Today, the Faithful Four concludes as Nicolaus Zinzendorf takes on Sundar Singh. To arrive at this point, Nicolaus defeated Zita of Tuscany, Francis Xavier, and Philip, Deacon and Evangelist.
But the real question of the day is, Who will face Zechariah for the Golden Halo? In yesterday's matchup Zechariah swept past Elizabeth of Hungary 56% to 44% to advance to the Championship round.
Whoever wins, the final battle of Lent Madness 2025 will conclude with 24 hours of voting starting at 8:00 am on Spy Wednesday, with the winner announced at 8:00 am on Maundy Thursday.
And don't forget to join us on Facebook Live at 1:00 pm EST on Wednesday for an exciting live event featuring Christian, Michael, and some of our Celebrity Bloggers as we get hyped about the Championship voting and look to the future of Lent Madness!
Vote now!
Nicolaus Zinzendorf
I was thrilled when the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church established a full communion relationship in 2011. I remember joking that I was among the minority of Episcopalians who were familiar with the Moravians - Unitas Fratrum (United Brethren) - and their initiator, Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf.
I was born and raised in Bethlehem, PA, so my knowledge of the Moravian Church was interwoven with childhood. My family was Roman Catholic, but the Moravian influence in the area’s history, events, activities, architecture, food (love those Moravian Sugar Cookies!!), the importance of education, and, of course, the Moravian Star were omnipresent in everyday life.
In school we learned the history of my home city and how, on a cold Christmas Eve in 1741, Zinzendorf and his small band of friends settled on the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and named their new community Bethlehem, in celebration and in honor of the Lord’s birth. "There can be no Christianity without community."
There are aspects of Zinzendorf’s persona that have resonated with me since childhood – his deep commitment to Christianity, his outreach and ministry to others, and his leadership against odds. “I have one passion, it is He. Only He.”
Additionally, I have always admired the many avenues he utilized to tap into his spirituality for adoration and worship, ranging from writing letters to Jesus as a young boy, to the 200+ hymns he penned, to the prayers he presented that are simple but incredibly moving. Zinzendorf’s belief in maintaining a personal relationship with God is at the heart of his identity. “All of life becomes a liturgy.”
Zinzendorf also made a mark on this country’s early history. His outreach to the Delaware, Shawnee, Iroquois, and Mohican Native American nations was so meaningful that James Fenimore Cooper used Moravian documents for research in authoring his great American novel The Last of the Mohicans. Zinzendorf met with early Revolutionary leaders, like Benjamin Franklin, and his ministry reached other groups, including slaves and German-speaking emigrants. “Preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.”
I am a faithful Christian and a practicing Episcopalian, and I am active and involved on all levels and in many organizations of the Episcopal Church. But I wear a sparkly Moravian Star necklace, and prominently display in my dining room the pewter plate emblazoned with the prayer before meals (which I say). I have a Moravian Star Christmas ornament on my tree every year, I have a larger ornamental Moravian Star in my living room, and I can never get enough Moravian Sugar Cookies.
Zinzendorf has left his mark on my life.
“Come, Lord Jesus, our Guest to be; And bless these gifts bestowed by Thee.”
Sundar Singh
One of the guiding principles of my life is to pay attention to those who afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, and I think Sundar Singh should win the Golden Halo this year because he has the brilliant capacity to do both at the same time. I am deeply grateful that, when many of David Sibley’s saints advanced in the first round, he offered to share Sundar Singh with a first year Lent Madness blogger and that I got the opportunity to walk alongside the Sadhu. I’m grateful because, and I don’t believe that I am exaggerating here, I am a different person than I was before Sundar Singh came into my spiritual and saintly lexicon.
Every day for the last two weeks I have thought about the Sadhu’s metaphor for Western Christianity and the image of the stone, submerged in the stream for years, unable to be truly altered by the water. This simple story has caused me to ask myself: What parts of my life have become calcified to the message, life, and hope of the crucified and resurrected Christ? My comfortable Christianity has been profoundly afflicted by the Sadhu.
