| The Hagerstown Church of the Brethren |
| Tercentennial Minutes - June 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
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
The First Annual Meeting of the Church of the Brethren. Maybe.
The first Annual Meeting of the Church of the Brethren took place on Pentecost, June 7, 1742, at
the home of Martin Urner of Coventry.
Maybe.
It seems clear that from the beginning of the Brethren movement we settled our disputes
democratically, in joint study of the bible, with all members having an equal voice. And initially all
Brethren were able to gather together at the same Love Feast to discuss the issues that faced them.
However, the clearest indication for when the Annual Meeting as we know it first took place comes
from the pen of Georg Adam Martin (1715-1794), elder and author, who was later excommunicated by
the Brethren on a charge of immoral behavior, and who therefore regarded the Brethren with some
disdain.
In 1741 the charismatic Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a leader of the Renewed Moravian
Church, tried to unite the German-speaking Christians into one body through a series of
conferences. Brethren sent delegates, but later abandoned the movement, believing the Count was
taking too large a role and that the doctrinal disagreements were too great. According to Martin, the
Brethren decided they would hold conferences of their own on an annual basis.
Martin did not think much of the tone of the discussion that went on at these meetings. He later
recalled,
“After this general meeting had been established, the opportunity was offered to speak of various
matters whenever we met, and since most of the (Brethren) who had laid the foundation of their
Congregation in Schwarzenau, were uneducated arch-idiots and ignoramuses, their followers, of
course, brought their absurd nothings also to this meeting, always appealing to their predecessors,
saying the Old Brethren in Germany did so, and we must not depart from their ways.”
After Martin was expelled in 1760 from the Brethren he was appointed as a leader to the Ephrata
community by the Superintendent Conrad Beissel. He later went on to found congregations in
Bermudian, York County, and Stony Creek in what was then Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Both of
those congregations later became Brethren.
The historian Martin Grove Brumbaugh recorded the date and place of the first conference but
there is no clear record of this. Hence the maybe. No matter. At some point during this period the
pattern was established for the Annual Conferences which take place to this day.
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 1, 2008
John Kline Murdered, Guilty Never Brought to Trial
John Kline (1797-1864) of Linville Creek, Virginia, was one of a kind. Although it was not unheard of
for Brethren elders to travel back and forth among their scattered flock, sharing news, praying, and
preaching in their homes, Kline was exceptional.
Over the course of his life he traveled by his record over 100,000 miles, on foot, by train, but most
of all on his faithful horse, Nell.
His sermons, as they are recorded, include humor as well as a strong biblical foundation. When
asked, he defended the faith with his pen, writing an essay and a short book on the topic of baptism.
But Kline was not only a preacher, he was also a farmer, a doctor and a carpenter. He was a much
beloved visitor among the Brethren, especially the children, for whom he always kept some candy
with him.
Kline’s life was not without tragedy. He and his wife, Anna, lost their only child at birth. She
suffered from incapacitating mental illness.
Had the Civil War not intervened, Kline would still have been remembered as one of the towering
figures among the 19th century Brethren. But southern Brethren faced many hardships because of
their unwavering stance against slavery and violence. They were victims of theft, persecution, and
even murder. Early in the war Kline was arrested and imprisoned along with other Brethren and
Mennonites for his refusal to take part in the so-called “Glorious Cause.”
And as one of the few Brethren on either side of the Mason-Dixon line who refused to honor the
boundary between the two sides, he drew particular ire. He was elected Moderator of the Annual
Meeting from 1861 to 1864, in part as recognition of the great risk he took in traveling to the northern
states.
By 1864 his friends and relatives were pleading with him to stay home because of the rumors of his
impending murder. He refused. On May 19, 1864, as he journeyed back from his last Annual Meeting,
Kline said, “Possibly you may never see my face or hear my voice again. I am now on my way back to
Virginia, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. It may be that bonds and afflictions abide
me. But I feel that I have done nothing worthy of bonds or of death; and none of these things move
me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.”
ohn Kline was ambushed and killed by cowards masquerading as soldiers on June 11, 1864.
Although sometimes referred to as Confederate guerillas, those who did not serve in the army had
usually found a way to avoid duty in order to swagger about and give orders to the few left at home. It
is said that everyone in the Linville Creek area knew exactly who had murdered Kline, but no one was
ever brought to trial, making the whole community complicit in the murder.
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 8, 2008.
