands of times.
Why was it so popular? That’s hard to say. Maybe many people have lives that are out of tune, feel
they have been sold short by the world, or think that their souls are slipping away, going, going,
gone. Maybe the author herself said it best,: “I think God took it as he did the little lad’s loaves and
fishes and blessed it to his own praise and glory.”
Whether it’s the voluminous poems and writings of Alexander Mack, Jr., the wonderful history books
and source books printed by Brethren Press, the theological writings of giants like Peter Nead, or the
journalism of Henry Kurtz and James Quinter – none of these have had even a fraction of the impact
of this simple poem.
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 17, 2008.
Used with permission.
Tercentennial Minute
The Solingen Brethren
The problem was this – the official religions of the German states zealously protected their franchise,
and people could not imagine a situation in which state and church were not firmly linked. Indeed,
one of the compromises of the treaty that ended the brutal Thirty Years War in Europe was a law that
established that everyone in a state had to worship at one only three churches as chosen by the local
prince – Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed. Groups like the Brethren who placed obedience to
scripture over human government had no choice but to defy this law.
In 1714 the people of Solingen were outraged when six of their residents, Wilhelm Grahe, Jacob
Grahe, Luther Stetius, Johann Lobach, Wilhelm Knepper and Johann Henkels, were baptized
Brethren. They were eventually arrested, tried, and found guilty of treason and heresy.
On February 26, 1717 the Solingen Brethren were thrown into prison in Dusseldorf and began what
was meant to be a fatal term at hard labor.
They worked at a backbreaking pace all day, then lived in cold dank cells in all weathers, making
buttons at night to support themselves. Their fellow prisoners tormented them by infesting their
bedding and clothes with lice. They responded with kindness, and during the course of their captivity
composed hundreds of hymns. (How Pleasant Is It by Wilhelm Knepper, is # 451 in Hymnal: A Worship
Book). They received many visits from their Brethren.
Their honesty impressed their captors. Once Wilhelm Grahe fell hundreds of yards behind the others
as they were herded back to their cells. A bystander asked why he didn’t escape. He replied that
guards were not necessary “because Jesus, His Truth and teaching were our protection and
solace.”
After four years they were released, so weak that they could not walk, but were returned home by
cart. Their survival was seen as a triumphant vindication of their faithfulness.
Presented February 24, 2008.
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 24, 2008.
Used with permission
The Solingen Brethren
The problem was this – the official religions of the German states zealously protected their franchise,
and people could not imagine a situation in which state and church were not firmly linked. Indeed,
one of the compromises of the treaty that ended the brutal Thirty Years War in Europe was a law that
established that everyone in a state had to worship at one only three churches as chosen by the local
prince – Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed. Groups like the Brethren who placed obedience to
scripture over human government had no choice but to defy this law.
In 1714 the people of Solingen were outraged when six of their residents, Wilhelm Grahe, Jacob
Grahe, Luther Stetius, Johann Lobach, Wilhelm Knepper and Johann Henkels, were baptized
Brethren. They were eventually arrested, tried, and found guilty of treason and heresy.
On February 26, 1717 the Solingen Brethren were thrown into prison in Dusseldorf and began what
was meant to be a fatal term at hard labor.
They worked at a backbreaking pace all day, then lived in cold dank cells in all weathers, making
buttons at night to support themselves. Their fellow prisoners tormented them by infesting their
bedding and clothes with lice. They responded with kindness, and during the course of their captivity
composed hundreds of hymns. (How Pleasant Is It by Wilhelm Knepper, is # 451 in Hymnal: A Worship
Book). They received many visits from their Brethren.
Their honesty impressed their captors. Once Wilhelm Grahe fell hundreds of yards behind the others
as they were herded back to their cells. A bystander asked why he didn’t escape. He replied that
guards were not necessary “because Jesus, His Truth and teaching were our protection and
solace.”
After four years they were released, so weak that they could not walk, but were returned home by
cart. Their survival was seen as a triumphant vindication of their faithfulness.
Presented February 24, 2008.
This Tercentennial Minute was shared in worship on February 24, 2008.
Used with permission
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