There are seven Biblical covenants; four are with the nation of Israel and three are with mankind in general.  The first of these three general covenants is the Adamic Covenant, and we have been living with the consequences of breaking this covenant ever since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge.  The second is the Noahic Covenant, when God promised to never again destroy all life on earth with a flood; most of us are fond of the symbol of this covenant – a rainbow.  The third is the New Covenant, and this is the basis of our Christian faith.  The first mention of a new covenant appears in Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34.  In part it reads “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”   The threat of the flood and the beauty of the last two covenants was impressed on me one spring evening in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

We were members of Bethabara Moravian Church, whose founding in 1753 was a part of the first settlement in the area.  A permanent church, the Gemeinhaus, was built in 1788, and the congregation worshipped there until 1953.  In the 1970s, the beautiful little building became part of a city historical park, a microscopic Williamsburg, devoted to the original Bethabara settlement.   Since it became part of the park, the only service we hold there is on Maundy Thursday.  The meeting room seats about a hundred people on benches; for these yearly services everyone tries to arrive early in order to sit in the back row where you can lean against the back wall.  The building has stone walls which are almost two feet thick and beautiful arched windows with bullet glass.  The ceiling is arched, except for a small balcony, which has room for a small choir and a small pipe organ.  The interior walls are plastered and whitewashed, which makes the acoustics wonderful; even though the pipe organ is small, it sounds like you’re in the National Cathedral.  One year a part of the Stetson University choir sang for the service during their spring break tour.  They were squeezed into the small loft like sardines, but they sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  When the congregation sings, it’s like singing in the shower with eighty of your closest friends.  Each year those attending come away refreshed and blessed.

On the year I’m recalling, at about the middle of the service we were buffeted with a tremendous thunder storm; the rain outside the windows seemed to be coming down in buckets – a real Noahic flood.  While severe, the storm soon ended, and the evening sun, while low in the sky, came out as bright as it could be.  A very dramatic moment came as we were taking communion.  The minister was blessing the wine saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20).  At that instant I looked out the window and saw the brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen!   I immediately felt grateful for God’s grace and was assured that His promises would last forever.

Read Jeremiah 31: 31-34, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

                    Bethabara Gemeinhaus