Kurtis Naylor Turns the Other Cheek
In 1959 Kurtis Friend Naylor was called to be the director of the Brethren Service Commission in
Europe and also to be a representative to the World Council of Churches. He had already succeeded
in establishing a relationship with Christians in the Soviet Union. In 1961 he was present at the All-
Christian Peace Assembly in Prague, and worked to reach out to another enemy of the United States.
At midnight before the assembly opened he was visited by Bishop K.J Ting of China who was cordial
but delivered a stinging attack on the US. At 2:30 in the morning another visitor gave him a copy of
the speech Ting would deliver the next day in the assembly, which was even more fierce than their
conversation. Naylor would speak after Ting.
Times being what they were, with the Cold war in full swing, Naylor knew that Ting would have to
deliver the official position of the Communist Chinese government. Ting himself had said to him
privately in their midnight meeting, “We’re political people – you and me,” showing he assumed that
Naylor would be delivering the official position of his government as well. Only one of them was right.
The speech by the Chinese representative was given on June 13, 1961. A report later noted that
the assembly was “thunderstruck” at Ting’s address which labeled the United States as the leading
obstacle to peace in the world. Naylor then rose. In the midst of a “ghastly dead silence” he
commended Ting for quoting Matthew 18, a favorite of the Brethren, and assuring him that everyone
would listen carefully to his address and where they were wrong they would ask for forgiveness. But
he also listed several ways that both the churches of the United States, as well as the government,
had worked for peace. He ended by commending the Bishop from Russia for quoting from Ephesians
2:14 (For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of
hostility,).
Naylor finished to sustained and thunderous applause.
No one else but Naylor saw Bishop Ting wink as the two shook hands.
And that’s the tercentennial Minute for June 15, 2008
Julia Gilbert Changes Love Feast Among the Brethren – Twice!
The weighty decisions about policy and practice among the Brethren were usually made by groups
of bearded elders, but one woman, Julia Gilbert (1844-1934), helped change the way the Brethren
celebrated communion not once, but twice. The first time took less than a year, the second took much
of her life.
Julia was born near the foot of South Mountain, in Frederick County, Maryland, but when she was
four her family moved to Wolfe Creek in western Ohio. She attended her first Annual Meeting at the
age of six and rarely missed another through her long life.
When she was eight years old two of her siblings died when they contracted measles and scarlet
fever. She herself barely survived, and was crippled for life.
In 1858, when she was fourteen, she was baptized in the rushing stream. At first she was reluctant
to step into the water in her fragile condition, afraid of being swept away, but her pastor reminded her
that Jesus had been there before. Recalling the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, she stepped
out into the river and as she knelt she prayed, “Dear God, I promise to you that I will live faithful to
Jesus until I die.” She kept that promise.
She eagerly looked forward to the Love Feast that was celebrated following her baptism as a meal
she was sharing with Jesus. The experience was joyful, but that night she found she could not sleep,
and finally lit a candle and read John 13:4 -- “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and
took a towel, and girded himself.”
The next day she asked her father why the Wolfe Creek congregation had performed the
feetwashing and then set the meal on the table. Shouldn’t they have set the meal on the table and
then, like Jesus, risen from the table for the feetwashing. Her father, according to her report, sighed,
and answered, “The old Brethren took the ordinance from several passages of Scripture and thought
this to be the proper way it ought to be done.”
According to her report, this satisfied her for a day or two, but eventually she questioned the
elders, and the next year the congregation had changed the way they performed Love Feast to
conform to the fourteen-year-old’s reading of scripture.
By contrast, her next cause took nearly fifty years before it was successfully concluded. In her day
men passed a long strip of communion bread with each other, each breaking off a piece, but the
women did not break bread with each other. Instead, an elder walked down the row and the sisters
broke off a piece. This did not seem biblical to Julia, nor was she satisfied with the official
explanations for the practice. For decades, first in Ohio, and later in Iowa, where she moved after her
parents’ deaths, she championed the cause, only to see it tabled or returned at Annual Meetings.
Finally, in June of 1910, at Winona Lake, Indiana, Julia herself spoke on the floor of Annual Meeting,
saying, “When I was baptized, I made a vow to God to walk in all his ways and to read the scriptures. I
believe it is our duty to do things the way Jesus taught us to do them.”
The motion passed, and the next year the sisters broke the bread among themselves.
And that’s the Tercentennial minute for today, June 22, 2008.
