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PRINCE OF PEACE GETS A GOOD REPORT AND A VISIT

     The Miami Herald is one of the finest newspapers in the USA. It recently had a wonderful article on the pastor, Rev. Dr. Joe Nicholas, and the Prince of Peace Moravian Church. He followed several North American pastors in a congregation made up of Moravians and friends from nearly 20 nations. Flags of all the countries represent the marvelous mix. Br. Nicholas, a native of Antigua, leads this large congregation. Over 70 new members have joined since he began working with the church. The largest group in the church is from Nicaragua, but persons from around the Caribbean form a congregation totaling over 600 members. Services are conducted in English, Miskito, Spanish, Javanese and Dutch, reflecting the geography of their roots. It is a glowing report of this very active congregation in North Miami.

     Dr John Gilliland, and his wife Nancy, who served as medical missionaries in both Nicaragua and Honduras, recently took seven of their grandchildren to visit Prince of Peace on Easter Sunday

     “We want to share with you the wonderful Easter we experienced at the Prince of Peace Moravian Church in Miami. We had 7 of our grandchildren visiting us in SW Florida so they went with us. We got up at 3 am and left around 4 am to be in Miami for the 6 am Sunrise Service. This is primarily a congregation made up of Nicaraguans and Islands folks who had settled in Miami several years ago and wanted a Moravian Church – so they made one! It is now a congregation of over 600. The services are very much in the form of what we have experienced in worship in Nicaragua – much singing, much enthusiasm and no sense of time constriction!

      The Sunrise Service was complete with a brass band and the service included the end of the Passion Week readings first. Then they went into the regular sunrise service as found in the hymnal complete with the procession led by the brass band to an area right outside the church.  (There is no God’s Acre there).  The service was followed by a breakfast that included some wonderful reminders of their traditional food.

       Morning worship started at 11 am and lasted until shortly after 1 pm. We thought our grandkids might get a little restless, even though they are ages 14 through 18. They didn’t AND they even stayed awake – which was another miracle since they had played games until rather late Saturday night and got up at 3 am. There was a traditional choir of about 40 and also a Gospel Choir whose anthem “Rise Again” also included a person doing a Liturgical Dance. A soloist sang “Above All”. Anytime there was congregational singing, it was wonderful, enthusiastic and strong! It was obvious that the worship experience is always something that should merit our full participation and not something that has to be limited by a time frame of one hour, no matter what! Sports enthusiasts wouldn’t think of complaining about an overtime game, or even a double overtime and yet often give the minister a hard time if the service runs over! Not so in this culture!

            We saw many folks that we knew from our time in Central America, many who were leaders there and continue to work here. Several of them helped get this congregation and five others started in the Miami area.

A NEW CHURCH FOR AN OLD CONGREGATION

An article in Lebanon, PA newspaper tells of an Easter Morning Dawn service and breakfast followed by groundbreaking on the site of the new Moravian Church. Then they held their last service in their old church at 10am. This congregation had more than one kind of resurrection to celebrate this Easter. The old church is no longer near where many of the members live and the area has become industrial. There are many unchurched people in the new area. The plans are complete and construction will begin soon. The congregation will worship in the chapel of a nearby nursing home. At least one piece of the old church will follow them in the new. It is the window with the church seal, and the motto, Our Lamb has conquered, Let us follow Him. The congregation began in 1747.JHG