Easter Sunday at the Central Moravian Church

Not every year, but many years, Easter is a time that I go home and spend with my family and we always go to church, First Methodist in Many. This year in Nicaragua, feeling homesick for family traditions I went to the Central Moravian Church located right on Bluefields Bay for their Easter service. I had been curious about the Moravian Church because I had never heard of it though apparently it’s in the states too. I started asking around about worship service times a couple of days ahead and got three different answers. It turns out they had a sunrise service and an evening service. I invited Srujana along and we went to the evening service that lasted over two hours! Three different choir groups performed to a full congregation. The pastor was very welcoming and called us out as visitors at the beginning of the service and then was sure to shake our hands at the end. I even saw a few people I’ve already met around town. It was definitely a warm feeling of community.

This particular church is just over 160 years old and its original wooden structure was flattened like most of Bluefields by Hurricane Joan in 1988. It was rebuilt in its original design, but in concrete. There are other Moravian churches throughout Bluefields and the Atlantic Coast, yet this one was the first. The sanctuary is beautiful (and they even have fans and bug zappers). The service was lovely. We sang a few hymns I knew by heart from the Methodist Church which definitely soothed my homesickness.