Brother Beahm’s Golden Anniversary
On July 23, 1931, Brother I.N.H. Beahm celebrated the 50th Anniversary of his ordination. Later
featured as “The Little Man” in the children’s book by Dorothy Brandt, he was known in the early days
of his ministry as the “Boy Preacher.” He was a very popular preacher who traveled across the
denomination, and he was known for calling out upon his arrival “Brother Beahm is here.”
To mark the special occasion a convoy of cars set out before dawn on a 200 mile journey. Included
were three stenographers, the Reading, Pennsylvania singers, and several other Brethren to provide
support and encouragement.
Brother Beahm preached twenty sermons that day, beginning at 4:00 AM at the Sutphin Home where
he preached on “The Morning Star,” and concluding with a sermon titled “How to be Saved and
Church Ordinances” at an 8:30 PM service at the Valley Church. Other topics included “The Day
Dawn,” “The Sunrise,” “Work,” “Giving,” “Prayer,” “Fasting,” “A Sevenfold View of the Kingdom,” “The
Supremacy of the Bible” and “The Supremacy of the Church.”
Brother Beahm was known as a defender of the faith as once delivered, and worked hard to keep
Brethren from straying into what he considered false pathways, but even though he was skeptical
about the way the church was taking, he prevented a split in the late 30’s when he arrived at a Bible
conference that took place at the Mummert Meetinghouse in Southern PA.
It was expected, according to the story, that Beahm, like Moses, would lead the true believers out
of the Egypt that the Church of the Brethren had become. Other influential church leaders were at
the conference but they were not invited to speak. Brother Beahm, however, rose before an
audience of over five hundred people, in an atmosphere described as electric, and said, “Brethren, I
know the significance of this meeting. I know why you have gathered, what you intend to do. I know
why you invited Brother Beahm to come and preach.” And then he said, “I am here to preach to you,
and tell you why I am staying with the Church of the Brethren and why I think you ought to.”
The original conclusion of 1966 children’s book about his life was removed, perhaps because it was
thought inappropriate or irreverent, but the “lost ending” was restored in the 1996 reissue. In the
book Brother Beahm dies, goes to heaven, but finds that St. Peter has fallen asleep so he announces
himself at the heavenly gate, shouting “Brother Beahm is here!”
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 29, 2008.
The first Annual Meeting of the Church of the Brethren took place on Pentecost, June 7, 1742, at
the home of Martin Urner of Coventry.
Maybe.
It seems clear that from the beginning of the Brethren movement we settled our disputes
democratically, in joint study of the bible, with all members having an equal voice. And initially all
Brethren were able to gather together at the same Love Feast to discuss the issues that faced them.
However, the clearest indication for when the Annual Meeting as we know it first took place comes
from the pen of Georg Adam Martin (1715-1794), elder and author, who was later excommunicated by
the Brethren on a charge of immoral behavior, and who therefore regarded the Brethren with some
disdain.
In 1741 the charismatic Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a leader of the Renewed Moravian
Church, tried to unite the German-speaking Christians into one body through a series of
conferences. Brethren sent delegates, but later abandoned the movement, believing the Count was
taking too large a role and that the doctrinal disagreements were too great. According to Martin, the
Brethren decided they would hold conferences of their own on an annual basis.
Martin did not think much of the tone of the discussion that went on at these meetings. He later
recalled,
“After this general meeting had been established, the opportunity was offered to speak of various
matters whenever we met, and since most of the (Brethren) who had laid the foundation of their
Congregation in Schwarzenau, were uneducated arch-idiots and ignoramuses, their followers, of
course, brought their absurd nothings also to this meeting, always appealing to their predecessors,
saying the Old Brethren in Germany did so, and we must not depart from their ways.”
After Martin was expelled in 1760 from the Brethren he was appointed as a leader to the Ephrata
community by the Superintendent Conrad Beissel. He later went on to found congregations in
Bermudian, York County, and Stony Creek in what was then Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Both of
those congregations later became Brethren.
The historian Martin Grove Brumbaugh recorded the date and place of the first conference but
there is no clear record of this. Hence the maybe. No matter. At some point during this period the
pattern was established for the Annual Conferences which take place to this day.
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 1, 2008
John Kline Murdered, Guilty Never Brought to Trial
John Kline (1797-1864) of Linville Creek, Virginia, was one of a kind. Although it was not unheard of
for Brethren elders to travel back and forth among their scattered flock, sharing news, praying, and
preaching in their homes, Kline was exceptional.