Yet, I have, at the same time, found comfort. As the iconic show, The Good Place, creatively relayed, none of us are singularly good or bad; we are all a mix of realities that ebbs and flows with life’s ups and downs. Sundar Singh is a particular saint in our tradition that speaks not only to those who need some direction, but also those whose path has been rocky and wild. In that same rock in the stream story, the thing that captured me most was not the image of a dry rock, but of God’s all-consuming, surrounding love and grace, waiting for us to receive it. In the same story that afflicted me, Singh also provided me the greatest comfort. This capacity to both draws folks in and challenge them as they are released back out into their lives is a rare gift that deserves to be elevated, perhaps to the status of Golden Halo.
Saints can be a lot of things to a lot of different people, but for me, saints tend to function most often like blazes along a trail. They point me in the right direction, affirm that I am on the right path, and remind me that I am not walking aimlessly in the woods. Sundar Singh is a brilliant blaze of light in the great cloud of witnesses, and I am deeply grateful to know more about him because of Lent Madness.
58 comments on “Nicolaus Zinzendorf vs. Sundar Singh”
Becca began her final statement about Sundar Singh, "One of the guiding principles of my life is to pay attention to those who afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, and I think Sundar Singh should win the Golden Halo this year because he has the brilliant capacity to do both at the same time."
Ironically, her statement crystallized for me the reason for my vote today. Not only is there the discomfort of the missionary emphasizing a non-Western Christian message, but there is the unsettling end to his missionary journeys. He challenged our Western-focused attitudes.
I have said before that I admire Zinzendorf and his Moravian Church, but the words "comfort" and "comfortable" fit so many of the words I have seen written on his behalf. Grace around the laden table. Christmas in Bethlehem. The Moravian Star. Family memories, family ties, family traditions. It's all good. It's all beautiful. I give it love and respect.
But there is Sundar, the saint with the bleeding feet, trudging into the wilderness--never to return. Should I follow?
Just like the metaphor, as we winnow the field, the distinctions between two, often distinctly different, saints become more and more difficult to weigh. There are buzzer beaters coming!
For me that highlights the diverse humanity of the saints, mortars, and other heroes of the church across almost 2000 years. Large and small, influenzal; and obscure, each offers an example for all of us about walking with God.
Well done, and thank you.
How can I not vote for Zenzendorf since he wrote the before meal blessing I use today and heard all my life.
The only candidate I knew I was going to vote for before Lent Madness began was Zinzendorf, and his blogger has exceeded my expectations-thank you! His quotes say it all:
“There can be no Christianity without community."
“I have one passion, it is He. Only He.”
“All of life becomes a liturgy.”
“Preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.”
“Come, Lord Jesus, our Guest to be; And bless these gifts bestowed by Thee.”
For me, it is absolutely Sundar Singh, who had the courage to call out the flaws, assert who he was in service to the Lord, and meet his people where they're at, with the words and approaches that would speak to them rather than at them. It takes a strong heart to do that.
"Singh" means "lion." And he was every bit as bold as one.
While I have great respect for Nicolaus, it pales beside that I feel for Sundar Singh who gave up everything to serve Christ in a way that made sense in hi own culture and to his own people. Thank you for teaching me about Sundar. He has earned the Golden halo!
All the Faithful Four have had such insightful, caring and wonderful write-ups! I want to thank all the people who have worked hard to give us compelling narratives of the saints this year!
Sundhar Singh's "metaphor for Western Christianity and the image of the stone, submerged in the stream for years, unable to be truly altered by the water" seems like such an accurate diagnosis of our culture that I am compelled to vote for the Sadhu.
I have become deeply enamoured with Nicolaus Zinzendorf and it is because of Lent Madness that I learned of him in the first place. As soon as I became aware of the blessing he wrote before meals I wrote it down and have been saying it before I eat. As this is the first time I have participated in Lent Madness I can say it has actually been life-changing and for that I am grateful. Now, to go find some Moravian sugar cookies!
This was so hard that I went back and re-read the original blogs. After, I had to vote with for Sundarh.
My vote to help advance Nicholas Zinzandorf is one that takes me back yo my years at Salem College. It was there that I first encountered Nicholas Zinzandorf. Salem College and the Moravian burial Ground are close by and My first Easter Morning I remember hearing the Moravian musicians marching and singing Easter hymns while they walked to the grave yard to celebrate Jesus's resurrection. I'm sure this remembrance was one of Zinzandorf's teachings to the Moravian folk.
Nicholas Zinzendorf, because of his outreach to Native Americans, and for the blessing adopted by my late, great godmother's also late, great mother, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest; upon this food, may thy blessings rest." Amen.
