Put yourself back a couple hundred years ago on a creaking

schooner tossed by towering walls of terrifying waves that could

crush you and your dank smelling ship as if you were a single

drop of rain.

Huddled below deck, the black eyed brooding man next to you is John Wesley. The founder of the Methodist Church. The rest of the passengers are Moravians. An ancient Christian denomination. One that predated the Lutherans by about 100 years. When the Moravians did missionary work around the world; the first thing they would do is learn the language of wherever their storm tossed ship docked. The next thing they would do is begin living among the people they were visiting. This caused all sorts of commotion when the people were slaves. Then the Moravians would go to work. Not in saving souls. But in farming, building schools, setting up businesses. And they’d set up their church. If their neighbors came, they were welcomed. If they didn’t, that was fine too.

So there they were on this ship and it started tossing harder. Then came the wind. Relentless and terrifying. John Wesley must have been scared.

But it was what happened next; he recorded in his diaries that truly stunned him.

What happened next is that the Moravians started singing. Surrounded by the storm, they started singing.

Monte Canfield is a Moravian Minister. There aren’t very many Moravian Ministers left. But there is Monte.

Today marks Monte’s one year anniversary on Open Salon. You can see it if you follow the link below. He tells his story masterfully. And it’s inspiring to anyone. Like those Moravians on the ship; he doesn’t sell a faith. He lives it.

And in living it, he offers a chance at a larger story because it welcomes any and all of us. Doesn’t sell. Just welcomes.

Robin Sneed offered the brilliant comment,“I never thought I’d meet a real Christian.”

With Monte, anyone can.

I don’t know what song the Moravians sang on that ship. But perhaps it was this one. Sang here by one man. A shaky video. And not the sublime moment of grace as when he sang it on Prairie Home Companion. There is also a lovely version sang by the late Eva Cassidy.

But maybe the shaky video, where the one man invites everyone else to sing along, a video that ends abruptly and all too soon is the right one to use in honoring this real Christian.

Monte, welcoming all to his celebration of one year on OS.

Listen to the man sing for just a moment. And if you listen hard, maybe you can catch a trace of John Wesley’s astonishment as these strange band of Christians huddled under the deck in a terrifying storm, looking at death and drowning any second.

And then asking in song.

“How Can I keep from singing?”

Happy Anniversary Monte.

You have made a difference.