Picture yourself standing in front of Home Moravian Church in Salem Square around 5 AM, along with between five and fifteen thousand other worshipers, (depending on the weather), waiting for the sunrise service to begin, as it has been done since 1771.
The front doors of the church open, a Bishop of the church steps to a platform with microphones and announces, “The Lord is Risen!” and the congregation responds, “The Lord is Risen Indeed!”
Thus begins a most meaningful, beautiful and historic service. The first half of the service is in front of Home Church with declarations of faith and hymns accompanied by brass bands. The service then moves up Church Street about seventy yards to God’s Acre. It amazes me that thousands of people can move in reverent quietness, accompanied by brass bands playing hymns antiphonally.
God’s Acre on Easter morning is a beautiful sight, not to be forgotten. Each grave has flowers at the headstone placed there by family or members of church circles. Unlike some cemeteries, it was planned on a grid pattern so there are straight rows of squares, with ten rows of ten graves in each square. Each grave stone is the same size and shape, signifying the equality of death. All the grave stones face east in anticipation of Christ’s coming again. There have been more than seven thousand burials in God’s Acre.
There are sidewalks among the squares, and this is where the worshipers stand for the second half of the service. As the worshipers file in, seven brass bands numbering around three hundred and fifty members, from the thirteen Moravian churches in the Winston-Salem area, play antiphonally and gather behind the speaker’s stand. The east side of God’s Acre is a hill. It is an unforgettable moment when the sun first begins to rise over the hilltop: seven brass bands play, and thousands of worshippers raise their voices with a Moravian hymn affirming the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Some background information follows:
Starting on Palm Sunday, there is a church service every night of Holy Week, reading from the Passion Week Manual, following the life of Jesus during that week. On Sunday night, it is the Acts of Sunday, etc. Friday night there is also a Lovefeast (because they are held on important days of the Moravian Church year). Unlike our Christmas Lovefeast, this one has no candles and the mood and music are quite somber.
In 1771 and after, the brass band would play on Salem Square early in the morning to awaken the townspeople to come to the sunrise service. Nowadays, the many band members board buses around 1 AM and the buses go to different parts of town, stopping at corners near members’ homes to play hymns. We would always get up to listen to the band play at our corner. There are funny stories told of visitors to Winston-Salem being awakened in the middle of the night by a band playing hymns and thinking that the Second Coming might be occurring!
The logistics of the service are impressive. Hundreds of Boy Scouts hand out programs for the service to people attending. Women of the churches cook and serve a breakfast of ham, eggs, sugar cake and coffee to all the band members between their early playing and the sunrise service. Many church members serve as ushers to help guide the attendees into different entrances to God’s Acre.
It is my hope that you might attend the Moravian Sunrise Service if you are ever in the Winston-Salem area at Easter.
-Jody Avery
Sudbury UMC Lenten Devotions 