Over the course of his life he traveled by his record over 100,000 miles, on foot, by train, but most
of all on his faithful horse, Nell.
His sermons, as they are recorded, include humor as well as a strong biblical foundation. When
asked, he defended the faith with his pen, writing an essay and a short book on the topic of baptism.
But Kline was not only a preacher, he was also a farmer, a doctor and a carpenter. He was a much
beloved visitor among the Brethren, especially the children, for whom he always kept some candy
with him.
Kline’s life was not without tragedy. He and his wife, Anna, lost their only child at birth. She
suffered from incapacitating mental illness.
Had the Civil War not intervened, Kline would still have been remembered as one of the towering
figures among the 19th century Brethren. But southern Brethren faced many hardships because of
their unwavering stance against slavery and violence. They were victims of theft, persecution, and
even murder. Early in the war Kline was arrested and imprisoned along with other Brethren and
Mennonites for his refusal to take part in the so-called “Glorious Cause.”
And as one of the few Brethren on either side of the Mason-Dixon line who refused to honor the
boundary between the two sides, he drew particular ire. He was elected Moderator of the Annual
Meeting from 1861 to 1864, in part as recognition of the great risk he took in traveling to the northern
states.
By 1864 his friends and relatives were pleading with him to stay home because of the rumors of his
impending murder. He refused. On May 19, 1864, as he journeyed back from his last Annual Meeting,
Kline said, “Possibly you may never see my face or hear my voice again. I am now on my way back to
Virginia, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. It may be that bonds and afflictions abide
me. But I feel that I have done nothing worthy of bonds or of death; and none of these things move
me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.”
ohn Kline was ambushed and killed by cowards masquerading as soldiers on June 11, 1864.
Although sometimes referred to as Confederate guerillas, those who did not serve in the army had
usually found a way to avoid duty in order to swagger about and give orders to the few left at home. It
is said that everyone in the Linville Creek area knew exactly who had murdered Kline, but no one was
ever brought to trial, making the whole community complicit in the murder.
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 8, 2008.
Kurtis Naylor Turns the Other Cheek
In 1959 Kurtis Friend Naylor was called to be the director of the Brethren Service Commission in
Europe and also to be a representative to the World Council of Churches. He had already succeeded
in establishing a relationship with Christians in the Soviet Union. In 1961 he was present at the All-
Christian Peace Assembly in Prague, and worked to reach out to another enemy of the United States.
At midnight before the assembly opened he was visited by Bishop K.J Ting of China who was cordial
but delivered a stinging attack on the US. At 2:30 in the morning another visitor gave him a copy of
the speech Ting would deliver the next day in the assembly, which was even more fierce than their
conversation. Naylor would speak after Ting.
Times being what they were, with the Cold war in full swing, Naylor knew that Ting would have to
deliver the official position of the Communist Chinese government. Ting himself had said to him
privately in their midnight meeting, “We’re political people – you and me,” showing he assumed that
Naylor would be delivering the official position of his government as well. Only one of them was right.
The speech by the Chinese representative was given on June 13, 1961. A report later noted that
the assembly was “thunderstruck” at Ting’s address which labeled the United States as the leading
obstacle to peace in the world. Naylor then rose. In the midst of a “ghastly dead silence” he
commended Ting for quoting Matthew 18, a favorite of the Brethren, and assuring him that everyone
would listen carefully to his address and where they were wrong they would ask for forgiveness. But
he also listed several ways that both the churches of the United States, as well as the government,
had worked for peace. He ended by commending the Bishop from Russia for quoting from Ephesians
2:14 (For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of
hostility,).
Naylor finished to sustained and thunderous applause.
No one else but Naylor saw Bishop Ting wink as the two shook hands.
And that’s the tercentennial Minute for June 15, 2008
Julia Gilbert Changes Love Feast Among the Brethren – Twice!
The weighty decisions about policy and practice among the Brethren were usually made by groups
of bearded elders, but one woman, Julia Gilbert (1844-1934), helped change the way the Brethren
celebrated communion not once, but twice. The first time took less than a year, the second took much
of her life.
Julia was born near the foot of South Mountain, in Frederick County, Maryland, but when she was
four her family moved to Wolfe Creek in western Ohio. She attended her first Annual Meeting at the
age of six and rarely missed another through her long life.
