Moravian Daily Texts

Throughout my life, I've heard family members on my mother's side talk about the Moravian church, though I have little recollection of ever being in one. Most of my relatives were Lutheran or Baptist. As a child, I do recall going to a church where music was played by a brass band rather than an organ... Would that have been a Moravian church?

Though I was familiar with the name "Moravian," I really wasn't sure whether the Moravian church was a type of Christianity, like the Orthodox church. Or a denomination? Or was it simply a church from a country called Moravia?

Then I came across this tattered book of my mother's called the Moravian Daily Texts, with a date - 1990. It contains short daily readings from the Bible. But how was this book different from any other daily devotional?

Wondering about all this, I googled "Moravian Daily Texts" - and came across some interesting information.

I discovered that the Moravian Church is a protestant denomination that began in 1457 in Moravia, (in the modern-day Czech Republic).  The Daily Texts or "watch-words" originated several hundred years later, in the early 1700's, when an aristocratic landowner, a religious man, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, provided refuge to Moravians who were fleeing their country to escape religious persecution. Count Zinzendorf  welcomed these refugees. On his lands they began the practice of starting and ending each day with a verse or two of  Bible, which the Count chose. These verses became such a beloved tradition, that when the Count eventually died, his "watch-words" as they were called, were printed in books so that they could be read again and again. Wherever Moravians moved, they took the tradition of reading "Daily Texts" with them. It continues to this day... Except that nowadays, it's even possible to receive paperless daily texts via email!

(I've decided to subscribe to this free service myself!)