Annual Community Easter Service Returns to Morgan Park

The Public is invited to attend, in-person or virtually, the 5th Annual Community Easter Dawn Service being held in Morgan Park on Easter morning. The bilingual (English and Spanish) service, hosted by the eight member churches of the Committee for the Community Easter Dawn Service, will be held in Morgan Park at 7:00 am and will be streamed via Facebook Live. The Easter Dawn Committee is very pleased that the service is back in Morgan Park and that the public is permitted to attend. There is a restriction of 150 people and all attendees are asked to wear masks, social distance, and follow standard NYS COVID-19 guidelines.

“As many will remember, last year, with the closure of Morgan Park, we had to host the event on a resident’s lawn just outside the gates of the park. With the exception of those of us leading the service, it was entirely virtual,” stated Fr. Kevin Dillon, Pastor of Sea Cliff’s St. Boniface Martyr Catholic Church. “Last year’s service was a beautiful and moving event and was viewed by over 2,500 people from around the world, however, we are very pleased to be back in Morgan Park and to be permitted to have a limited number of people join us for the celebration.”

Having an Easter dawn service in Morgan Park has been a long-standing tradition in Glen Cove, with the service hosted by various churches over the years. It was in 2017 that three congregations in close proximity to one another, but from different traditions, decided to join together in creating a formal committee and presented the first annual bilingual service. The churches included Calvary AME Church, the oldest historically African American church in Glen Cove, Iglesia Ciudad de Refugio, the oldest Spanish language church in Glen Cove, and the First Presbyterian Church, founded in 1869. The service has since grown from a handful of attendees to close to 200 attending in-person in 2017, over 2500 viewing the service in 2020, and with eight churches participating from many denominations and from both the Protestant and Catholic traditions.

The eight member churches involved share in the responsibility of the celebration. The churches include Calvary A.M.E Church, First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Glen Cove Christian Church, Iglesia Ciudad de Refugio, St. Boniface Martyr Roman Catholic Church, St. John’s of Lattingtown Episcopal Church, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Pastors involved in the service include Fr. Kevin J. Dillon, Fr. Mark L. Fitzhugh, Rev. Gia Lynne Hall, Rev. Lance Hurst, Pastor Tommy Lanham, Rev. Juanita Lopez, Rev. A.H. Sparkman, Rev. Roger Williams, and Fr. Shawn Williams. Assisting with the half-hour service will be Associate Pastor Josue Correa, Brenda Lopez, and Erika Bautista from Iglesia Ciudad de Refugio, Evangelist Merle Richards and Margaret Darson from Calvary A.M.E Church, Elder Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews from First Presbyterian Church, and Bagpiper Robert Lynch from St. Boniface Martyr Roman Catholic Church.

While the service is limited to 150 people and COVID-19 protocols will be in place, with many still understandably concerned about attending events in public, organizers are not anticipating that many residents will be attending in-person. In fact, residents are encouraged to attend the service virtually. However, for those who would like to attend the celebration in Morgan Park in-person, the churches, and leadership of the churches, ask all to enter through the main gate leading from the parking lot into the park, to please follow guidelines as noted, and to arrive at least fifteen minutes early to allow time to check-in and to walk to the bottom of the hill where the service is held. Scripture reading for the service will be from Luke 24: 1-12. All are invited to attend and to “like” the official Community Easter Dawn Service page to receive a notification when the event starts. For more information please visit www.facebook.com/GlenCoveEaster