You & Don were the two I was specifically thinking of as I invited input. There's at least one member here from Pennsylvania (I forget who) and a couple of ladies from North Carolina who might also have encountered this church.
The Moravian Church I was already somewhat familiar with, because its origins were similar to that of the Anabaptists, whom I am very familiar with.
I encountered the Moravian ideas while I was a practicing Methodist. The Moravians who shared a ship with John Wesley were and inspiration for him when he was at sea in rough weather. Their calm faith gave him succor while the storms of the Atlantic raged, and he carried that inspiration with hi as he traveled the American wilderness. There was a Moravian Church in Bethel, Alaska when I worked there. Alaska was divided into areas of mission in the 1870s (I think) by a man named Sheldon Jackson. He was a Presbyterian minister and missionary. The panhandle was given to the Presbyterians, the Aleutians were given to the Methodists (he must not have like them much), southwest was given to the Moravians, and the northwest was given to the Quakers. I don't think Baptists were included. He must have disliked them more than Methodists, or found no central authority who was interested in participating. The idea was to eliminate competing missionaries and better utilize resources. Catholics were given any areas where the Orthodox Church was already established.
We was invited to our neighbours for a BBQ Christmas Eve ( we went for about 2 hours ) and for lunch & Tea ( evening meal) but we said we would only come for Christmas tea and do our usual thing for lunch on CD Now don’t get me wrong our neighbours are nice people however the husband in particular has the foulest mouth I’ve heard ….and he yells ..the wife also swears as does their 2 sons 30 and 33 years old …..the 30 YO got married last year ….she swears badly as well ……..and I was shocked to hear the 30 year olds baby son using the F and C words quite well …he’s almost 2 years old …..apparently it’s called expressing himself by using what …..I class as filthy language it’s words I’ve never used and it makes me cringe cause no one uses that sort language in our home . We excused ourselves and politely left after having a light snack for tea an hour latter. Normally if we go there for tea it’s Kinda quiet cause the boys live in Adelaide 2 hours drive away so it’s normally just us 4 for a meal and Wayne will swear at times but only if you stir him up about something in the papers or on TV and we’ve learned not to do that…..so it was a Christmas to remember especially hearing an under 2 YO “expressing himself “ …….maybe I need to grow with the times but I could never bring myself or lower my standards ….to speak like that
No, you don't need to lower your standards. My father often took the Lord's name in vain, but the "F" word (or worse) was never heard in our household, nor were children ever permitted to curse in any form. That's horrible to hear such things tolerated from a 2 year old. The kid will never be able to control it later in life, and I bet the shocked reactions from others encourage the kid and makes the parents smile, since they get attention-by-proxy. And I thought your hesitance to visit them was due to "Bah humbug," not "@#%#$#!" What an uncomfortable spot to be in.
My grandpa once told us about Christmas in the small mining town where he grew up. Wealthy ladies from a large church in the big town down in the valley would come around by train and bring presents to the children. The presents would usually be socks, gloves and hats plus a bag of hard candy but one year everyone got an orange, too. They brought the oranges home, put them on the table and just stared at them. Were they supposed to cook them? Eat them whole? Nobody had seen an orange before. When he finally ate one, he was enraptured. He always insisted on oranges and tangerines at Christmas when I was a child....that was the smell of Christmas to him.