When she was eight years old two of her siblings died when they contracted measles and scarlet
fever. She herself barely survived, and was crippled for life.
In 1858, when she was fourteen, she was baptized in the rushing stream. At first she was reluctant
to step into the water in her fragile condition, afraid of being swept away, but her pastor reminded her
that Jesus had been there before. Recalling the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, she stepped
out into the river and as she knelt she prayed, “Dear God, I promise to you that I will live faithful to
Jesus until I die.” She kept that promise.
She eagerly looked forward to the Love Feast that was celebrated following her baptism as a meal
she was sharing with Jesus. The experience was joyful, but that night she found she could not sleep,
and finally lit a candle and read John 13:4 -- “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and
took a towel, and girded himself.”
The next day she asked her father why the Wolfe Creek congregation had performed the
feetwashing and then set the meal on the table. Shouldn’t they have set the meal on the table and
then, like Jesus, risen from the table for the feetwashing. Her father, according to her report, sighed,
and answered, “The old Brethren took the ordinance from several passages of Scripture and thought
this to be the proper way it ought to be done.”
According to her report, this satisfied her for a day or two, but eventually she questioned the
elders, and the next year the congregation had changed the way they performed Love Feast to
conform to the fourteen-year-old’s reading of scripture.
By contrast, her next cause took nearly fifty years before it was successfully concluded. In her day
men passed a long strip of communion bread with each other, each breaking off a piece, but the
women did not break bread with each other. Instead, an elder walked down the row and the sisters
broke off a piece. This did not seem biblical to Julia, nor was she satisfied with the official
explanations for the practice. For decades, first in Ohio, and later in Iowa, where she moved after her
parents’ deaths, she championed the cause, only to see it tabled or returned at Annual Meetings.
Finally, in June of 1910, at Winona Lake, Indiana, Julia herself spoke on the floor of Annual Meeting,
saying, “When I was baptized, I made a vow to God to walk in all his ways and to read the scriptures. I
believe it is our duty to do things the way Jesus taught us to do them.”
The motion passed, and the next year the sisters broke the bread among themselves.
And that’s the Tercentennial minute for today, June 22, 2008.
Brother Beahm’s Golden Anniversary
On July 23, 1931, Brother I.N.H. Beahm celebrated the 50th Anniversary of his ordination. Later
featured as “The Little Man” in the children’s book by Dorothy Brandt, he was known in the early days
of his ministry as the “Boy Preacher.” He was a very popular preacher who traveled across the
denomination, and he was known for calling out upon his arrival “Brother Beahm is here.”
To mark the special occasion a convoy of cars set out before dawn on a 200 mile journey. Included
were three stenographers, the Reading, Pennsylvania singers, and several other Brethren to provide
support and encouragement.
Brother Beahm preached twenty sermons that day, beginning at 4:00 AM at the Sutphin Home where
he preached on “The Morning Star,” and concluding with a sermon titled “How to be Saved and
Church Ordinances” at an 8:30 PM service at the Valley Church. Other topics included “The Day
Dawn,” “The Sunrise,” “Work,” “Giving,” “Prayer,” “Fasting,” “A Sevenfold View of the Kingdom,” “The
Supremacy of the Bible” and “The Supremacy of the Church.”
Brother Beahm was known as a defender of the faith as once delivered, and worked hard to keep
Brethren from straying into what he considered false pathways, but even though he was skeptical
about the way the church was taking, he prevented a split in the late 30’s when he arrived at a Bible
conference that took place at the Mummert Meetinghouse in Southern PA.
It was expected, according to the story, that Beahm, like Moses, would lead the true believers out
of the Egypt that the Church of the Brethren had become. Other influential church leaders were at
the conference but they were not invited to speak. Brother Beahm, however, rose before an
audience of over five hundred people, in an atmosphere described as electric, and said, “Brethren, I
know the significance of this meeting. I know why you have gathered, what you intend to do. I know
why you invited Brother Beahm to come and preach.” And then he said, “I am here to preach to you,
and tell you why I am staying with the Church of the Brethren and why I think you ought to.”
The original conclusion of 1966 children’s book about his life was removed, perhaps because it was
thought inappropriate or irreverent, but the “lost ending” was restored in the 1996 reissue. In the
book Brother Beahm dies, goes to heaven, but finds that St. Peter has fallen asleep so he announces
himself at the heavenly gate, shouting “Brother Beahm is here!”
And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 29, 2008.
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