I voted for Zinzendorf. The quotes today sealed it for me. It would be strong to have two Z’s, Zechariah and Zinzendorf, in the final two. I have enjoyed learning about Singh too.
I want to be able to order Lent Madness “swag” emblazoned with the image of Sundhar Singh wearing the Golden Halo. It would be especially fitting this year to be reminded to see God in everyone - especially those “others” whose traditions and dress differ from mine.
I posted a comment about how much I like Zinzendorf and for some reason it did not pass moderation? I said nothing wrong and I'm a little disappointed and confused.
Many of my colonial Pennsylvania ancestors were Germans who settled in and around Bethlehem. Although they were all Lutheran or Reformed, they probably heard about Zinzendorf,and might well have met him. This is the first time in my many years of Lent Madness that I have been able to say that about one of the Saints, so I had to vote for him.
Got to go with Nick. I'm from Bethlehem area, in PA, and love our relationship with the Moravian Church.
I am so grateful and appreciative of all the celebrity bloggers. Through their efforts I have been educated, entertained and encouraged. I think this year was especially challenging because so many saints were unfamiliar.
I am sad that it looks like neither of my choices will win the Golden Halo, but I am definitely glad to now have Elizabeth of Hungary and Sundar Singh among the communion of saints who inspire me.
thank you, Becca for your insightful articles! Welcome to LM and hope to see you writing in LM 26!
Maybe this is a good year to have the Silver Halo, too
Thank you Becca for such a beautifully written, heartfelt, and graceful tribute to Singh. Loved the metaphor of blazes on the trail. This will stay in my mind.
My vote is for Sundar Singh. I thank Neva Rae for her gracious witness for Count Zed. And he has been a “comfortable Christian” for me all along. But we no longer inhabit a world for comfortable Christians. Now that the U.S., and western empire more generally, has fully sunk into fascism, and techno-corporatism has sought permanent war as a solution to the problem that capitalism has nowhere else to expand given that neoliberal globalization has saturated all markets, I think it’s crucial that we honor and advance a non-western saint this Lent. Diana Butler Bass in her Lenten reflections has said that none of us should be alone this year on our walk toward Calvary. These are dark times. I give thanks for this little band of pilgrims that faithfully gathers for its digital procession to Canterbury each year. I pray that this year we might summon the goodwill and charity to make Sundar Singh the Golden Halo winner. We thereby rebuke the powers of darkness that would automatize and monetize the expulsion of human beings to lawless death camps, human beings who are in need as sojourners and immigrants, and those “home-growns” who refuse to bend the knee to tyrants. Let us be river rocks whose hearts are laved by the waters of justice rolling down, rolling down. Peace be with you all, my friends.
Where are Sundar’s links to past rounds? Is our holy-mad fight stacked??
The Sundhar Singh story of the stone immersed in water has stayed with me since first reading it. It brought to mind the words of Richard Halverson: 'In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.' My vote goes to Sundhar Singh for his work to restore the church to its first calling, a fellowship centred on the living Christ.
St Celia said (among many other things):
"Now that the U.S., and western empire more generally, has fully sunk into fascism, and techno-corporatism has sought permanent war as a solution to the problem that capitalism has nowhere else to expand given that neoliberal globalization has saturated all markets, I think it’s crucial that we honor and advance a non-western saint this Lent. Diana Butler Bass in her Lenten reflections has said that none of us should be alone this year on our walk toward Calvary. These are dark times."
Oh, how I miss that Reply function right now! You said this so well, and I ache in resonance with this sentiment. Our government is actively "disappearing" people. As it says in the confession, "We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf."
Becca - that was beautiful and so moving. So glad you were asked to join the “madness”. You put so beautifully the reason I love Lent Madness so much - how others have lived christs life and how I can too.
Being the music person, and trying to make our liturgy a work of the people I got zapped by ‘all life is a liturgy” and personally, got zapped by “Preach gospel, die and be forgotten.” But it was a tough decision, and both are worthy of the Golden Halo.
Whoa. How is Sundar Singh losing? I am shocked right now.
C'mon now. The Sadhu changed the face of the world. Give him some love!
Lord have Mercy, all the Ladies have been blessed & eliminated’ Voted for Nicolas’s today to set up a Battle for Z Halo!