At the annual forum of Christian Churches Together, a special service of remembrance and healing (see the December 2025 issue) was planned by representatives from the Anabaptist and Reformed traditions. Centuries ago, as Anabaptists know, state churches in Europe persecuted and killed those who committed themselves to believer baptism.
In a roomful of people from Catholic, evangelical/Pentecostal, historic Black, Orthodox, and Protestant families, we spoke words of confession and grace. On the worship center, we placed symbols of shared faith: A Bible to indicate the Word that guides, corrects, and unites. Water to signify our baptismal calling. Bread and cup as signs of Christ’s self-giving love.
There were also symbols of shared mission: A braided cord to represent CCT. A green plant to depict the work of congregations in ministry. Work gloves to illustrate the body of Christ rebuilding, restoring, and welcoming.
And there were symbols of healing and reconciliation: A smooth river stone to remember wounds and wrongs—even to the point of murder—and release them to God’s mercy. A basin and towel as a sign of readiness to confess, forgive, and be renewed by God’s Spirit. And a candle to symbolize the one Light and our sending as bearers of that light.
But what took my breath away came after the service. I thought the worship leaders were being assembled for a group photo. Instead, the Reformed folks came forward to present a gift to each of the Anabaptists—members of the Bruderhof, the Church of the Brethren, and Mennonite Church USA.
“Friends in Christ,” said Monica Schaap Pierce, head of CCT and an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, “on this 500th anniversary of Anabaptism, we—your Reformed brothers and sisters—come with gratitude and humility. We recognize that our shared history holds both deep faith and deep wounds. Yet, by God’s grace, today we gather not as strangers divided by the past, but as partners in Christ’s reconciling love.”
The gift of a wind chime was “a gift of reconciliation and promise,” she said. “As the wind moves through them, may their sound remind us of the Holy Spirit’s breath that still moves among us—healing, renewing, and drawing us together.
“May every note that rings out be a prayer for peace, a call to repentance, and a song for hope for the unity Christ desires for his church.”
Even all these years later, and even among people who didn’t personally experience the wounds and wrongs, this moment of “right remembering” felt powerful. There in our midst was the weight of history, and there in our midst moved the breath of the Spirit.
Wendy McFadden is publisher of Brethren Press and executive director of communications for the Church of the Brethren.